The Finnish Air Force got some F-18s into an ash cloud from Eyjafjallajökull.
Far, far from the source, somewhere over Europe.
They then checked the engines with a boroscope.
This is why you don't fly turbojets through volcanic ash plumes.
Glassy pumice flakes meet metal turbine at 900 km/h.
From an F-18 part of a flight of five on training mission April 15th, just before air space closure.
click to enlarge from ilmavoimat.fi
view of melted volcanic ash on the korkeapaineturbiinin ;-)
- Log in to post comments
More like this
The eruptive plume from Eyjafjallajökull taken Holsvelli webcam. Image courtesy of Mattias Larsson.
Sorry to disappoint everyone visiting to blog while they sit at any number of airports around the world, but the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull appears to still be going strong. The Icelandic Met…
We've been discussing calderas recently on Eruptions (I wonder why) and the Laacher See in Germany came up. I've actually been to the Laacher See on a field trip lead by one of the world's experts on the caldera, Dr. Gerhard Worner. So, I thought I'd post some pictures and talk a little about this…
The ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption as it spreads over Europe on April 15, 2010.
The newly-subglacial Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010 has now begun to be felt outside of Iceland. The ash being thrown into the atmosphere from this explosive phase of the eruption has prompted officials in…
After a brief hiatus during which the first two fissuers at Fimmvörðuháls closed, the main caldera at Eyjafjallajökull let rip early in the morning of April 14th.
ash plume through the clouds - from visir.is - click to embiggen
There was a jökulhlaup - wish I could have been there with…
korkeapaineturbiini = high pressure turbine, in case it wasn't clear.
wow. neat shot. volcanic ash is affecting lots of things http://feeltiptop.com/volcanic+ash/ nowadays:)
Is it customary to present dates in M/D/Y format in Finland or does this just indicate that the Finnish air force is rather well integrated with friends out West?
Finland normally uses D.M.Y format. most likely the inspection camera software was written by morons -- note the brightness and exposure parameters aren't localized either.
All those oh-so-old russian nuclear bombers, with their prop engines, they used to laugh at...
;-)
Sorry to spoil the fun. Those Russian bombers would be affected since they are turboprops with turbines instead of an internal combustion engine. I'd seriously wonder what this ash would to an internal combustion engine (like the old props), apart from screwing the filter and stalling the engine.
Hakan: Turboprops can readily fly below 18,000 feet, though as with jets a lot more fuel is sucked up by the engines to push the plane through the atmosphere.
So is this Iceland's revenge on the UK for screwing them during the financial crisis?
High power aircraft piston engines come equipped with turbochargers to push air into the cylinders at high pressure, and the clearance between piston and cylinder wall is as small as possible. So, lots of air, lots of airborne dust, high temperatures, narrow clearances, what could go wrong?