Volcano ensures no sleep till Cople
0 Comments | Bedfordshire Times & Citizen (Bedford, England), April 22, 2010
A cross-continental car swap ensured that a well-known Bedford guitarist and his family could return to Cople from Italy after they were stranded by this week’s Europe-wide flights ban.
Max Milligan, his wife Donna, and their daughters Niamh and Ellis tried to return from a cruise around the Med on Saturday.
But when the ban on flights because of the Iceland volcano ash cloud began to bite, their travel plans were scuppered.
Stuck in Venice, the family hired a car and drove to Milan to stay with friends, one of whom was a pilot who by coincidence was also stranded Co back in the UK.
He picked up the Milligan family’s car from their home in Cople and drove it to Milan Co and then the Milligans climbed in, turned the motor round and headed straight back home, arriving in Bedfordshire at 11.30pm on Tuesday night.
Max was forced to miss playing a support slot alongside Albert Lee at the Civic Theatre on Saturday with singer Cherry Lee Mewis.
Met Office experts believe the Icelandic plume will dissipate over the next few days and flights finally resumed across Europe yesterday, Wednesday. Ash is now dispersing from the upper atmosphere and lightly coating cars and buildings.
Open University research fellow and volcanologist John Murray said: “If people look closely at their cars they will see it. It is very fine, like pollen powder, but when you feel it you realise it is slightly gritty.”
Meanwhile Cranfield played a huge role in the fight to get planes off the ground.
Every morning a small propeller plane launched from Cranfield airfield to test the skies.
Cranfield is the base for the Natural Environment Research Council’s Dornier 228 aircraft which, because it has a propeller, could fly through engine-crippling ash plumes to constantly assess the danger levels.
> Have you been affected by the ash? Were you stranded abroard, or stopped from heading overseas? Let us know, email us at editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk
