Page 16 - 2018-Issue1

16 VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS & AVIATION

• If volcanic ash is deposited on an operating runway, decreased SOURCES OF INFORMATION
braking efficiency can be expected in addition to the generally Volcanic eruptions will cause a great amount of information to
detrimental effects of ash which will get sucked into the operating be produced, but not all of it will necessarily be consistent.
engines. Operators and pilots are advised to carefully review the available
information and to plan and perform flight operations with great
OPERATIONAL MATTERS TODAY caution. What follows is a selection of sources for detailed and
The ICAO procedures developed after 2010 follow the principle authoritative information. This list is not exhaustive, and represents
that the general assurance of safety of flight operations is the some examples of source information.
responsibility of the operators. Pilots do have this responsibility for
their flight. Meteorology and Air Traffic Services shall provide VAAC London, with links to all other VAACs,
information and support and should follow the (rather restrictive) https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac
text on establishing danger areas. See, for example, the Volcanic
Ash Contingency Plan – European and North Atlantic Regions Information for a specific area or volcano can be found here, for
(EUR/NAT VACP, July 2016). example:
According to ICAO regulations, the official information Icelandic Met Office,
products on volcanic ash are SIGMETs and NOTAMs. Volcanic http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/volcanic-eruptions/
Ash Advisories (VAA, or in graphic form, VAG) are to be produced Alaska Volcano Observatory,
by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs) and are intended https://www.avo.alaska.edu/
as input for the generation of SIGMETs and NOTAMs. Nowadays, Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team,
they are widely used as planning tools by airspace users. National http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php
Meteorological Watch Offices might edit the information contained
in the charts based on their own measurements. The Ash ATM organizations may have information on ash impacts.
Concentration Charts of the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers One example is the Eurocontrol Network Ops Portal,
(VAACs) London and Toulouse that are provided since 2010 as https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/
supplementary information serve as guidelines during flight spec/index.html
planning. They show areas of low/medium/high ash concentration
for the benefit of enabling flight planning into these areas, based on General information on volcanic ash:
a Safety Risk Assessment. Eurocontrol Skybrary,
http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Volcanic_Ash
STRIVING TOWARD SAFE FLIGHTS
The overall responsibility for flight safety rests with the IFALPA POSITIONS
operator, who should have a Safety Risk Assessment, within the IFALPA has considered the problems in aviation that are caused
airlines’ Safety Management System, to the satisfaction of their by volcanic ash, aerosol and gas emissions. Guided by the principle
supervisory authority. These SRAs are the prerequisite for flight that flight operations in the presence of volcanic ash should only be
planning. Operators are responsible to brief their flight crews on conducted when they are safe, our requirements are given below.
the conditions taken account of in the SRA and provide them with Noting that the present system is already developed quite far,
specific operational instructions, in particular for situations that nevertheless some improvements should be considered. IFALPA
deviate from the SRA conditions. pilots consider the items below to be important building blocks for
SRAs of individual airlines may prescribe consideration of safer flights when volcanic clouds are present:
additional sources of information such as satellite pictures, or even
the consideration of “all” sources of information. Some airlines 1. Contingency Plans
have a contract with specialized scientific institutes for advice. 1.a) Contingency Plans shall cater for reasonable worst-case
Others may have a contract with a commercial weather scenarios (e.g. Eyjafjallajökull, 2010) so that flight operations in
information provider, which can include volcanic ash information. contingency situations can be planned.
The details contained in an SRA are different for each airline.
If you have a question regarding timely ash information, ask your 1.b) The plans should be comprehensive and globally consistent, so
own airline! SRAs are not published, but should be available to an that States, ANSPs, airlines, pilots, and all others engaged in
airlines’ pilots. To give an indication of the importance of Know aviation can follow their guidance.
Your SRA, that document may even allow flight through danger
areas established in connection with an eruption! 1.c) There should be no short-term amendments to regulations in
Assurance of the safe execution of their flights is the responsi- case of an eruption.
bility of pilots. Useful recommendations can be found on the EASA At present, plans are laid out based on forecast volcanic ash clouds,
website here: https://tinyurl.com/y7zb5drm. This site also contains and the overarching guidance is that pilots shall avoid visible ash.
the latest edition of the EASA Safety Information Bulletin, SIB There is a discontinuity here, and it should be addressed in
2010-17/R7,, issued (corr. version) on 02. Jul 2015: https://tinyurl. Contingency Plans by giving consideration to deviations of aircraft
com/y7q4ts9x. from their cleared route due to ash clouds seen by pilots.

ISSUE 1 | 2018 InterPilot | The Safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA