The erupting Icelandic volcano is not only delaying flights, but also the delivery of videogames.
After the second explosion on April 14th, Eyjafjallajokull has been spewing massive amounts of ash into the air, obscuring the sky and making it difficult for pilots to navigate in that area. Hordes of people are experiencing flight delays and cancellations, and the same can be expected for those gamers awaiting delivery of their new games.
The Australian distributor for Konami, Mindscape, expects delays in delivery of several of their upcoming releases. “Due to the second eruption of the Iceland volcano and further disruption to flights, our shipment of Wii stock will be delayed,” explains a spokesperson.
UK-based retailer, Game, also stated that “airspace in parts of Europe unfortunately continues to affect the transport of mail by air and could cause delays with delivery of orders.”
The cloud of ash currently extends 2-3 km (~9000 ft) in altitude, with some layers reaching 11km (~36000 ft) and is about 100m thick. According to Grant Allen, an atmospheric scientist at Manchester University, it would be dangerous for commercial pilots to navigate this area. “No one knows what concentration of ash is hazardous to jet engines unfortunately so until those tests are complete, it’s a game of Russian roulette.”
During an expert question and answer session at The Guardian, one clever participant suggested the return of zeppelins as a possible way to circumvent the issues commercial jets have with flying through ash. I couldn’t agree more.
Source: Edge
Published: Apr 20, 2010 07:30 pm