[GZG] Fighters and other military planes grounded by ash

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihA_P62qhNj8msk8I14rjV
foNOKQD9F7NQVO0

This gives an interesting environmental angle for volcanic or dust
heavy planets - impairing or curtailing VTOL and aerospace fighter use
during particularly dusty periods. You could fly through them if you
had to for CAS, CAP, or Casevac, but you might be risking losing your
bird.

I recall reading sometime in the 2000s, a 747 flew through a dust
cloud at over 30K ft, lost all 4 engines, and dropped to 20K ft or
below before it got a restart. Had to do an emergency landing in
Indonesia. That had to be pretty fearsome for the passengers and crew.

I'm sure some sort of dust filter might help at the intake, but
ultimately any form of turbofan or turbojet needs to suck in a high
volume of air and if small silica-based chunks can sneak through, they
can melt in the high temperatures of those engines. Not sure there
really is much of a solution for this one.

Would not affect helos as much or rockets much at all afaik. Mind you,
the same aforementioned 747 apparently lost all visibility to the
outside world due to the windows being covered in ash residue. That
might be something some form of electrostatic repulsion might be able
to dislodge (or not) and I suppose most all-weather military vehicles
of the future would be able to fly by instrument alone (assuming
nothing screws them up).

Still, always looking for the gaming angle....

TomB
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