Bullet
I understand your arguement too. We talk about Volcanos and ash as if it is some sort of new phenomina which has hit us and which scientists are quickly trying to find a solution to to save us from this new threat.
Infact the problem has been around in various corners of the globe for as long as aviation has existed.
The only difference from the 60s and 70s is that back then no one would have known whether they had flown through invisible ash and probably wouldnt have cared anyway.
Nowadays we do care or should I say the masses of government departments who see a new target for their attention care as do our huge liability driven society.
The science is far from perfect as shown by numerous non aviation scares in the past. (we are all going to die from bird flu etc and all the media hype surrounding those episodes)
There is a risk in flying. Proven safety holes have to be identified and plugged.
Against that there also has to be a level of common sense or the industry gets bogged down by burocracy, huge expenses and overregulation.
Unlike many threat areas which are killers but which we seem to accept and live with to date throughout the history of aviation ASH has not killed anyone.
We have to trust the science and that is the big ?mark
Pace