The risks of volcanic ash in aviation

Learn in this installment about the risks of volcanic asháunique in aviationón, a fenóless seemingly harmless, but which is very serious for the industry.

Several times we have spoken in this space about the strict, regulated and safe industry that iséarea reviewing for example fenóunless you caníput at risk operational security such as winds, wind shear, invisible turbulence, pájaros and other factors/phenóless important when talking about security.

Among the hundreds of factors that influence a flight, the climatolólogic, for instance, are one of the más important and attentionón of the aerosolsílines and pilots, but one of these fenóless natural calls a lot más the attentionón and worryón of the industry than others.

volc ashánica

Although it mayíWe love to think that ash is not más that a «relative» Of the dust that the wind can raise and carry, The reality is very different and the ash volcáunique in aviationón is a very dangerous factor that sí it is not monitored or the necessary measures are taken, could even cause a damn aéreo.

¿Becauseé volcanic ash is dangerousánica?

Sayún the usgs.gov – Geol Serviceógic of the United States, the ash volcáonly expelled into the atmosphereósphere due to explosive eruptions has had dañinos on airplanes. The partsíAsh particles can wear down front-facing surfaces., like windshields, fuselage surfaces and engine compressor blades.

The pollutionóNo ashes tooén can lead to failure of cr instrumentsínavigation techniquesón y operationón. Además, the melting temperatureón of silicate material vítreo in a cloud of ashes is más lower than combustion temperaturesón in jet enginesómodern; consequently, the partsíAsh particles sucked into an engine can melt quickly.áask and accumulate as depósolidified sites in the m partsás frías, which deteriorates engine performance, even, up to the point of pécompressor power loss in flight and the péloss of thrust power.

The effects más serious are in the engines, where ash can erode the engine compressor blades reducing their efficiency, block fuel nozzles, clog air filters, melt with heat and then solidify into a glaze vítreo that covers vital engine components, cover and isolate the fuel system temperature sensors which causes incorrect readings in the cabin and contaminates the oil system and affects the system «bleed air», which is mainly used for pressurize the cabin.

Incidents toéinmates with volc ashánica

From 1953 until the 2009, have been counted a total of 129 incident reports with volcanic ashánica, of which 94 of them were confirmed as the cause of the incident this phenomenonóless. of confirmed incidents 20 were of low degree of affectationón and at least 26 of them with dañor serious damage to the engines and fuselage, while a total of 9 events generated cr failuresíengine ethics, apagáwearing these.

One of the más important incidents recorded was the case of the British Airways Speedbird flight 9, a Boeing 747-236B which was in flight over Indonesia when it was foundó with a cloud of volc ashesáunique, without the pilots knowing or having knowledge.

Procedente de la eruptionón of Mount Galunggung located about 180 kilómeters from where the aircraft was, the general cloudó that the four engines are turned off 11 thousand meters high, what it generatedó a Ráask for reactionónumber of pilots, who were able to bring the aircraft to the ground by gliding and managing to restart the engines to finally land in Jakarta with only 3 operating engines, but without any victim to mourn, but yesí showing the críethical and dangerous it is for aviationón these types of events.

what the industry does

The ash fellánica is not sóthe interéyes and concernón of aviationón, but alsoén from world authorities in general due to its potential risks to health and the infrastructure that it could generate..

For aviationón, the ash volcánica isá highly monitored with the help of satélites, imáinfrared genes and government reports with which the well-known ASHTAMs are generated, which are a kind of NOTAM where pilots and airíYou can know the conditions and variations of ash on their routes and destinations..

An additional measure is now available on some aircraft, where the cockpit screens can show the presence of volcanic ashánica, which facilitates decision making and notificationón of these events in the air.

volc asháunique in airports

Lógically, airplanes are not úonly ones affected by volcanic ashánica, but alsoén the airport infrastructure alsoécan suffer the ravages of these phenomenaóany less, afectando su operationón, incluso si la eruptionón it was not close.

The main effects on airports are the cessation of operations, andños in infrastructure and givesñon planes on the ground, which has led to the 2009, 101 airports in 28 different paíhave been affected by the eruptions of 46 volcanoes, I stand outáKnowing that these were at meás de 150 kilómeters of the volcanoán sender.

Equally, airports that are aware of the potential risks of ash, They have action plansón to be able to counteract these emergencies and reduce their impact as much as possibleón a los operationón and users.