Airlines Warned Over Iceland Volcano Eruption

Why Volcanic Ash Is So Dangerous For Planes

Updated: 9:50am UK, Tuesday 19 August 2014

By Carole Erskine, Sky News Online

Pilots are advised never to fly though an ash cloud because of the extreme problems it can cause an aircraft.

Ingesting ash dust can cause partial or total engine power loss, and even power loss in all engines.

The ash can also damage aircraft ventilation, hydraulic, electronic and air data systems along with the plane's paint, windscreens and power plants.

Former British Airways pilot Eric Moody has first-hand experience of flying through an ash cloud.

In June 1982 he was piloting a Jumbo 747 from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, Australia when he hit an ash cloud just off Java.

"It was very frightening, all the engines stopped for 14 to 15 minutes and we didn't know what was happening," he told Sky News.

"It was dark and the effect was of St Elmo's fire around the aircraft. We were looking for the cloud that had caused it but didn't know it was a volcanic ash cloud.

"We glided the aircraft about 80 nautical miles and went down 37,000ft to about 12,000ft.

"That was when we must have come out of the bottom of the ash cloud. It was a dark old night."

As a result of Mr Moody's flight experience research into the effects of volcanic ash clouds on aircraft increased and Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres were established around the world.

"Flying into volcanic ash is as deadly as flying with ice on your aircraft," said Mr Moody.

"And everyone knows how dangerous that is."

There was huge disruption in the UK in 2010 after a massive cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland drifted into UK airspace.

A number of airports were closed and hundreds of flights cancelled.

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