Volcanic Ash Closes European Air Space

London, England (CNN) -- European countries shut their airspace one after the other Thursday as a cloud of volcanic ash wafted over from Iceland and posed a danger to flights.

Airspace over the United Kingdom was due to be closed for six hours from midday but air authorities later extended the closure until at least 7 a.m. BST (2 a.m. EST) Friday.
Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands also announced the closure of their airspace, authorities in each country said.

Norway also closed its ocean territory and canceled helicopter flights to off-shore oil installations, according to Avinor, the Norwegian agency responsible for the Norwegian airport network.

Air Travel
In all, around 3,000 flights across Europe were expected to be affected by the closures, according to Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.

Many airports were already shut and flights were grounded across the United Kingdom on Thursday because of the ash, which came after an eruption under an Icelandic glacier early Wednesday, airport authorities said.
The ash cloud came from an eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier early Wednesday.
The eruption -- the latest in a series that began on March 20 -- blew a hole in the mass of ice and created a cloud of smoke and ash that went high into the air.

Explainer: Why ash cloud endangers aircraft

The volcano was still active Thursday, creating floods in the area and producing a lot of volcanic ash, a spokesman for Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management told CNN.
The disruption was causing havoc for air travel around the world.
"There will be an immediate impact today in terms of passengers not being able to travel," said independent air transport consultant John Strickland, of JLS Consulting in England. "The key thing is we don't know how long it's going to last ... but even

if that were to be resolved, it will take some significant time for airlines to recover."
iReporter captures footage of eruption
Finland's air space remained opened but was "heavily restricted" according to airport controller Finavia.

AIR SPACES CLOSED
Belgium
Full closure from 4.30 p.m. CET
Britain
12 p.m Thursday to 7 a.m. BST Friday
Denmark
From 6 p.m. CET
Ireland
From 12 p.m. BST
Finland
"Heavily restricted"
Netherlands
From 7 p.m. CET
Norway
Sweden
From 10 p.m CET

In Germany, the Hamburg airport was open but flights to England, Norway, and Sweden were either canceled or delayed, a spokeswoman there said.

Stockholm Airport canceled around 20 flights to the rest of Europe and around 20 domestic flights, but a spokesman there said they expect the number to increase and the airport may shut later in the day.
Flights to or from Norway and Britain were canceled from several Spanish airports, the Spanish Airports and Air Navigation authority said.
Flights to the United Kingdom from Japan, Hong Kong, India and Australia were also affected. Etihad Airways announced that five flights between Abu Dhabi and England were canceled Thursday.

A spokeswoman at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris said the airport remained open.
The U.S. Air Force says RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath in England are shut down for at least two days. That means dozens of U.S. Air Force F-15s and other fighter jets and tankers are not flying. Flights to Iraq and Afghanistan flying through that airspace are being diverted to other routes.

ASH AIR EMERGENCIES
April 1982 -- British Airways flight 009 en route to Auckland from London flew into a cloud of ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, Indonesia, causing engines to fail. Crew were eventually able to restart three engines and land safely in Jakarta after gliding through the cloud.

December 1989 -- KLM flight 867 en route to Anchorage in Alaska from Amsterdam flew into a volcanic ash cloud caused by eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska, resulting in failure of its engines as it tried to climb out of the cloud. Pilots were able to restart engines, two at a time, before landing the badly damaged airliner.
Manchester Airport spokesman Russell Craig said the ash poses a threat to aircraft, even if it isn't visible in the air.

"If you think about the way an aircraft engine works, it sucks in air, it compresses it, forces it out on the other side. That creates thrust," Craig told CNN. "If that air were mixed with ash, it can cause engine failure and electrical difficulties with an aircraft. It's happened before, and the aircraft didn't come out the other end in one piece."
Eric Moody was the pilot aboard a British Airways flight that managed to fly through volcanic ash thrown up by Mount Galunggung in Indonesia in 1982. All four of the engines stopped because of the ash, and the plane glided through the air for about 15 minutes, he told CNN on Thursday.

"The engines just ran down," Moody said. "We couldn't see out the windscreen and half the electronic aids to landing weren't working, either."

Passengers were told to prepare for an emergency crash landing, with Moody making this now-famous announcement to passengers: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, It's Captain Eric Moody here. We've got a small problem in that all four engines have failed. We're doing our utmost to get them going, and I trust you're not in too much distress."
Eventually at 13,000 feet, the engines started working again and the plane was able to land. That, said Moody, is why this Icelandic ash could be so dangerous.

"I don't know how thick this ash is, but I wouldn't go anywhere near it," Moody said.

Obama's Space Budget ...

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will announce his administration's vision for America's space program during a visit to Florida on Thursday, according to documents provided to CNN by a White House official.
"The Administration is committed to a bold, new approach to human spaceflight, and is increasing the NASA budget by $6 billion over the next five years in order to embark on this ambitious strategy that will foster the development of path-breaking technologies, increase the reach and reduce the cost of human spaceflight, and help create thousands of new jobs," the documents say.

The future of the space agency as outlined in the White House documents would include a multi-billion-dollar moderization of Kennedy Space Center, expansion of private-sector and commercial space industries, creation of thousands of jobs and eventually human travel to Mars.

The president's announcement will come during what have been uncertain times surrounding the agency. The space shuttle is scheduled for retirement at year's end, with just three scheduled launches remaining. Obama has cancelled the Bush administration's Constellation moon program. The space agency had already spent about $9.5 billion on that project to develop a next-generation rocket and the crew capsule.

Allard Beutel, news chief at the Kennedy Space Center, told CNN that layoffs at the center will likely reach "the 7,000 range" with the end of the shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program.
Obama's plans would shift some funding away from NASA's costly human spaceflight program to NASA's scientific programs, including robotic missions to other planets.

The president's budget would also provide funding to private launch companies to develop spacecraft to ferry astronauts.
Once the space shuttle is retired, U.S. astronauts will need to ride Russian Soyuz rockets to reach and return from the International Space Station. It's expected to take several years or more before commercial launch companies are capable of carrying astronauts into orbit.


This new strategy means more money for NASA, more jobs for the country, more astronaut time in space, and more investments in innovation," the documents from the Obama administration say.
"It will result in a longer operating lifetime for the International Space Station, new launch capabilities becoming available sooner, and a fundamentally more ambitious space strategy to take us to an increased number of destinations and to new frontiers in space.

"By undertaking this strategy, we will no longer rely on our past achievements, and instead embrace a new and bold course of innovation and discovery."
During a briefing in early April, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the new future being charted for the agency.

"This budget provides an increase to NASA at a time when funding is scarce," Bolden said. "It will enable us to accomplish inspiring exploration, science and (research and development), the kinds of things the agency has been known for throughout its history."

The budget "enables NASA to set its sights on destinations beyond Earth orbit and develop the technologies that will be required to get us there, both with humans and robots," Bolden said.
"We're talking about technologies that the field has long wished we had but for which we did not have the resources," he said.
"These are things that don't exist today but we'll make real in the coming years. This budget enables us to plan for a real future in exploration with capabilities that will make amazing things not only possible, but affordable and sustainable."


Related: Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration's vision for the future of manned space flight will bump the United States to "second or even third-rate" status as a space-faring nation, the commanders of three U.S. moon missions warned Thursday.

The letter was signed by the first and last men to walk on the moon -- Neil Armstrong from Apollo 11 and Eugene Cernan from Apollo 17 -- and James Lovell, who commanded the heroic Apollo 13 flight.

"Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity," the letter said. "America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal."
President Obama is scheduled to announce his space plans Thursday during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the White House announced. The White House said the five-year strategy involves a $6 billion increase in NASA's budget and additional support for new space technologies.

Armstrong, Lovell and Cernan praised Obama's increase in total funding for space exploration, which includes money for research, the international space station and a heavy-lift rocket. But the astronauts said the decision to cancel the Constellation program for manned space flight "is devastating."

"America's only path to low Earth orbit and the international space station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz (at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future) until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves," they wrote.

NASA's space shuttle fleet will be retired at the end of this year, leaving the Russian Soyuz capsules as the only avenue into space until commercial ventures are ready to do the job, expected to be years away. Obama's proposal to use commercial transport to reach orbit "cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope," the astronauts said.

Cernan, Lovell and Armstrong said the more than $10 billion spent so far on Constellation -- including the Orion space capsule and the Ares rockets to boost it into space will be wasted by the cancellation "and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded."

NASA's future, as outlined in the White House documents, would include a multibillion-dollar modernization of Kennedy Space Center, expansion of private-sector and commercial space industries, creation of thousands of jobs and eventually human travel to Mars.

But Allard Beutel, news chief at the Kennedy Space Center, told CNN that layoffs at the center will likely reach the 7,000 range with the end of the shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program.

The president's plans would shift some funding away from NASA's costly human space flight program to NASA's scientific programs, including robotic missions to other planets.

During a briefing in early April, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the new future being charted for the agency.

"This budget provides an increase to NASA at a time when funding is scarce," Bolden said. "It will enable us to accomplish inspiring exploration, science and (research and development), the kinds of things the agency has been known for throughout its history."

AR-623

Photo (C) Steve Douglass

Cannon AFB Open House Next Weekend!

by Greg Allen
27th Special Operations Public Affairs

4/9/2010 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The 27th Special Operations Wing will open its main gate to the public April 17, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., for its first-ever open house. The event is free and visitors will have the chance to see numerous aircraft on the flightline as well as meet the Air Commandos who operate, maintain and fly them.

Aircraft on display will include the AC-130H Gunship, MC-130W Combat Spear, MC-130H Combat Talon II, CV-22 Osprey, MQ-1 Predator, HH-60 Pave Hawk and more. The Navy SEALs, military recruiters and booths with various services will also be part of the event.
Food and drinks will also be available,

"We will have several aircraft on display such as our light tactical airlift aircraft, the remotely piloted MQ-1 Predator and the venerable AC 130 Gunship, as well as many other combat vehicles and equipment used in operations around the world," said Col. Stephen Clark, 27 SOW commander in a public service announcement.

Colonel Clark added that everyone on base was looking forward to introducing the
AFSOC command mission to everyone who attends.

In 2005 Cannon was recommended for closing by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission by 2009, but a groundswell of local community support was rewarded when the Air Force Special Operations Command stepped forward with a plan to establish a second AFSOC wing. On Oct. 1, 2007, the 27 SOW was formally activated.

As of April 9, there are nearly 3,500 active duty Airmen, 600 civilians and 4,500 family members here, according to Manny Brooks, 27th Special Operation Force Services Support Squadron. This compares to fewer than 1,900 military personnel shortly after 27 SOW assumed control of the base.

Parking for the event will be at Doc Stewart Park in Chavez West housing, across from Allsup's. Guests will pass through security and will be transported to the open house by bus. The following items will not be allowed on base during the open house: alcohol, coolers, backpacks/duffle bags, large camera bags, chairs or glass (except for baby items).

Visit Cannon AFB's Web site at http://www.cannon.af.mil, and then click on the open house tab for more information, updates and a schedule of events. For questions not addressed on the Web site, contact the 27 SOW Public Affairs office at (575) 784-4131.

Cannon Exercise Warning

Clovis, NM--Cannon Air Force Base will be hosting simulated wartime training soon.

Starting Saturday and ending on April 15 residents on or near the base may notice increased activity.

Residents may hear sirens and or simulated explosions near the base.

Base officials are asking not to be alarmed at the activity as it is only training to help keep the pilots at the best of their abilities.