Jindal and volcano monitoring

[trof]

See...Bobby don't have no volcanoes in Louisiana.
So that just ain't a problem for him.
:eyes:
Now, hurricane tracking and prediction?
Oh...that's different.
:-)

I wish Bobby had been on one of these flights:

"Between 1980 and 2004, more than 100 jet aircraft sustained damage after flying through volcanic ash clouds. The repairs cost more than $250 million. At least 7 of these encounters resulted in temporary engine failure, with 3 aircraft losing power from all engines. These engine failures have occurred at distances ranging from 150 to 600 miles from the erupting volcano. Aircraft damage from these volcanic ash encounters has been reported from as far as 1,800 miles from the volcano."

"On the night of June 24, 1982, a British Airways Boeing 747 suffered a temporary four-engine flameout after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Mt. Galunggung. The airplane descended from 37,000 feet to about 14,000 feet over the ocean before the flight crew was able to restart two engines. They later started the other two, but re-entered the ash cloud and had to shut down one engine after it began backfiring and shaking violently."

"On Dec. 15, 1989, a KLM Boeing 747 flew into the ash plume from Alaska's Mt. Redoubt and similarly lost power from all four engines within less than a minute. The pilots were able to restart the engines, but could not obtain full power. The pilots landed the airplane safely at Anchorage despite their windshield being sandblasted so badly that they could only see out of a small portion of it."

"The principle danger to jet airplanes from volcanic ash-small, hard particles that may stay aloft for weeks-is that the hot gases inside the engines may melt the ash, which then resolidifies or "ceramitizes" in the engines, altering airflow and plugging cooling vents in critical engine parts."

"Volcanic ash also damages windshields, windows, and external probes that tell pilots their airspeed and altitude, and can ruin antennae for communication and navigation radios. Ash can almost instantly contaminate onboard electronic equipment, air conditioning, equipment cooling systems, the fuel system, and hydraulic systems that move flight controls and extend landing gear. The KLM Boeing 747 suffered all this damage, and more, costing the airline $80 million."
http://www.alpa.org/DesktopModules/ALPA_Documents/ALPA_DocumentsView.aspx?itemid=1470&ModuleId=1316&Tabid=256

BTW, I was on a layover in Amsterdam, scheduled to fly to Anchorage, when Redoubt blew in '89.
We stayed in AMS for 5 days.
It was a nice company paid vacation.
We were flying cargo (747), so no passengers were inconvenienced.
:-)

[Happyhippychick]

1. I wonder if Jindal would tee-hee over hurricane monitoring, too?