Thanks, Rob. I'm a bit dim when it comes to these technicalities. Old age, I'm afraid!
Still no sign of Lyse Doucet back in London. The weekly edition of World News Today with Lyse Doucet has been anchored by someone other than Lyse for the last four weeks. This is one long stint she's doing this time in Afghanistan. Come back soon, Lyse. (Although, Peter Dobbie is actually quite good as well........)
Still no sign of Lyse Doucet back in London. The weekly edition of World News Today with Lyse Doucet has been anchored by someone other than Lyse for the last four weeks. This is one long stint she's doing this time in Afghanistan. Come back soon, Lyse. (Although, Peter Dobbie is actually quite good as well........)
Yes, Chris. Karin has been appearing on BBC World weekend shifts for approximately the last 6 weeks or so. She shares weekend presenting duties with (mainly) Martine Dennis, Peter Dobbie, Owen Thomas and Janat Jallil.
Perhaps I should put this in the domestic thread, but seeing as it's semi-related, does anyone have any inside info on how the BBC managed to get Lorna Gordon (and one presumes, an accompanying crew) out to Iceland, and how long it took?
I gather there are regular ferries from Norway, Denmark and the Faroe Islands, but you've got to get to all these places first.. Many other journalists made it out there?
Perhaps I should put this in the domestic thread, but seeing as it's semi-related, does anyone have any inside info on how the BBC managed to get Lorna Gordon (and one presumes, an accompanying crew) out to Iceland, and how long it took?
I gather there are regular ferries from Norway, Denmark and the Faroe Islands, but you've got to get to all these places first.. Many other journalists made it out there?
I wonder if they managed to get her out there yesterday afternoon...scottish airports were open for a wee while and perhaps they wanted a reporter up there in case there were more developments....I wonder how long the ferry would take anyway?
Keflavik Airport in Iceland is unaffected by the volcanic ash as it is the other side of the volcano. I'm pretty sure an Icelandair flight made it to Glasgow yesterday when Ireland and Trans-Atlantic flights were allowed so I presume she went out on that
Yes - Iceland's main airport is upstream of the volcano and so is running services to and from the US (which is presumably how the ABC reporter got there)
Also - although NATS have effectively (*) closed UK controlled airspace (as have their eqivalents across Northern Europe) - that doesn't mean all planes are grounded. There are planes flying in uncontrolled airspace - and there are degrees of control in other bits of airspace. (My understanding is that once you get to around 24,500ft all airspace is controlled - but below this level there are large areas of uncontrolled and loosely controlled space, as well as tightly controlled airspace over major cities and near major airports and flight paths?)
The ash cloud, AIUI, is at pretty high-level, so light aircraft and business jets are able to fly underneath it without issue. I understand that a number of light aircraft and glider pilots have loved the empty skies at the moment - and been able to fly, with full air traffic clearance, in areas that would normally be restricted because of the volume of air traffic.
Lufthansa and KLM are reporting numerous test flights not meeting any noticable ash at their low-ish European altitudes (8-13,000m quoted) - though obviously long-haul flights are higher, and you'd have to be VERY certain of your facts before flying passengers.
I'd be interested to know if it is possible to fly scheduled/charter into Southern Spain at the moment, and then come in to the UK at low level in a biz jet. I'm no aviation expert.
(*) My understanding is that NATS doesn't actually close airspace - it provides control services - rather than having the right to close airspace itself. However there is a licensing scheme that means it can advise the government about it's ability to safely control the airspace it is contracted to control?
Perhaps I should put this in the domestic thread, but seeing as it's semi-related, does anyone have any inside info on how the BBC managed to get Lorna Gordon (and one presumes, an accompanying crew) out to Iceland, and how long it took?
I gather there are regular ferries from Norway, Denmark and the Faroe Islands, but you've got to get to all these places first.. Many other journalists made it out there?
I was intrigued at how they got out there so emailed the BBC, reply was.....
"There was a brief window late on Friday when flights to Iceland were leaving from Glasgow Airport, that's how we got here!
And broadcasting on a small portable laptop sized satellite dish. 256 k connection, so not fast at all..and on the very edge of the satellite footprint so frequently lose the signal. It's a challenge!"
...So that's how they do it!
Last edited by don1977 on 18 April 2010 4:25pm - 2 times in total
BBC WORLD NEWS has really been ontop of this story. I haven't been watching closely all last week but today they are kicking butts on the other international channels like CNNI who is still focusing on the ash. Sorry to say but this story has move on to the crises in transportation. Bravo BBC WORLD. They going live all over Europe.
BBC World News have also aired the Sky News - Leader's Debate, aired from 03:00 to 04:30 in the morning here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, I have no caps... but they are airing the Clean Feed, though I laugh when Adam Boulton had promoted the Scotland Debates and it has been aired on both BBC World News & Al Jazeera English.
the simulcast looks good, though I'm a little bit irritated that they have to show the top-left strap with "Sky News - The Leader's Debate" now end then, same goes for AJE.
And it seems BBC got a scolding with SNP, UKIP for not inviting them in the debates...
