Airlines Fight Iceland's Erupting Volcano with New Ash-Detection Technology

June 7, 2010 at 12:41 PM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

While updates of tornadoes in the Midwest and the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico dominate news in North America, the volcanic ash situation in Iceland is still very much a hot topic in Europe. And, since Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to erupt, ash cloud issues could continue delaying and canceling flights through the rest of the summer and into fall. To combat this, one low-cost airline is going on the offensive by testing new technology.

easyJet, a British-based airline that flies all over Europe and ranks slightly better than competitor Ryanair, is spending almost $1.5 million to equip some of their planes not with in-flight WiFi, but with AVOID. AVOID stands for "Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector," gadgets designed to work similar to weather detection systems for thunderstorms, but specifically targeting ash clouds. A little more detail, thanks to MSNBC:

The company said the devices � which are placed on an aircraft's tail fin and can detect ash clouds within 60 miles (100 kilometers) � are the first of their kind, calling them "essentially a weather radar for ash."

Justin Dubon, a spokesman for the Toulouse, France-based Airbus, said his company has no plans beyond its initial testing with easyJet � the airline is using an Airbus A340 test plane for a trial within the next couple of months before rolling the device out for wider testing on its own aircraft.

AVOID won't be totally useful unless approved for use on other airlines, and with many airplanes actually using it up in the sky, for best coverage. That said, it's still a step forward. It just goes to prove that the airlines cannot be bullied by an ash cloud; bullying is the airlines' job.

Related Stories:
· easyJet to Test Infrared Ash Detectors on Planes [MSNBC]
· Just How Badly Did Volcanic Ash Screw the Airline Industry? [Jaunted]
· Volcanic ash coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bob the courier]

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