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Aircraft incidents involving volcanic ash

With flights only now just starting to takeoff again in Western Europe, it might be a good time to revisit past incidents involving aircraft and volcanic ash which illustrate just how dangerous volcanic ash can be to aviation under certain circumstances. Both the Airline Biz Blog and Flight Blogger have recalled a 1982 incident involving a British Airways Boeing 747 that flew through volcanic ash over Indonesia while in route to Perth Australia. All four engines failed but the captain was eventually able to land safely in Jakarta and the incident eventually led to a network of volcanic ash advisory centres being set up to monitor and track volcanic ash clouds. You can learn more about the incident on Wikipedia plus the The Times of London has recently interviewed the Pilot of the aircraft for his thoughts and there is also an episode of “Air Emergency, Air Crash Investigation” that recreates what happened. 

In addition, another incident that involved a KLM Boeing 747 flight that flew through an ash cloud from a 1989 eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska is told on the website of the Aviation Safety Network. Luckily, the aircraft was also able to land safely with only minor damage.

I don't believe it - all four engines have failed

How to fly through a volcanic ash cloud

If you are one of our pilot readers in Western European, we will assume that you are still probably grounded due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. However and in case you have wondered how you might be able to fly through a volcanic ash cloud, Jon Ostrower has posted a link on Flight Blogger to a 1999 article in Aero magazine – Boeing’s technical magazine. According to Jon’s summary of the article, the following nine procedures are general recommendations for an encounter with a volcanic ash cloud:

    1. Reduce thrust to idle immediately.
    2. Turn the autothrottles off.
    3. Exit the ash cloud as quickly as possible. 
    4. Turn on engine and wing anti-ice devices and all air-conditioning packs.
    5. If possible, start the auxiliary power unit (APU).
    6. If volcanic dust fills the flight deck, the crew may need to use oxygen.
    7. Turn on the continuous ignition.
    8. Monitor engine exhaust gas temperature (EGT).
    9. Fly the airplane by monitoring airspeed and pitch attitude.

Jon includes further details with his summarized recommendations as well as pictures. However and if you want to see just what type of damage volcanic ash can do to an aircraft engine, commenter AirShowFan has posted a link to a Discovery News article that includes inspection images of DC-8 engines and F-18 engines after a flight a volcanic ash cloud. After taking a look at all the pictures, all that we can say is that its probably a good idea to stay on the ground for the time being.

Volcanic Ash Damage to an Engine

FAA version of High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth(1),
And danced(2) the skies on laughter silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed(3) and joined the tumbling mirth(4)
Of sun-split clouds(5) and done a hundred things(6)

You have not dreamed of — Wheeled and soared and swung(7)
High in the sunlit silence(8). Hov’ring there(9)

I’ve chased the shouting wind(10) along and flung(11)
My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious(12), burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights(13) with easy grace,

Where never lark, or even eagle(14) flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space(15),
Put out my hand(16), and touched the face of God.

NOTE:

1. Pilots must insure that all surly bonds have been slipped entirely before aircraft taxi or flight is attempted.

2. During periods of severe sky dancing, crew and passengers must keep seatbelts fastened. Crew should wear shoulderbelts as provided.

3. Sunward climbs must not exceed the maximum permitted aircraft ceiling.

4. Passenger aircraft are prohibited from joining the tumbling mirth.

5. Pilots flying through sun-split clouds under VFR conditions must comply with all applicable minimum clearances.

6. Do not perform these hundred things in front of Federal Aviation Administration inspectors.

7. Wheeling, soaring, and swinging will not be attempted except in aircraft rated for such activities and within utility class weight limits.

8. Be advised that sunlit silence will occur only when a major engine malfunction has occurred.

9. “Hov’ring there” will constitute a highly reliable signal that a flight emergency is imminent.

10. Forecasts of shouting winds are available from the local FSS. Encounters with unexpected shouting winds should be reported by pilots.

11. Pilots flinging eager craft through footless halls of air are reminded that they alone are responsible for maintaining separation from other eager craft.

12. Should any crewmember or passenger experience delirium while in the burning blue, submit an irregularity report upon flight termination.

13. Windswept heights will be topped by a minimum of 1,000 feet to maintain VFR minimum separations.

14. Aircraft engine ingestion of, or impact with, larks or eagles should be reported to the FAA and the appropriate aircraft maintenance facility.

15. Aircraft operating in the high untresspassed sanctity of space must remain in IFR flight regardless of meteorlogical conditions and visibility.

16. Pilots and passengers are reminded that opening doors or windows in order to touch the face of God may result in loss of cabin pressure.

Amazing glider stunt over the Austrian Alps video

Hat tip to Rodney’s Aviation Ramblings blog for finding and posting this very amazing and cool video sponsored by Red Bull of two gliders doing formation flying over spectacular Austrian mountain scenery. In the video, skydiver Paul Steiner manages to climb from one glider to the other to touch its rudder – you have to watch the video to better understand what I mean and just how difficult the stunt actually was. In other words, its not something you see nor would you attempt on a regular basis!

One pilot’s checklist…

All pilots know the importance of having checklists for the specific aircraft that they are flying and some of these checklists can be much more complicated and lengthier than others depending upon the type of aircraft being flown. Hence Sulako, the blogger behind Sulako’s Blog, has recently posted this checklist (we have excluded all of the “painful and boring” details) for the aircraft he flies:

      1. Customs/canpass
      2. Oxygen system
      3. Circuit breakers all in, switches switched appropriately – we double-check these because our maintenance guys could have done routine maintenance on the airplane and left c/b’s pulled or switches in unusual positions as part of their maintenance checks.
      4. We fire up our standby attitude indicator (we actually have 2 standby AI’s) to make sure it has spun up before flight
      5. If we are doing a ground-power-unit (GPU / battery cart) start, then we leave our generators off, but if we are doing an engine start from our own battery we leave our gens on…
      6. Battery emer check
      7. We check our various warning systems
      8. We check our fuel crossfeed valves and indicators
      9. Inverters
      10. Pressurization and environmental
      11. Trim / Flaps
      12. CVR
      13. Autopilot 
      14. Atis / GPS / Data / Takeoff Briefing / clocks and bugs
      15. Pax advisory / coffee

Below these checks is a little black line with further checks to perform once everyone is on board (he includes these check in another paragraph). In fact, he noted that he can do all of these checks in about five minutes (since he is familiar with the plane) – less time than it took to write them down…

checklist

How to recognize and recover from spatial disorientation

Experiencing spatial disorientation in flight can potentially be deadly and yet it can sometimes be difficult to tell when you are experiencing such an illusion. Hence, Jason Schappert of MzeroA.com has recently created and posted a podcast and a video that covers the topic of spatial disorientation in flight. In the first podcast, Jason discuses the different types of illusions that can occur in flight by using the following acronym:

I – Inversion

C – Coriolis

E – Elevator

F – False Horizon

L – Leans

A – Autokinesis

G – Graveyard Spin/Spiral

S – Somoatogravic

Jason explains how to recognize each of these spatial disorientations and more importantly, how to recover from them:

In the second video, Jason asks his viewers what instruments you can trust when you are spatially disorientated. In the video, Jason explains that you should first look at your airspeed indicator and then your other instruments and adjust accordingly: