Dutch airline KLM and German airline Lufthansa have carried out test flights to see if it is safe fo

[eppur_se_muova]

Volcanic ash spreads more travel misery across Europe


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Dutch airline KLM and German airline Lufthansa have carried out test flights to see if it is safe for planes to fly.

KLM said its plane, a Boeing 737, had reached its maximum operating altitude of about 13km in the skies over the Netherlands, and there had been no problems during the flight.

The aircraft and its engines were being inspected for possible damage. After the results of that technical inspection the airline hopes to get permission from the aviation authorities to start up operations again.

Germany's Lufthansa said it flew several planes to Frankfurt from Munich.

A spokesman said: "All airplanes have been inspected on arrival in Frankfurt but there was no damage to the cockpit windows or fuselage and no impact on the engines."
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8627720.stm




Wonder if there's a "guinea pig" discount ...

[pitohui]

1. AMS & FRA are huge, huge hubs

it seems ridiculous and overkill to keep them shut down this long, i'm not surprised they've done some test runs

[Duer 157099]

2. Damn, some pilots drew the short straw eh? n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Just a thought .......

Take off normally.

Once airborne, shut down one engine. Restart the shut down engine in an emergency or when it is safe to do so.

I'm no engineer. Just an out of the box thinker.