Was anyone around last time Mt St Helens went up ? What sort of exclusion zone was set round it, and for how long ? Is one in place at the moment ? Any special procedures needed for dealing with the ash ?
Lots has change since then. We've had a couple of world wide conferences to ensure that things like ATC communications, NOAA , and Flight Crew Operating Manuals for the product have been updated.
If you follow the instructions your risk is low. Do not assume that the ash is confined to the nearby locations arround the volcano. In fact there may be some perfectly clear areas near active volcanos and deadly areas hundreds of miles away. This is why we need satelite imagry and intelligent ATC and understanding pilots
. Alaska Airlines has lots of experience in flying near active volcanos without a problem.
My mesage is,
if you don't know than your shouldn't go anywhere within 500 miles of an active volcano Wait for informative info first.