60 percent of flights in Europe have been grounded

Imagine what it’s like to fly through volcanic ash,
and how dangerous the plumes can be for airplanes.
A giant plume of ash sent into the sky by a volcano
eruption in Iceland is still drifting across the continent.
60 percent of flights in Europe have been grounded,
and more than half of transatlantic flights have been canceled.
Planes generally fly at about 35,000 feet, so small eruptions don’t pose a significant problem. Major eruptions, which can
reach up to 60,000 feet, are more troublesome.
The ash cloud from the Iceland eruption is hovering between 20,000 and 30,000 feet.

The worst-case scenario, of course, would be to fly right into a volcanic cloud.
That generally happens at night, when it’s tougher for pilots to tell the plume apart from other clouds.
But mysterious signs resulting from high levels of static electricity in volcanic material immediately indicate that something is wrong.

Thousands of flights were canceled, stranding tens of thousands of passengers.
Officials said it was not clear when it would be safe enough to fly again. Maybe you wouldn’t want to !

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