People
Saying that sending a BA 747 up is a publicity stunt is just daft.
The arguments against flying from all those that are allegedly in the know and all the "experts" that post here is the contamination on the engine blades. They bang on about the finnish airforce jet etc etc etc. Well precisely the reason BA, LH, AF and KLM are flying aircraft about presently is to see if there is any build up.
Rather than taking the scientists word for it, because even the scientists accept that they have no idea what concentration IS dangerous and what concentration isnt, the airlines have gone up and conducted flights. They have weighed up the risks and the worst case scenario is that one of them comes back with ash deposits all over the engine(s) and maybe they have to scrap the airframe. That is NOT a publicity stunt. That is helping the scientists validate and verify their current data.
If the Dornier that flew last week was able to detect a level of concentration and that level appears NOT to incur any ash damage on the engine, then we now have a starting point at which we can continue to validate so that in the future, we can tune that concentration level to get it as accurate as possible.
Working with the scientists on the ground, if the eruption characteristics change, we can get further air samples taken by the Dornier or any other measuring capability and compare it to the levels we have now so that airlines can be advised to shut down ops if they need to. And if this happens, the airlines can send up another series of flights to validate that concentration level.
No airline is going to put its aircraft in the air knowingly endangering the public, but they also appreciate that maybe a complete shutdown is not the answer either. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, the possibility exists that 000's of passengers are stranded unnecessarily. The airlines would also be the first to say that they have flown their aircraft and it simply is not safe to fly.
Sadly you will probably never see photos of any of the engines that have been flying about in the last 2 days but if you did, would the nay sayers now accept that maybe, it is ok to fly?
Obviously im talking about flying in clear air here....... not in the middle of the plume itself!!!!!!
Enjoy lunch
GW