To fly or not to fly

While it's not an issue for me because I'm not going anywhere, the situation in Europe does raise some interesting questions.

'The head of the airline industry body, Giovanni Bisignani, told the BBC: "This is a European embarrassment and it's a European mess." '

Personally, I don't see why it's an embarrassment. The volcano wasn't the result of negligence. Nobody could have headed off the ash cloud before it crossed flight paths. It could be considered embarrassing how dependent they've become on air traffic, but given the source of the quote I seriously doubt that's what he meant.

I've been in airports before where the flights were delayed or cancelled because of mechanical problems (cough cough Chicago O'Hare). While there was a lot of pissing and moaning, nobody stood up and said "Hey! I say let's go for it with the wonky engine or wing flaps. What's a little risk?" The downed flights are definitely inconvenient and stressful, but won't most people prefer that to putting themselves and their families in danger?

It would be a no-brainer decision for me.