Ash damage to aircraft engines

[Vultch]

An interesting article with pics Finnish F18's flew through the Volcanic Ash cloud..

Here

[dieselboy]

Thanks for the link. That's interesting

[pirate-storm]

just been watching 'bang goes the theory' n they explain what the ash can do to jet engines it can turn to form a glass which can stick to the turbine blades if you havent seen it look it up on bbc iplayer very interesting

[JUDWAK]

it will have a type of chlorine in the ash too
when it gets damp theres a biuld up of chlorine sulfur and the like
ends up being very acidic and eats metal easy
tiz the same with soot from fires

[blackpoolsparks]

A BA flight nearly crashed in 1982, I think, due to volcanic ash.
Lost both engines for a while.
Saw it on Aircrash Investigations on Discovery Channel a while back.

[Vultch]

The more I read, even if they fly tomorrow with the cloud diluted in strength, the flights should be safe but the engines may pick up minor damage... its costly to fix and it effects their mpg even a minor drop in efficiency upsets the airlines profit margins.... so long term it might prove very costly to fly tomorrow

[dieselboy]

I'm sure the planes would be alright if they just put their foot down.