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There is a great video on the mentour pilot channel explaining this in more detail
In short, forest smoke are microscopic carbon particles, while volcanic ash are small pieces of stone, kinda like fine sand. When aircraft meets a cloud of volcanic ash, there are multiple dangers it presents. First, it starts sandblasting outside of the aircraft, including windshields, making it milky and foggy, affecting visibility, and external sensors (for example, pitot tubes, which affects air speed measurement). Also, it sandblasts engine blades, which may eventually weaken them, but main danger comes when ash gets into the combustion chamber, melts, and then sticks into engine parts after the combustion chamber solidifying into glass which stalls and damages the engine. When engine stalls, the combustion chamber cools down, and molten rock solidifies inside of it, which makes restarting the engine difficult if not impossible since all moving parts are glued by rock.
There is a great video on the mentour pilot channel explaining this in more detail
In short, forest smoke are microscopic carbon particles, while volcanic ash are small pieces of stone, kinda like fine sand. When aircraft meets a cloud of volcanic ash, there are multiple dangers it presents. First, it starts sandblasting outside of the aircraft, including windshields, making it milky and foggy, affecting visibility, and external sensors (for example, pitot tubes, which affects air speed measurement). Also, it sandblasts engine blades, which may eventually weaken them, but main danger comes when ash gets into the combustion chamber, melts, and then sticks into engine parts after the combustion chamber solidifying into glass which stalls and damages the engine. When engine stalls, the combustion chamber cools down, and molten rock solidifies inside of it, which makes restarting the engine difficult if not impossible since all moving parts are glued by rock.
Smoke particles are mostly small enough and light enough to stay airborne. Volcanic “ash”, by contrast, is basically lumps of stone and glass of assorted sizes – hard, heavy and sometimes rather large (over 2 inches – so-called “volcanic bombs”). It’s only up in the air at all because it’s been blasted up there by the force of the eruption. And there’s a LOT of it – the ash that fell when Vesuvius erupted, for example, buried the coastal town of Heculaneum near Pompeii under a layer of rock **80ft** deep.
Aircraft engines don’t tend to work well with tonnes and tonnes of stone dust blasting through them. Few things do. As for the possibility of the airframe colliding at high speed with some of the larger lumps…
Smoke particles are mostly small enough and light enough to stay airborne. Volcanic “ash”, by contrast, is basically lumps of stone and glass of assorted sizes – hard, heavy and sometimes rather large (over 2 inches – so-called “volcanic bombs”). It’s only up in the air at all because it’s been blasted up there by the force of the eruption. And there’s a LOT of it – the ash that fell when Vesuvius erupted, for example, buried the coastal town of Heculaneum near Pompeii under a layer of rock **80ft** deep.
Aircraft engines don’t tend to work well with tonnes and tonnes of stone dust blasting through them. Few things do. As for the possibility of the airframe colliding at high speed with some of the larger lumps…
Sawdust is soft.
Sand is abrasive.
Burnt sawdust is still soft.
Powdered sand is still abrasive.
Sawdust is soft.
Sand is abrasive.
Burnt sawdust is still soft.
Powdered sand is still abrasive.
Volcanic ash usually contains more than just the ash. There are corrosive gases, such as h2s and so2 that are likely to corrode engine internals. Also, if a volcano is emitting smoke, it’s pretty likely that the activity is considered too dangerous for a fly-over. Imagine flying over it with a couple tons of earth and magma are thrown you.
Volcanic ash usually contains more than just the ash. There are corrosive gases, such as h2s and so2 that are likely to corrode engine internals. Also, if a volcano is emitting smoke, it’s pretty likely that the activity is considered too dangerous for a fly-over. Imagine flying over it with a couple tons of earth and magma are thrown you.
Smoke and volcanic ash are very different.
Smoke is from the buts of combustibles that haven’t burned all the way, usually hydrocarbon molecules. It’s very small and very light.
Volcanic ash is literally rock. It’s a very fine dust that way thrown up into the air, but if it gets into an engine, it will reek havoc. Imagine trying to breathe through sand, it’s like that.
Smoke and volcanic ash are very different.
Smoke is from the buts of combustibles that haven’t burned all the way, usually hydrocarbon molecules. It’s very small and very light.
Volcanic ash is literally rock. It’s a very fine dust that way thrown up into the air, but if it gets into an engine, it will reek havoc. Imagine trying to breathe through sand, it’s like that.
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