Airline's Ash Detector Could Prevent Chaos EasyAsh Device To Avoid Volcanoes

Ian Woods, senior news correspondent
EasyJet is to install a new aircraft system which can detect ash clouds, and could prevent widespread disruption caused by erupting volcanoes.
The airline says if it had been available in 2010, when tens of thousands of flights were cancelled and 10 million passengers were stranded, almost all European airspace could have been kept open.
The technology is called AVOID - the Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector.
Two infrared cameras are attached to the wings of the aircraft, and at 30,000 feet they can see dangerous levels of silicates more than 60 miles ahead.
High levels of ash can melt inside jet engines causing them to fail.
The system has been successfully tested on a light aircraft flying close to Mount Etna in Sicily, and the budget airline plans to attach cameras to a commercial jet next year.
Eventually up to 20 easyJet aircraft could be equipped. The side-on view of the ash cloud can be compared with satellite imagery to provide a 3D view of affected airspace.
The system was developed in response to the two Icelandic disruptions of the past two years.
The first, in April 2010 caused disruption for a week, but we now know that just 2% of airspace showed dangerously high levels of ash.
EasyJet's Head of Engineering Ian Davies told Sky News: "Airspace would probably have been open for the vast majority of time, in other words we closed lots of airspace that we would not have had to, if we'd had this technology."
It was developed by Fred Prata, a scientist with Nicarnica Aviation.
"This instrument put on board an aircraft acts as a tactical device so it's able to give the pilot information about exactly what is ahead of him," he said.
"So he will have strategic information to know that there is an ash cloud about somewhere; but he is now able to take off, fly safely, see the ash cloud, and if it happens to be in a place where it's not supposed to be, then he can just make a small manoeuvre and go round it safely."
Sometimes the concentration of ash is low enough to fly through for short periods.
But even if the detection equipment becomes widely used it will not stop cancellations when levels are high and close to airports, and Dr Colin Brown from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers says it will not make aircraft ash-proof.
"We shouldn't be duped into thinking that this is a solution which allows everyone to fly. It's a detection system, it doesn't actually improve the safety of the aircraft."
EasyJet hopes other airlines will adopt the system. Because the information can be transmitted to base in real time, the more planes with cameras, the more accurate the map of where it is safe to fly.
Scientists have warned that another Icelandic eruption is likely in the near future.
The Katla volcano, which has been largely dormant since 1918 could be 10 times bigger than Eyjafjallajokull and Grimsvotn.