How does a volcano affect planes?

Answer 1

There are a lot of reasons why volcano ashes in the air affect airplanes.

- Ash can for instance "blind" pilots by sandblasting the windscreen requiring an instrument landing, damage the fuselage. In addition, the sandblasting effect can damage the landing lights, making their beams diffuse and unable to be projected in the forward direction. Propeller aircraft are also endangered.

- When a plane is flying trough a cloud of ashes the planes engines might fail due to a lack of oxygen. Engines need oxygen to burn their fuel and deliver the power necessary for the engines to run. Due to the lack of oxygen in these ash clouds, the engines might fail.

- Accumulation of ash can also block an aircraft's pilot tubes (These are tools to measure fluid/airflow or velocity). This can lead to failure of the aircraft's speeds indicators. Not displaying the correct data.

- A lot of electromagnetic waves can be found in the ashes of a volcano. When a plane flies trough these the radio communication can suffer from it.

There are many instances of damage to jet aircraft as a result of an ash encounter. After the Galunggung, Indonesia volcanic event in 1982, a British Airways Flight 9 flew through an ash cloud; all four engines cut out. The plane descended from 36,000 feet (11,000 m) to 12,000 feet (3,700 m), where the engines could be restarted. On December 15, 1989 a KLM Boeing 747-400 (Flight 867) flying from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Anchorage International Airport encountered similar problems near Mount Redoubt (Alaska). The damage was 80 million US$; there was 80 kg ash in each turbine; it took 3 months work to repair the plane.

Recently the airspace all over Europe was closed due to the presence of volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere from the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull.

Answer 2

Volcanic ash can be ingested by aircraft engines, causing them to fail. Ash particles can also scratch and obscure cockpit windows, interfere with sensors, and lead to poor visibility. Consequently, when a volcano erupts, aviation authorities often close airspace to ensure aircraft safety.