easyjet sperimenterà sistema AVOID per rilevare ceneri vulcaniche

[SKY-TRS]

easyJet sperimenterà il sistema AVOID contro le ceneri vulcaniche

Friday 04 June 2010
easyJet sarà la prima compagnia al mondo a sperimentare una nuova tecnologia chiamata AVOID - Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector (identificatore e rilevatore di materia vulcanica presente nell’aria). Il sistema, sostanzialmente un radar meteorologico che rileva la cenere, è stato creato dal Fred Prata del Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).
AVOID è un sistema che si basa sul collocamento di una tecnologia a infrarossi sull’aereo, in grado di fornire immagini sia ai piloti sia al centro di controllo di volo della compagnia. Le immagini daranno la possibilità ai piloti di individuare una nube di cenere nel raggio di 100 km e ad altezze tra i 1.500 e i 15.000 metri. Questo gli permetterà di modificare la rotta dell’aereo per evitare qualsiasi nube di cenere. Il concetto è molto simile ai radar meteorologici già presenti sugli aerei di linea.ilvolo.it
Fonte:Fonte: ilvolo.it

 

[UM78]

ed ecco il testo dell' articolo di oggi:

Fonte: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16077139

Imagine that the next time a volcano erupts in Iceland, the airlines are able to treat it as though it was no more than a simple weather hazard, like fog.

Scientists working on an ash cloud detection system believe that airlines will soon be able to do just that.

Volcanic ash and jet engines simply don't mix. The superheated particles turn to glass inside the engine and stop it dead.

So, those who manage the airspace above us go to great lengths to keep aircraft well away from the ash clouds that form during an eruption.

Eruption
We saw the results of that in May last year following the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The drifting ash led to the closure of much of Europe's airspace over the course of the week.

According to International Air Transport Association more than 10 million passengers were affected when more than 100,000 flights were cancelled.

It cost the airlines $1.7bn (£1.06bn).

Its hardly surprising then that they've been scrambling to find a way to minimise any disruption from the next eruption (and there will be a next eruption).


The Airborn Volcanic Object Imaging Detector may help airlines avoid ash clouds
Air corridors
Easyjet has been funding research by Dr Fred Prata from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).

He's developed a device called AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector) which uses an infra-red camera to see how dense particular areas of ash are.

With an AVOID device fitted onto a plane, Dr Prata believes a pilot could see ash clouds between 100 and 300 kilometres ahead and at altitudes up to 50,000 feet.

The AVOID device can measure the density of the ash cloud too, finding air corridors between different layers of ash.

"This device can be used in a tactical sense to let the pilot see the hazard and fly safely around it," says Dr Prata.

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Start Quote

"Most of…the airspace that we saw closed during the last two eruptions would never have been closed". ”

Ian Davis
Easyjet

Ash clumps
He adds that data from a network of planes equipped with AVOID could be combined with meteorological data from the SEVIRI satellite to create a map of where an ash cloud is going and what parts of it would be safe to fly through.

Easyjet's head of engineering, Ian Davies, is working closely with Dr Prata.

He said existing models of ash dispersal assume that its evenly distributed throughout the atmosphere but their research shows that it actually "travels in clumps".

AVOID would let pilots "see those clumps and avoid those clumps," said Mr Davies.

If this technology had been available last year "most of…the airspace that we saw closed during the last two eruptions would never have been closed".

Volcanic testing

So far the device has only been tested on smaller aircraft
Dr Prata and his team have put an AVOID unit under the wing of a microlight aircraft which they have been flying over Europe's most active volcano, Mt Etna in Sicily.

They've taken the aircraft up to 12,000 feet and are now in talks with Airbus to fit a specially built unit onto the wingtip of an A340 jet for high altitude tests early next year.

Easyjet expects to fit a unit onto one of its own passenger planes next summer and will make it available to all other airlines too.

And its not before time, as the authorities in Iceland warn of intense seismic activity at another volcano - Katla, which may suggest that another eruption is on the way.

 

[Sal73x]

Oggi sul tg della BBC c'erano le immagini degli ingegneri incaricati dalla easyjet mentre testavano il sistema in volo sull'Etna.

 

[AZ209]

EasyJet Plans August Test of Volcanic Ash-Cloud Detection System

EasyJet Plc (EZJ), Europe’s No. 2 discount carrier, plans to create an artificial ash cloud with partners Airbus SAS and Nicarnica Aviation in August to trial a detection system designed to help jets avoid volcanic dust.
The test, to be carried out at 30,000 feet, will involve one jet releasing dust gathered from Icelandic volcanoes into the atmosphere. A second plane will then use the new Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector to avoid the artificial cloud, Luton, England-basedEasyJet said in a statement today.

The AVOID system detects particles as far as 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, making it possible for pilots to adjust flight paths around dangerous particle clouds. European airline traffic slumped 12 percent in April 2010, exceeding the worst declines of the latest recession, as ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano grounded 100,000 flights. Carriers lost at least $1.7 billion in the first six days of the event, according to industry figures.
“Finalizing the approval of the AVOID technology is as crucial now as ever to ensure we never again see the scenes of spring 2010,” EasyJet Engineering Director Ian Davies said in the statement. The airline said it transported a ton of ash from Iceland to use for the test.
Abrasive, silica-based material from volcanoes can clog engines and scar windshields. Similar to weather radars already in use, the infra-red AVOID system EasyJet is testing dates from 1993 and was developed by the U.S. military. On the ground the technology could be used to map a cloud, making it possible for air controllers to limit disruption.

Dust Density

Whereas the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration imposes a 120 mile-buffer zone around areas of visible ash, Eurocontrol, which governs Europe’s flight paths, based no-fly areas on models from the U.K. Met Office’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Center that assesses dust density according to weather forecasts.
When Eyjafjallajökull erupted, authorities ordered pilots to avoid all ash. The threshold was later changed so that they could fly through plumes where 0.002 grams of ash was present per cubic meter of air, and that limit was later doubled, subject to an airline getting approval from the engine maker.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...t-of-volcanic-ash-cloud-detection-system.html