All Four Engines have Failed

[Graham Ritchie]

Regarding the topic of volcano Ed from what we watched on blu-ray, this might interest you and anyone else, I remember it well as it was on the news at the time.

[Osi Osgood]

For something like this to happen, there must have been something in the internal circuitry that failed, as it would be nearly impossible for all four engines to simultaneously fail at the same time.

[Ed Gordon]

Graham, yes the Mt St Helens eruption ash fall in eastern Washington was so bad that even when ash fall was light enough to drive, cars would stop when air filters clogged.

Shipping was stopped on the Columbia River and some vessels were stranded. In eastern Washington, falling ash stranded 5,000 motorist. Ash had to be cleared from runways and highways.

Ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens covering the ground and road at a farm in Connell, Washington, approximately 300 km (180 mi) from the volcano.

[Paul Adsett]

Wow, what an incredible story! It's hard to overstate the courage of the pilot and crew, and also hard to overstate the terror of the passengers. An ordeal for all, which I'm sure they never forgot. But also a testament to the design of the 747 which was able to survive the onslaught of all that volcanic ash.
Thanks for posting that video Graham, it was riveting.

[Graham Ritchie]

Hi Paul

I was reading last night that sadly Captain Moody passed away last year he had a long career with British Airways until his retirement in 1996 . Regarding the engines on that aircraft what I read about it, was as the ash entered, the ash melted and adhered to the inside of the power plant. But as the aircraft descended out of the ash cloud and the engines cooled from inactivity, the molten ash solidified and enough of it broke off to allow for the engines to restart.