Galunggung, Java, Indonesia

Image Source: GMS IR, from Hanstrum & Watson (1983), modified
Date: June 24, 1982

Comments: This eruption brought volcanic ash clouds to the world's attention when a British Airways 747 en route to Perth from Kuala Lumpur encountered the ash cloud. All four engines failed, with three of the engines being restarted after the aircraft had descended a considerable height, and an emergency landing then being carried out. The suspected ash clouds in these images have been tinted red. This was not, in fact, the first encounter from this eruption; a Garuda DC-9 encountered ash on April 5, 1982.

Image Source: GMS IR, from Hanstrum & Watson (1983), modified
Date: July 13, 1982

Comments: The next major aircraft encounter occurred on Tuesday, 13 July, 1982 with a Singapore Airlines 747 en route to Melbourne. The encounter location shown on the above images is only approximate. Ash from this eruption subsequently drifted SE over Western Australia.

References: Hanstrum, B.N., and A.S. Watson, 1983, A case study of two eruptions of Mount Galunggung and an investigation of volcanic eruption cloud characteristics using remote sensing techniques. Aust. Met. Mag 31, p 131-177

Johnson, R.W., and T.J. Casadevall, 1994, Aviation safety and volcanic ash clouds in the Indonesia-Australia region, in First International Symposium on volcanic ash and aviation safety, pp. 191-197, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

 

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