Pace:
As long as it is medium or longterm damage and not "instant" damage that is of little concern to us other than through increased airfares to cover the extra maintenance and rectification work.
That problem becomes a business cost problem and not a safety issue.
What I would like to ask the sooth sayers here is what their solution is?
Barring a detailed research programme into the damage effects of low level ash which will still need field testing what are the alternatives?
Do you close down masses of airspace which may contain tiny amounts of ash until they are totally clear?
Or do you take a slightly less cautious approach?
We already identified that as yet NO aircraft has been downed with loss of life because of ash. That even includes heavy ash encounters.
1. While the cost may be of little concern to you, I can assure you that a mistake on the part of the engine manufacturers, airframe builders, airlines, met office and regulators is likely to be extremely costly. It's not even about the cost of the components to be replaced,
It's about the logistics of suddenly requiring the inspection, repair or replacement of perhaps hundreds of engines per day.
There are about 1000 transatlantic flights to and from Europe per day. Say 10% get a mouthful of ash. Guessing the mix of Two, and Four engine aircraft, lets say that we have 300+ affected engines.
There is simply not enough labour, spare engines or spare parts, or component repair capacity to handle this workload - and this is only in one day!
2. The only "alternative" I'm aware of is not to fly the aircraft in Ash.
To put it another way, in terms you might understand better, let us say that by some ungodly mistake, extremely sharp nails were scattered over the length and breadth of British roads, such that one in Ten cars found themselves with a puncture each day.
The queues at garages on day one would be a mile long. By day Two all garages are out of new tyres and repair materials and their staff are exhausted. At the end of day Three, there is not a spare tyre or tube to be found in Britain and the motorways and roads are littered with disabled cars.
Do you get the picture now?