Over the last 3 weeks the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano created havoc and virtually shut down all of European airspace for over a week. I had my flight schedule cancelled and changed, finally able to fly on April 21.
Just got back from that trip which took me to Amsterdam twice right after the European Control opened up the airspace again. Found it interesting that no one I talked to in Amsterdam and Germany saw any volcanic ash cloud. The airspace in Europe was closed nonetheless in the interest of safety. From the experience I have flying through a sky filled with particles from volcanic eruptions in the early 90’s, with the eruptions of multiple volcanoes along the Pacific ring of fire, it is safe to fly as long as the particle density is low. Don’t want to fly into the Ash cloud but as long as one stays out of the dense cloud by a safe distance it is safe to operate. We have been doing so for years. There will be erosion on our windscreens, engines and wing leading edges, which increases maintenance on the aircraft over the long period but the airlines look at this as a cost of doing business. There is lots of dust (fine gritty particles of sand and other debris) in the air normally. Engines also ingest lots of dust from ramps and runways in normal operation. The short of this is that European airlines, along with other carriers around the world, finally convinced European Aviation Authorities of this and the sky was opened up.
I have to say that at night and in cloudy weather it is harder to make out the dense volcanic cloud and there will have to be some operational restrictions at times but those we have also dealt with in the past in other areas of the world, including in the US (Mt. St. Helen in 1980).
It’s good to see all the stranded folks, which included over 500 flight crew members from Delta, back home or on their way of normal life. Below is a picture of the sky over the UK on April 22, which shows a more hazy colorful sunrise than normal but with a safe concentration of volcanic ash particles in the atmosphere.
Morning Sky over the UK April 22, 2010
Enjoy,
Captain Bill
Find more like this: Captain Bill's Travels
The ash cloud sure made my life miserable for about a week and I hear there is a good chance of the volcano erupting again and again over the next few months.
I hope that will not be the case for both of our sakes.