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Contingency Planning: Volcanic Ash
From SKYbrary Wiki
| Article Information | ||
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| Category: | Weather | 
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| Content source: | SKYbrary | 
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| Content control: | EUROCONTROL | 
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| WX | |
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| Tag(s) | Volcanic Ash |
Contents |
Definition
Volcanic ash consists of small pieces of pulverized rock and glass up to 2 millimetres in diameter that are thrown into the atmosphere during an eruption. It can cause breathing problems and may lead to equipment malfunctions, especially if ingested by aircraft engines.
Description
A strong misconception amongst air navigation service providers (ANSPs) is that volcanic ash does not affect them when there are no volcanoes in or near to their territory. However volcanic ash travels for thousands of miles and the ash cloud itself can be in excess of 2000 miles long. Examples of volcanic ash affecting aircraft include a B747 over Chicago Illinois damaged by ash from the Philippines and a DC9 on descent into El Paso, Texas damaged by volcanic ash from Alaska. Within Europe, volcanic activities in Iceland, Italy, The Canary Islands and the Azores all pose a potential threat.
In response, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has produced a Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan (ICAO EUR Doc 019).
In addition, further information and advice for ANSPs can be found:
- on the ICAO EUR & NAT web site,
- in ICAO Doc 9766, International Airways Volcano Watch, and
- in a paper presented by IATA at the ICAO ATM/AIS/SAR/SG/15 meeting held in July 2005, Contingency Planning for Volcanic Eruptions.
The safety implications for aircraft routing through volcanic ash clouds are well known and obvious. ANSPs are encouraged, therefore, to consider the information providing in the reference material below, in particular with regard to their coordination with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres/Meteorological Watch Offices, airlines and Central Flow Management Unit CFMU. Moreover, ANSPs should take an active part in the volcanic ash exercises organised in their areas of responsibility, to ensure their readiness in case of actual volcanic ash activity
Related Articles
- Emergency Phase in Contingency
- Fail to Safe
- Testing and Exercising
- Training for Contingency Operations
- Volcanic Ash
Further reading
- For further information on Contingency Planning see the EUROCONTROL, Guidelines for Contingency Planning for Air Navigation Services (including Service Continuity)