ayroplain - Yes mate I have been in an aeroplane once or twice. You don't have to climb through the ash cloud to get above, ie climb south out of Preswick based on the 0600 SFC to FL200, then fly over it a 410, which is what the did. Therefore O'Leary won't find any ash on his 73.
For him to claim there is no ash there is correct but he might have been telling a very different story had he trogged around below 200.
Thanks for your input.