Everyone is pre-occupied with an unpronounceable geological pile in Iceland (EyeaffJallallojokull). I know how serious the issue of volcanic ash is. There is an interesting standoff between the airlines who can see the need for grounding for a while, but whose bleeding cash flow is starting to hurt. They are now in real conflict with the scientists who may be applying the most stringent criteria of risk imaginable. That said I worked closely with Eric Moody the BA captain who lost all 4 engines in a volcanic ash could over Indonesia, and volcanic ash can be very dangerous to aviation.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-431802/The-story-BA-flight-009-words-passenger-dreads-.html
Anyway thinking about habits flying has become so much part of our lives to the extent that it is the habitual means to get anywhere above about 300 miles. We see the Barcelona players driving to Milan by coach and my beloved Fulham team facing a semi final in Hamburg after a gruelling coach journey. Very few people choose to go such long distances by train or coach and maybe just maybe it’s put people back in touch with that kind of travel.
In saying that I am not an opponent of air transport, I think its environmental impact should be seen in context. At worst air travel accounting for about 5% of global CO2 emissions though that impact needs to be reduced its not the worst impact, and like all other human activity it’s a trade-off. The travel, trade and interconnectedness we get for that makes it seem very worthwhile, though we should always seek to mitigate its impact.
Anyway I am preparing for CIPD’s HRD conference, the first day our IFTDO conference was cancelled because of the air emergency, and the rest of the week looks great. I’ll be introducing the Learning and Talent development survey with Perry Timms of Big Lottery and Peter Butler of BT, doing a session on Shaping the Future with the leading edge Healthcare organisation Dumfries and Galloway, and talking about soft skills and much more. By the way made my target of running for 20 mins at 8.5 Kilometres per hour at incline 2.0. That despite feeling the effects of football with CIPD colleagues. I am getting there, although like the Barcelona team slowly.
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