Posted on 04/16/2010 10:04:01 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Finnish fighter jets which flew through the volcanic dust covering much of Europe suffered damage and the air force warned Friday the cloud could have a significant impact on planes.
The air force F-18 Hornet jets were on training flights in northern Finland on Thursday morning, when airspace was still open, and the engines were later found to contain fine, volcanic ash dust.
"Based on the pictures, it was discovered that even short flights in ash dust may cause significant damage to an airplane's engine," the Finnish Defence Forces said in a statement.
Images taken inside one Hornet engine with a fibroscope camera indicated that the heat of the engine — around 1,000 degrees Celcius — had melted the ash inside the engine, blocking ventilation channels.
"Blockages of ventilation channels caused by melting ash lead engine components to overheat and material to weaken," it said, adding this could fracture rotating engine parts.
In the worst case, the weakening of component materials could cause "parts to detach and the engine to be destroyed," it said.
The Hornets exposed to the dust from the eruption of a volcano in Iceland would be checked thoroughly, with "at least some" of the engines detached and sent for further studies and repair.
The air force would keep a Hawk combat aircraft equipped with a tank to take atmospheric samples on standby to assist civilian authorities as necessary, it said, adding that operative military flights would continue normally.
Samples taken by the plane, which collects particle samples in a filter in the tank, could be used to analyze how much ash dust was in the air.
A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has spread over large part of Europe,
(Excerpt) Read more at vancouversun.com ...
Iceland is the tiny land mass at the top.
World Distribution of Mid-Oceanic Ridges; USGS
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland
The ridge was central in the
breakup of Pangaea that began
some 180 million years ago.
SOURCE: Mid-Atlantic Ridge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge
Never have liked the 18....it’s just butt ugly.
Hmmm...more space between us and Socialist/Islamist Europe? Doesn't sound too bad!
The joke would be funnier if the socialist pro-Islamists weren't currently in control of our government...
Finland has an air force? Who knew!
It’s a great place to invest in real estate! That is, if you’re willing to wait a few thousand years for your property to grow in size, and you buy property directly on the spreading center itself. The plates move apart, on average, about 2 inches per year. :)
Islamist Europe? At least they do not have a Muslim ru(i)nning their countries.
Really? I thought the F-4 was ugly. Loved it. But we called it a science experiment that with enough trust, even a brick could fly. Compared to it the F-18 is work of art. IMHO.
Obama is not trying to "Change" America to an Islamic country. He's a communist! He has no religion other than Marxism.
I noted that.
As a separate branch of the military, the Finnish Air Force is one of the oldest in the world, having existed officially since 6 March 1918.
The commie left is definitely allied with the radical islamists, both wanting to destroy the United States, but Obama and his comrades are not about converting America to Islam.
I always thought the F4 was a beauty. I used to work at Bergstrom AFB back in the 80’s, and watch them take off 4 at a time. What a sight and sound. To this day I have never heard anything louder than 4 Phantoms taking off 2 at a time.
“To this day I have never heard anything louder than 4 Phantoms taking off 2 at a time.”
Try being between two of them hooks to the Bow Cats of a Carrier. Our Mouse-ear helmets offered very little sound buffer when they were at afterburner.
Yes, I believe that, I can only imagine. I was just a civi construction worker at the base. I was usually a fair distance from the runway, but we couldn’t hardly talk to each other when the Phantoms were taking off.
Sorry for interrupting the thread with a post on the geology of Iceland (and the other unrelated posts that followed). I just find the subject fascinating and thought some others would too. But this obviously wasn’t the place for it.
I don’t recall any of this hysteria after Mt. St. Helens. We know there was an ash cloud because people all along the jet stream were getting ash falling on them. But I recalled no stoppage of flights in and out of Seattle or Portland during that time. If ash was so bad for jet engines (and it’s easy to believe why), how come we had no plane crashes or emergencies when Mt. St. Helens erupted?
I have a special place in my heart for the F-4
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