British rockers THE CRIBS have been forced to pull out of California's Coachella music festival this weekend - because all flights out of the U.K. have been grounded due to the ash clouds from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. The Cribs were due to fly to Los Angeles on Thursday (15Apr10) from Britain, but their plane was cancelled at the last minute and they have no way of flying to California before their scheduled slot on Friday. They are now hoping festival organisers will allow them to reschedule their gig and are so desperate to appear at Coachella, they're considering taking a ferry across the English Channel and driving hundreds of miles to Amsterdam, Holland to try and catch a flight from there.[Contact Music]
BBC reports that: "Representatives for UK artists such as Muse, Gorillaz [performing with Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon], Florence & The Machine, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Little Boots, all due to play this weekend, have confirmed they're already in the US and unaffected."
We also know that Iceland's Jonsi is already here (and somewhat ironically, major airports in Iceland are still open). The Specials got here early too.
Frightened Rabbit is stuck in the UK but hasn't canceled yet.
Los Campesinos! cancelled their Culture Shock appearance for the same reason.
The hazardous conditions and airport closures are expected to continue at least into tomorrow.
The Cribs were scheduled to play the fest Friday before She & Him.
File:Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash 17 April 2010.png|thumb|right|Approximate depiction of the estimated ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 17 April 2010. The current forecasts are updated at  London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre site (Met Office, UK).

Area in which aviation was endangered by volcanic ash. Situation estimated for April 15, 2010 at 18:00 UTC.
Hundreds of thousands of air travelers had their travel plans disrupted in Europe by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Tens of thousands of air travelers were stranded when all flights into and out of the United Kingdom were grounded, as it became one of the first nations to be affected. The grounding was even more extensive than that following the September 11 attacks of 2001 when only trans-Atlantic flights were canceled.

Eurocontrol released a statement saying "...most air traffic in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden is suspended."

The grounding is because the volcanic ash drawn into the jet stream is of a particle size which allows it to remain aloft in the atmosphere. Ingestion of this foreign matter, because of its distribution, would lead to flame outs in all aircraft engines. The composition of the ash also means that it would first melt into glass if it were to enter the engine of an aircraft before solidifying again as it cooled. This could lead to damage to the compressors and fan blades, which would make it impossible to restart the engines, even if the aircraft were to exit the cloud. 

The current contingency is informed by the experience of British Airways Flight 9, which on June 24, 1982 suffered just such complete engine flame outs when it flew through the plume of Mount Galunggung in Indonesia.  In that case, the flight crew after many efforts was able to restart the engines, though one failed shortly after, and the aircraft landed without casualties.

The UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has stated that "restrictions will remain in place in UK controlled airspace until 1300 (UK time) tomorrow, Friday 16 April, at the earliest," and that "We will review further Met Office information and at 0230 (UK time) tomorrow we will advise the arrangements that will be in place through to 1800 (UK time) tomorrow." The NATS statement concluded "...the situation cannot be said to be improving". 

In addition to Northern Europe, the ash is drifting south; Berlin and Hamburg airports in Germany are closed, and airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France are described as now being closed or closing.  Some flights from Spain and Portugal, together with upwards of 4,000 flights across Northern Europe, have been affected, and the knock-on effect of aircraft and crews out of position could disrupt air travel worldwide for up to 72 hours.

One affected group are British musicians booked to play at this weekend's Coachella Festival in California. Amongst those stranded are Frightened Rabbit, Gary Numan, The Cribs and Bad Lieutenant.