Thoughts on Europe’s Volcanic Ash Cloud Crisis and Aviation Logistics. B.N. Sullivan has written a long post on Aircrew Buzz about volcanic ash clouds and the aviation crisis. Among the points he made in his post that were worth noting include the fact that “the gunk emitted by a volcano is not homogenized; it varies in composition and density” and that “weather affects the direction and density of volcanic ash plumes.”
How Much is To Much Ash? On a similar note, the Airline Biz Blog has pointed out that: “There is ample evidence that engines can be stopped by too much volcanic ash. There is insufficient evidence about what constitutes too much.” In other words, no one really knows whether its really safe to fly when there is ash in the air.
To Fly Through Ash or Not? Yahoo News has also posted an article by an AP Science Writer that also noted the uncertainty surrounding whether or not to fly through volcanic ash is such a good idea.
Volcanic Ash Detector for Aircraft. In addition, Yahoo News has another article about a volcanic ash detector for aircraft. However, the cost of the system ranges from US$30,000 to US$100,000 each.
European Airlines Enter Third Stage of Grief. Meanwhile, the Cranky Flier Blog has sarcastically noted the five stages of grief for airline executives: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. According to Cranky Flier, airline executives were in the bargaining phase as of last week. That is, they were bargaining with aviation authorities as the volcano seems to be in no mood to bargain just yet.
The Good News: No European Airline is on Strike Right Now. In a separate post, the Cranky Flier Blog sarcastically noted that the volcano decided to shut down European aviation last week simply because no one had decided to go on strike and shut down European Aviation last week.
Managing Volcanic Ash Risk. Meanwhile, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has noted that the aviation SKYbrary has an article entitled Managing the Risk to the Safety of Aircraft in Flight Caused by Volcanic Ash. The article also includes links to other useful volcano and ash related resources.
What to Do When Not Flying. And if you are a pilot who is still grounded and you are wondering what you can do as a substitute, Jason Schappert has created a short podcast entitled: What To Do When You’re Not Flying.
Remember Iceland? And finally, the Cranky Flyer blog has posted the following rather amusing cartoon about the volcanic ash crisis. After all, this is the second major crisis over the past few years that Iceland has had which has reminded us of their existence and hence, we can only hope this will be the last one!
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