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This week is a first in European, if not world, aviation.

Although for years airline pilots have routinely and legally been required to check for the presence of vocanic ash on their flights, this week the Air Traffic Authorities have stepped in and overruled any authority that airlines and pilots have.

As the event recedes and flights resume there will inevitably be questions asked. Was the action too heavy handed? Have the authorities yielded to commercial pressure?

In my opinion any airline that chose to put its passengers at any sort of risk would be bankrupt the next day if anything happened to the welfare of safety of those passengers. A well know carrier lost 100,000 bookings and potential bookings immediately following the loss of one of their aircraft. That was 20 years ago…now an airline wouldn’t survive. So there’s nothing in oit for the airlines to go against safety advice. The great influence they have of course is the fact that they make the authorities consider their opinions carefully and investigate matters fully.

It is a credit to the airlines that they have made aircraft available to check out the levels and effects of dust. There has been a lot of research into the effects of ash on jet engines and crew training has incorporated engine re-starting procedures in this unlikely event.

FROM THE CAA WEBSITE

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s independent specialist regulator with oversight of aviation safety, today issues new guidance on the use of airspace. This is issued in conjunction with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and covers the Anglo Irish Functional Airspace Block (FAB).

The new guidance allows a phased reintroduction from 2200 tonight of much of the airspace which is currently closed due to the volcanic ash plume over the UK. There will continue to be some ‘no fly zones’ where concentrations of ash are at levels unsafe for flights to take place, but very much smaller than the present restrictions. Furthermore, the Met Office advise that the ‘no fly zones’ do not currently cover the UK.

“Making sure that air travellers can fly safely is the CAA’s overriding priority.

“The CAA has drawn together many of the world’s top aviation engineers and experts to find a way to tackle this immense challenge, unknown in the UK and Europe in living memory. Current international procedures recommend avoiding volcano ash at all times. In this case owing to the magnitude of the ash cloud, its position over Europe and the static weather conditions most of the EU airspace had to close and aircraft could not be physically routed around the problem area as there was no space to do so. We had to ensure, in a situation without precedent, that decisions made were based on a thorough gathering of data and analysis by experts. This evidence based approach helped to validate a new standard that is now being adopted across Europe.

“The major barrier to resuming flight has been understanding tolerance levels of aircraft to ash. Manufacturers have now agreed increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas.”

Our way forward is based on international data and evidence from previous volcanic ash incidents, new data collected from test flights and additional analysis from manufacturers over the past few days. It is a conservative model allowing a significant buffer on top of the level the experts feel may pose a risk.

In addition, the CAA’s Revised Airspace Guidance requires airlines to:
· conduct their own risk assessment and develop operational procedures to address any remaining risks;
· put in place an intensive maintenance ash damage inspection before and after each flight; and
· report any ash related incidents to a reporting scheme run by the CAA.

The CAA will also continue to monitor the situation with tests both in the air and on the ground.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The CAA’s Revised Airspace Guidance will be based on new engine ash tolerance levels and will apply to low ash density areas identified by the Met Office. This information will be circulated on a six hourly basis. Airspace where eash levels exceed this new limit will be no fly zones.

2. The CAA is the UK’s specialist aviation regulator. Its activities include: making sure that the aviation industry meets the highest technical and operational safety standards; preventing holidaymakers from being stranded abroad or losing money because of tour operator insolvency; planning and regulating all UK airspace; and regulating airports, air traffic services and airlines and providing advice on aviation policy from an economic standpoint.

More to follow

meanwhile this link defines the CAA position