As you would expect, I have been watching for news myself. There was a mention on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) West news tonight, with a report and a bit of footage, but it was vague. DafT has been remarhably quiet over the past couple of days, with zero RSS^▸ (Regional Spatial Strategy) feeds today. There's usually someone with a fondness for the sound of their own voice re-releasing some old news.

Speaking of which, Margaret Hodge has been ripping into DafT's capability so far as HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is concerned, and has expressed shock at how few top experts are on the payroll. Whilst she has stopped short of suggesting that DafT tries to tempt some of the many it made redundant out of early retirement, it could explain the silence, as what few civil servants are left check and double-check every sum.

I shall check my RSS inbox before leaving for work tomorrow. Trick or treat?

Edit: Nothing at 7.20, although it's top of the news on BBC. Off to earn a crust, then.

You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. I am no fan of over-zealous health and safety governance, but here, surely, this was risk assessment on a grand scale.

The British railway network relies on a clear run, with no unexpected trees, landslips, OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") failures, and a lot more besides. As we know, it is susceptible to interference from the elements. In this case, the Met Office, according to the Trolleygraph forecast the path, size, and ferocity of this storm several days before it formed. Network Rail presumably buys this information, and sets about applying it to the network in conjunction with the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). They clearly thought that "business as usual" posed an unacceptably high risk to passengers, assets, and smooth running when the wind has passed. Had the forecast said "A little blustery for the time of year", then some of the grumblings could be understood. But no-one with sense would ignore the kind of warnings issued, and I think the actions of those concerned were correct in the circumstances.

Only one incident (the tree in Cornwall) arose, and that without injury, but the commuting masses see this as evidence of over-caution. It could be that there was only one incident because proportionate caution was exercised. I would rather see 10,000 inconvenienced passengers than a single damaged one, and had a train full of passengers hit a fallen tree at speed, the same voices would have been raised in condemnation of reckless disregard for safety.

We've all been there!

Looking at FGW's twitter stream and filling in some gaps, I reckon FGW's timetable is based on orders given to it by NR for safety procedures and speed limits. So they could be the chicken following the egg (or is it...?)

I've had a ;look at some aviation notices. The forecast issued 22.20 for Bristol airport talks of winds of 20 knots, gusting to 35Kt, until 1am. Then until 4am, heavy rain with 25Kt, gusting 45Kt. Then, with a probability of 40% (to an airman, this means take it seriously), 38Kt gusting 70 Kt can be expected until 6am, when things start to calm down a bit. 70 Knots is over 80mph.. This is actually a moderation of what was forecast earlier, so we may well miss the worst. Brize Norton has lower wind speeds for the same times (for which my daughter will be thankful, as she starts work there at 11pm tonight), and Heathrow is similar.

I've battened down for the night, and poured a cup of Earl Grey.

Getting out of sequence is awkward. We have an exchange that reads (first lines only):

ChrisB:
4064ReadingAbbey
On misunderstandings such as these are wars started (and the "Mastermind" sketch by the Two Ronnies based)

I think you can claim an exclusive there, Rhydgaled.

The baton was picked up by Baroness Kramer, our new Minister of State for transport, who was most recently on the commission for banking standards. She has some form in transport, having been shadow minister in 2007, as well as having been on the board of Transport for London.

For her first major speech on HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)), she chose the less than hostile setting of the Railway Engineers' Forum. Selling HS2 to them would have been as difficult as selling cheap beer to darts players (or me, for that matter).

I shan't quote the whole speech, as the noble lady has much to say. But a couple of snippets show that she is wildly in favour of the scheme, but with her enthusiasm founded on the rock of logic:


On the fiscal aspect, this lady who used to run an infrastructure financing consultancy across Europe said:


She talks a good talk. Those engineers must have been drooling. HS2 has a new champion. She may be a Lib Dem, but she is very clearly on message.

Nor casual.

I toyed with "interpuntal", but saw the obvious problems. Pint?

I don't like to quote myself, but this has now come much closer. Stapleton Road is to close for a week from 28 October. Scaffolding went up yesterday in the space between the two bridges, mainly against the east side of the "live" bridge, between Stapleton Road and the M32. The whole interpontal section has been fenced off to included the "dormant" bridge. The cycle path is to close in two places for up to 6 weeks. I'm around there weekly, and will keep an eye.

I'm loving the plural "bridges".

Scaffolding has gone up at Stapleton Road. This is against the "live" bridge, on the spare ground to the M32 side of the road. There is fencing around the the whole area under the "dormant" bridge. Bristol City Council's website gives a link to Roadworks.org. This tells us that there is

Other posts include the closure of the cycle path in two places for up to 6 weeks each. I'm loving the plural "bridges".

Edit: Since the work on the stone bridge started, the road has closed and reopened. There are now a number of shiny new truss rods through the structure, missing masonry has been replaced, and there has been considerable re-pointing.



Apologies for the snatched snap. Not from the same angle, but comparison with the pre-closure view is possible:



Nothing has been done to the metal bridge, although I did see someone on it.

Looks like they're going ahead with Crossrail then.

Agreed. I suspect easyPeasy used Southend for their operational convenience only.

Hell's teeth, he recovered from a stall?

FTR^▸ (Fitness To Run), I knew what I was doing when I first stalled an aircraft, and it still terrified me. In the right conditions, it's good fun.

This is an amazing story, but my sympathies are very much with the family of the deceased pilot. They have asked to be left out of the media frenzy, a completely understandable stance. I think, though, that some comments may be made about the age of the pilot, and as this thread concerns licensing of private pilots, inter alia here is the legal position regarding medical requirements.

As a very minimum, a pilot over the age of 70 flying under a National Private Pilots Licence (NPPL) would have to make an annual declaration of health, to the effect that he satisfies the health criteria for DVLA^▸ (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) Group 2 professional drivers. This would be countersigned by his GP, who would not give false information. If flying under a JAR PPL class 2 or the newer European equivalent, he would have an annual (expensive and far-reaching) examination by a CAA^» (Civil Aviation Authority - about) accredited Authorised Medical Examiner, with an ECG under exercise bi-annually. Age is no bar to flying. The procedures to stop medically unfit people from taking the controls are, in this country, robust. Sudden illness can overtake anyone without warning, and unfortunately for this chap, he happened to be airborne at the time.

The otherwise safe conclusion of this flight is an amazing feat by all concerned. I know how difficult it can be to master the art of landing. My instructor told me as we began the lesson (it took several before he let me go alone) that he couldn't teach me to land a plane, but could help me to learn, and keep me safe in the meantime. That a person with no experience can be talked down in the dark is nothing short of magnificent work on behalf of all concerned.

I shall say no more for now.