Plane maker's secret memo to airliner pilots: Volcanic dust can destroy your engines in ONE MINUTE

[marmar]

from the Daily Record (Scotland):



Plane maker's secret memo to airliner pilots: Volcanic dust can destroy your engines in ONE MINUTE
May 14 2010 By Ian Sparks


PILOTS have been warned that a volcanic ash cloud could wipe out their engines in just one minute.

Plane makers Airbus issued the chilling warning in a memo advising pilots on how to handle the Icelandic eruption.

The guidance memo was issued secretly but leaked to a French newspaper.

It reads: "Ash may seriously reduce engine performance due to the erosion of moving parts or a partial, or even total, obstruction of fuel lines.

"Fine ash particles can penetrate all parts, leading to short-circuits or even component dysfunction which can result in total engine failure in one minute."

The Airbus guide also tells pilots what emergency action to take if a plane enters an ash cloud like the ones spewing from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2010/05/14/plane-maker-s-secret-memo-to-airliner-pilots-volcanic-dust-can-destroy-your-engines-in-one-minute-86908-22257726/

[ingac70]

1. That is no secret.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs030-97/fs030-97.pdf

[PVnRT]

2. Ummmm.....yeah

Engines use the air they're flying through to get oxygen to propel them forward. Dust will gum up the works and shut the engine down. Why exactly is this a BIG OMG STORY?

[marmar]

3. Just assume that possibly everyone doesn't know everything about jet engine mechanics....

Or is that too obtuse a concept?

[Crabby Appleton]

4. I guess you didn't notice a few weeks ago they shut down

air travel in Europe because of the ash cloud's potential to damage aircraft.

[marmar]

5. I didn't notice THIS particular story.....but please don't let that stop the sardonic a-holishness.

[FarCenter]

6. How does ash get into the fuel lines?

I'd think that the fuel system was sealed except for the slow introduction of filtered air as the tanks are emptied in flight?

As Richard Branson pointed out, airliners cope with dust storms in desert climates all the time.

[cloudbase]

7. The air compressed in the first stages of the engine

is, in addition to combustion, used for sealing bearing compartments and cooling individual turbine blades. The holes in the blades are really, really small, and could easily clog. You definitely don't want any abrasive materials in your bearings, either.