Sunday 16 May 2010 - the Icelandic Volcanic Ash Cloud is coming back again....

.... but first we have the diversions! With the Volcanic Ash Cloud

returning to UK air space many airports north of BHX closed

resulting in a large number of aircraft diverting in during the

afternoon filling the 70's and 80's stands....

.

.... and with 7 Ryanair Boeing 737's parking on Taxiway Tango

the former cross/short runway - BHX closed at 1900.....

Aurigny ATR 72-202 G-BWDB operated the afternoon Guernsey

to Manchester service to BHX while ....
.

.... a number of biz jets also diverted including Learjet 40XR G-HPPY
.

.... and Learjet 31A D-CSAP
.

Pegasus Boeing 737-8S3 TC-APH operated their weekly flight
to Antalya - the aircraft wears billboard "flypgs.com" titles
.

Turkmenistan Boeing 737-7GL EZ-A007 was an early morning
visitor as it made a fuel stop on its way back to Ashkabad from

Lackland in the US where it had been for maintenance

Wednesday 21 April 2010 - Ash cloud? - Birmingham Airport is back in business!!

After clearance was granted on Tuesday evening to reopen UK

airspace the race was on to restart operations - first departure

(with passengers) from BHX on Wednesday morning was

Monarch flight ZB 402 to Faro which was operated by

Airbus A321-231 G-OZBG - well done to Monarch

for having 3 of the first 4 departures from Birmingham ....

.

.... and to Tim and Lucy from the "Express and Star" for

being on hand to catch the first departure

- see http://tinyurl.com/bhxexpressandstar -

which earned them a copy of the "BHX Flight Guide"!!

.

Monarch Airbus A321-231 G-OZBG lifts off Runway 33 on its way
to Faro - the first departure since Thursday 15 April 2010! - the
race was then on to repatriate all the stranded passengers....
. .... Lufthansa used CityLine Embraer 195LR D-AEBB to operate
their afternoon service to Munich - its first visit to BHX - in
place of the usual Canadair CRJ 900 while....
..... Turkish Airlines laid on two extra flight to repatriate passengers
stranded in Istanbul - Airbus A321-231 TC-JRB was an evening
arrival with 321 TC-JML operating an (extra) lunchtime service
.

Eurocypria Boeing 737-8BK 5B-DBZ operated their

much delayed IT flight to Paphos

.

Hawker 850XP G-CERX was an overnight arrival

spending the day parked on the Elmdon apron....
.

.... while Eurojet Citation XLS G-KPEI was an afternoon visitor
operating a training flight

Saturday 17 April 2010 - Day 3 of the Volcanic Ash Cloud

The setting sun turns red as it decends into the Volcanic Ash....

WARNING - do not look directly into the sun with a camera etc

.

On Saturday the sun turns a dark red
.A "brighter" sun set the day before
.

Meanwhile the aircraft are still going nowhere!

Friday 16 April 2010 - Day 2 of the Volcanic Ash Cloud

The airport remained closed because of the danger to flying....

.

.... aircraft here, aircraft there but no one going anywhere!

Thursday 15 April 2010 - Cloud of Volcanic Ash closes Birmingham Airport!!

The danger to flying from a Cloud of Volcanic Ash drifting towards
the UK from Iceland resulted in the closure of the airspace above BHX
from 0700 stranding many passengers and aircraft at the airport....
..... with all flights for the rest of the day being cancelled

. .

.... and the media in attendance to record the days events

Monday 17 May 2010 - City Airline Embraer 145 SE-RAD makes its first visit to BHX

City Airline resumed their morning service to Gothenburg with

Embraer 145EU SE-RAD operating the flight - it first visit to BHX

.

The Volcanic Ash Cloud did not close the airport for long

- by 0100 on Monday morning BHX was open again with

the diverted aircraft soon on their way ....
.

Thomson Boeing 737-36N G-THON positioned out to Doncaster....
.

easyJet Airbus A319-111 G-EZDN departed to Newcastle....
.

.... while the 7 Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS's spent the morning

parked on Taxiway Tango (the former cross/short runway)

before all departing during the afternoon

Tuesday 20 April 2010 - Day 4 of the Volcanic Ash Cloud

Giles Latcham of BBC "Midlands Today" was on hand to give

live updates on the impact of the Volcanic Ash Cloud on

operations from Birmingham....

.

.... and find out how local aviation enthusiasts were coping with the

closure of UK airspace and the resulting lack of aircraft....
.

.... actually there were plenty of those - just not going anywhere!