Measurements show aerosols in cloud of ash after
Researchers confirm danger to aircraft engines
The Icelandic ash cloud over Europe in fact contains dangerous for aircraft volcanic aerosols.
The researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, confirmed by measurements.
[Caption: Researchers at the ETH Zurich had the dangerous volcanic aerosols in the ash cloud after.]
Over the weekend had been conducted in Switzerland several measurements with balloons, lasers and measurement aircraft and evaluated, the ETH-Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Thomas Peters: "We were at a height between vier and five kilometers find a particularly high proportion of volcanic aerosols. "
For the first time have such amount and structure of the aerosol layer can be recorded scientifically.
For men are not dangerous to the particles, as the concentration was very low at the moment and will filter the air we breathe on the way into the alveoli, Peter said. The daily fine dust by traffic, by contrast, much more dangerous.
Glass deposits found in engines
[Caption: The heat could ashes into the engines of the aircraft to fuse the glass.]
For the volcanic aerosols turbine aircraft may be dangerous, since the aerosols melt from the heat in the engines and cause glass deposits. Aircraft with a piston engine, however, can continue to run safely. First, the air is filtered before entering the engine, on the other hand, the pilot flies mostly on sight and can land in emergencies safer than using a large multi-beam passenger aircraft.
Meanwhile, a U.S. official confirmed that was found at a NATO fighter jet engine in the glass, which was due to the volcanic ash.
The jet had been found on a test flight over Europe. It is the ashes in the engine gets hot. "You can fly, but it is very dangerous," it said.
Last week, already at two F-18 fighter jets of the Finnish Air Force found similar damage to the engine.
German research flight in the evening
A scheduled flight research, the new data to the volcanic ash cloud is to bring about Germany, will start in the evening. The final date is 18 clock, a spokeswoman said the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen. The flight will take two to three hours.