A bold move by British Airways in April–the launching of 26 airplanes toward the UK while British airspace was closed–finally broke the European airspace logjam caused by volcanic ash clouds from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The UK Civil Aviation Authority claims that its decision to open the airspace was the result of new guidance about volcanic ash concentrations, coincidentally decided upon in time to allow the British Airways airplanes to land at their London bases.
While that effort underscored the confusion and the pressures among the various authorities responsible for each Balkanized bit of European airspace, the fact remains that flying through volcanic ash is not a good idea. Aircraft and engine manufacturers have spent countless hours disseminating advice to operators regarding ash effects and, while Eyjafjallajökull continues rumbling and burping ash into the atmosphere, operators have had to modify flight routes, consider how to deal with an engine-out emergency that causes driftdown into ash clouds and watch for potential ash encounters while en route. The situation remains as fluid as
the magma deep beneath Eyjafjallajökull’s jagged openings to the outside world.
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