Can a techie please explain to me the technical implications of flying through a volcanic dust cloud? (i'm referring to turbofan engines).
Is it because the oxygen content of the air is so low that there cannot be combustion of the fuel and the engines may flame out? (per the BA flight in '82?).
Could there also be an engine wear issue - abrasive dust getting in to bearings/abrading fan blades etc?
Would it also affect pitot readings?
Apologies if this seems a stupid question to those in the know, but i'm SLF not an aeronautical technician
TIA
More or less all of those things Dave. The engines from BA009 were completely totalled, due to accreated pumice on all the hot surfaces. Plus the pumice would have ground the bearings square and changed the profile of all the gas passages. The fact that Capt. Moody and his crew got them restarted is really the clearest demonstration of just how amazing modern high bypass fan jets are. Their enormous power, coupled with fuel frugality at altitude and metronomic reliabilty, make them truly awesome machines.
Oh, and the cockpit windscreens were abraided opaque as were the landing light lenses and vitually all the paint on leading surfaces.
Roger.