Skip to main content

Airline’s ash detector could put an end to future travel chaos

In April 2010, a volcano with a name that few people can pronounce erupted in Iceland. Eyjafjallajökull spewed ash high into the atmosphere and across Europe, closing down airports on the continent and disrupting air travel around the world. An estimated 10 million passengers were left stranded for more than a week.

While aviation authorities across much of Europe insisted airports should remain closed until the ash cleared, the airlines, who were losing millions of dollars for every day they couldn’t fly, insisted the skies were, for the most part, safe.

Recommended Videos

As one of those stranded far from home, I was rather pleased the authorities were erring on the side of caution, which I found preferable to being faced with melted engines at 38,000 feet.

At some point, it’s going to happen all over again, with another Icelandic volcano, the easier-to-pronounce Katla, ready to blow. Alarmingly, scientists believe Katla, whose next eruption is overdue, will make Eyjafjallajökull’s effort look like little more than a wheezy cough. When it does happen, the airlines want to be prepared, and UK budget flyer easyJet thinks it has the answer.

The airline has been developing the Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector (with the definitely-not-accidental acronym AVOID) which, as its name suggests, detects ash clouds.

The new technology involves two wing-based infrared cameras that can detect particles of ash in the air up to 60 miles ahead. Flying into it could result in an aircraft’s engines melting, so theoretically the pilots would be able to take avoiding action. Quite how an air traffic controller would feel about having to give rapid instructions to possibly lots of planes needing to take avoiding action all at the same time is of course another matter.

The data from the plane’s cameras could be matched with satellite images to produce a 3D view of the plume of ash. According to a Sky News report, the technology has already been tested with a light aircraft flying near Italy’s Mount Etna. Tests on larger planes will be taking place in the near future.

If the AVOID system had been in place during last year’s Icelandic eruption, easyJet’s head of engineering Ian Davies thinks things would’ve been very different. “Airspace would probably have been open for the vast majority of time, in other words we closed lots of airspace that we would not have had to, if we’d had this technology.”

However, Dr Colin Brown from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers struck a cautionary note, saying that AVOID doesn’t make aircraft ash-proof. “We shouldn’t be duped into thinking that this is a solution which allows everyone to fly. It’s a detection system, it doesn’t actually improve the safety of the aircraft.”

Would you be happy flying in an area close to where ash is floating about if your aircraft was using the AVOID system, or would you prefer to keep your feet firmly on the ground until the situation had blown over?

[Top image: J. Helgason / Shutterstock] [Bottom image: Tupungato / Shutterstock]

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
U.S. EVs will get universal plug and charge access in 2025
u s evs will get universal plug charge access in 2025 ev car to charging station power cable plugged shutterstock 1650839656

And then, it all came together.

Finding an adequate, accessible, and available charging station; charging up; and paying for the service before hitting the road have all been far from a seamless experience for many drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S.

Read more
Rivian tops owner satisfaction survey, ahead of BMW and Tesla
The front three-quarter view of a 2022 Rivian against a rocky backdrop.

Can the same vehicle brand sit both at the bottom of owner ratings in terms of reliability and at the top in terms of overall owner satisfaction? When that brand is Rivian, the answer is a resonant yes.

Rivian ranked number one in satisfaction for the second year in a row, with owners especially giving their R1S and R1T electric vehicle (EV) high marks in terms of comfort, speed, drivability, and ease of use, according to the latest Consumer Reports (CR) owner satisfaction survey.

Read more
Hybrid vehicle sales reach U.S. record, but EV sales drop in third quarter
Tesla Cybertruck

The share of electric and hybrid vehicle sales continued to grow in the U.S. in the third quarter, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this month.

Taken together, sales of purely electric vehicles (EVs), hybrids, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) represented 19.6% of total light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales last quarter, up from 19.1% in the second quarter.

Read more