The point I was trying to make that there's a big difference between flying through a dense cloud of volcanic ash (like the BA) and flying through wat we have over Europe at the moment.
Well yes OK, circuitbreaker13, that is indeed the point, or part of it, but
not in the way you intend. The stuff that's in the atmosphere now is potentially more lethal precisely because, given the role of ice in the eruption, it is not just garden-variety volcanic ash.
Some posts in this thread undermine my confidence in the judgement of many who practise the profession of pilotry (if there is such a word ...).