The threat level for airplanes is set to orange... for anyone dumb enough to fly over an erupting volcano. The orange flying from the ground would be all the motivation I need to stay clear of it.

It was an awesome video, though.

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jcranmer 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

An erupting volcano can spew ash over a large distance. When Eya.... that Icelandic volcano (that's hard to spell because I don't know Icelandic) erupted several years ago, the ash cloud traveled far enough to disrupt travel over most of Europe for a few days.

	▲	Polizeiposaune 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Eyjafjallajökull

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mschuster91 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> The threat level for airplanes is set to orange... for anyone dumb enough to fly over an erupting volcano.

Even 180km away from the eruption, airplanes can be seriously damaged [1].

Jet engines really, really do not like to ingest anything else than air and, maybe, a tad bit of water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_009

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avalys 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Volcanic ash is particularly bad because it is so abrasive, having been freshly formed without any opportunity for erosion to smooth it down like regular dust.

	▲	duskwuff 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's not the only problem - volcanic ash also has a low enough melting point that it'll melt in the combustion chamber of a jet engine and leave glassy deposits on cooler components.

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euroderf 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Prevailing winds are key. Reykjavíkings told me that during that big eruption many moons ago, all traffic to Europe was ended but traffic to North American continued merrily along.