Three years ago I was finishing up my junior year of college and also finishing up one of the best semesters of my life. It was my semester abroad in London and it was the time of my life that really helped me realized who I was growing up to be and solidified my love for travel.
But the worst part of that semester was not an exam I took (haha an exam in a study abroad experience) or a roommate problem...nope...it was Eyjafjallajökull the Icelandic volcano. You see the volcano decided that it was going to erupt just before our final exam period and cause huge amounts of flight delays all over Europe. The ash from the volcano is deadly for aircraft and the airlines were canceling flights to avoid that situation from even having a chance to happen. It canceled a trip my friends and I had planned to Berlin and it also almost ruined all of our trips home back to the United States. I always wondered what steps the airlines and/or scientists were taking to address the problem and today I found out.
Enter: Easy Jet. Yes, that Easy Jet. The discount British airline that is just a few steps above Ryan Air, but still charges you for everything that they can get their hands on. Though, in my opinion, as long as you read the rules and know what to expect, it's not that bad for short hop flights from Europe. I mean...you can stand an hour in a plane plastered with adds if you get away with it for about $30.
Anyway...Easy Jet along with Airbus and Nicarnica Aviation, a Norwegian research company, are developing a new radar system that would be able to detect volcanic ash up to 60 miles before planes would reach it. This would allow the pilots the opportunity to make course corrections and hopefully avoid any of the danger.
But the coolest thing about this new radar is they are actually going to test it with the over one ton of volcanic ash they collected from the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption. They plan to have a lead plane that will take bits of ash to dump out and a trailer plane, outfitted with the new radar system, will test the effectiveness.
This is just another example of how cool the science behind flight and all the measures that aviation companies take to consistently improve really is. We've seen great advancements over the past few years with a move toward different fuselage designs and skins to make the aircraft more efficient and even technology on the 787 that has the ability to reduce turbulence by anticipating it before it happens.
Plus...who doesn't like the visual image of a volcano fighting airplane? Ok...just me?
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