A volcanic eruption in Alaska is causing flight delays and traces of volcanic ash to fall on nearby communities as a plume of ash reaches 22,000 feet. Pavlof Volcano erupted last weekend, with volcanic tremors continuing well into Monday. Sand Point and Nelson Lagoon, towns 55 miles away from the eruptions, were covered in trace amount of ash from the volcano.
While this ash has yet to affect most commercial airlines, many smaller, regional flights have been cancelled. While this may not sound too critical, Alaskan towns depend on private aircrafts for many supplies due to the lack of serviceable roads into the interior of America's largest state. Volcanic ash is also notoriously abrasive, and can clog and destroy engines and even damage the lungs. However, Alaskan airlines have adapted to living and thriving in the harsh conditions of the state, and have found ways around volcano eruptions before. Penair CEO Danny Seybert, speaking to ABC News, revealed that it is not unusual to cancel flights a few times a year because of volcanoes, and it no longer fazes most airline workers.
"If we had that attitude, we would have quit 50 years ago...It's one of the situations that Mother Nature presents itself along our route structure."
Ace Air Cargo spokesman Greg Hawthorne had this to add about volcanic eruptions and their effect on air travel in the region:
"We're used to those volcanoes going off in that region...But if the winds are wrong, you don't want to test that pumice."
Pavlof is one of Alaska's most active volcanoes, with 40 know eruptions from the volcano on record, with the last one lasting 29 days in 2007. Pavlof usually erupts with gas-rich lava being shot thousands of feet in the air. However, it's ash and dust cloud settle lower than other, more explosive eruptions, meaning that an eruption from Pavlof is less of a threat to air travel than other potential eruptions.
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