With 20 or so volcanoes active at any one time, ash clouds like this must occur all round the world especially in the area of the ring of fire. Yet in all my years flying round the world I have never seen such an over reaction. I am all for safety first but I can't help thinking this is becoming a face saving exercise by those who have made this incredible decision to close the airspace.
What I really don't understand is why manufacturers and those who are making the decisions are not pouring money and time in to getting some solid scientific data on the effect of this type of ash on the aircraft. Get some test aircraft up there instead of leaving it to the airlines.
The long term impact on the economy is going to be huge if this goes on much longer and not just for the airlines! Time the Governments got of their arses and started to get some facts instead of relying on poor science, nobody knows how this cloud will effect aircraft it appears.
They keep trotting out the same stories including the BA flight that hit the plume of a volcano some years ago but fail to mention the ash cloud they flew into was very close to the volcano and the ash was altogether different and more dense.
So my message to those in charge is get your fingers out and go get some facts instead of speculation based on poor science or worse no science.
