Iceland's Volcanic Ash halts flights across Europe

(Dive Travel Business News - April 15, 2010) -- LONDON – An ash cloud from a spewing volcano in Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier near Reykjavik has halted air traffic across a wide swath of Europe on Thursday, grounding planes on a scale unseen since the 2001 terror attacks.

Thousands of flights were canceled, stranding tens of thousands of passengers, and officials said it was not clear when it would be safe enough to fly again. The ash-plumb threat will continue through Sunday, predicted Europe AccuWeather. The threat is expected to decrease next week, but there still could be problems. If the volcano continues to erupt for more than a year, as it did the last time, periodic disruptions to air traffic could continue, according to Bill McGuire, a professor at the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Center in London.Flights into Europe have been cancelled for the time being. More coverage here.

More facts about ash courtesy of Travel Mole USA:
Aircraft avoid ash because it can wreck the flight’s propellers, among other dangers. The fine ash can collect at the same altitude as planes. Iceland’s volcanic ash became a menace to air travel as it drifted south and east towards northern Europe. The ash plume drifted in about 20,000 to 36,000 feet high where it could get sucked into airplane engines and cause them to shut down. Smoke and ash can also affect aircraft visibility. Another danger is that radar can’t detect the ash.

There have been several incidences of aircraft flying through ash.  One example: a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, KLM flight 867. lost all four engines in 1989 after encountering ash from Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano. Four other airlines were damaged during the next three months, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site. The crew was able to restart the engines of the KLM flight after the plane dropped from 27,900 feet to 13,300 feet and landed safely. No one was injured.

** This RSS Feed is brought to you by www.DiveTravelBusinessNews.com **