The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull and its effects on air travel is quite interesting. Most of Europe’s air travel is effectively shut down. On one hand, the seriousness of ash’s impact on BA9 (1982) and KLM867 (1989) – Those flights, both 4-engine Boeing 747s, suffered complete engine shutdowns and glided powerless from ~30,000 feet to ~10,000 feet before engine restart – can not be denied. In both cases, compressor failure was caused by the combination of silica-rich ash and the extremely high temperatures inside a jet engine creating glass – Glass that coated the insides of the engine rendering it useless until it broke off as the engine cooled.
Today, one of Boeing’s recommended procedures for volcanic ash penetration is to cool the engine by reducing thrust to minimize molten debris accumulation.
Meanwhile, the economic impact of no air travel – Manufacturing plants can’t get parts, employees are stranded in remote locations, fresh food deliveries, not to mention the airlines’ revenue losses – Means that the public clamor to reopen airspace is getting louder and louder.
But I am a little worried about the airlines and their personnel. Conducting a couple low altitude “test flights” in VFR conditions to pressure regulators into opening the airspace is one thing, but have any of the airlines taken one of their $100 million 747s into the real ash? And the rather callous “100 percent safety does not exist” statement from Steven Verhagen, vice president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association, sets off all sorts of red flags! Remind me not to fly KLM again.
Engine failures happen every day – Pilots shut the failed engine down and continue to their destination. In one case, a BA 747 suffered a failure on departure from Los Angeles and continued for the next nine hours to England. Reviewing the incident identified 15 similar BA engine shutdowns and flight continuations in the previous four years.
But the next one will be different – You know CNN, the BBC and everybody else will be all over the next engine shutdown. And the talking heads and “expert” commentators will have a field day during the days it takes to remove and inspect the engine to determine why it really failed. Mark my words – Opening up European airspace won’t end this story, it’ll just bring it to the second chapter! As I said, this is quite interesting!
