Re: [GZG] Fighters and other military planes grounded by ash

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Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lOn BBC World
this morning, they were interviewing several safety experts 
who brought up a good point. Engines are rated and tested rigorously for

all sorts of events, including bird strikes. But since there is a 
guideline saying "don't fly in volcanic ash" it's not tested for. So no 
one has any idea what a "safe" concentration of ash is.

Plus there's the issue that even if there was a known safe concentration

to fly through, it would still increase the maintenance/inspection 
regimen on the engines so the airlines might not want to do it from a 
cost perspective.

There's three levels of safety; country, airline, pilot. If any one of 
them says no to flying, they don't fly.

I know it's more bureaucratic and less scientific, but more possible 
game ideas?

-Mark K.

On 4/21/2010 10:30 PM, Matthew Seidl wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 8:28 PM, Tom B <kaladorn@gmail.com 
> <mailto:kaladorn@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>    
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.
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9
>
>     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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