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Ashes v. Plane engines: industry still divided
On 22 July, the largest EU and US companies representing the aerospace industry met to discuss safety issues related to flying through clouds of volcanic ashes, such as those from the Eyjafjallajökull glacier in Iceland, which blocked the EU airspace three months ago, leading to a total mayhem of stranded passengers and airline revenue losses of over $ 1.7 billion.
Industry groups called for further research on the real effect of volcanic ashes on airplane engines and technical equipment. Amongst the problems is the fact that every eruption produces different size particles which have different chemical compositions.
For the US Federal Aviation Administration, every time volcanic clouds can be seen, these should be considered as potentially harmful as a violent thunderstorm and be avoided. Honeywell International engineers have been studying engines that flew more than 30 hours through various concentrations of ashes and said they found that in one of them signs of internal corrosion and damage had been detected. Honeywell has not made any public statement yet, as the company needs several further weeks of testing.
Discussions among all concerned parties will continue over the coming weeks to search for potential standards that could eventually allow limited flying in areas where ash is visible.
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