Ash from the Payara Volcano and has resulted in dense ash falling at Guatemala City La Aurora Airport. The airport is now closed. For the past few days the ash cloud was blowing away from the city and airport, however the winds changed and are now affecting the city and airport. Aircraft that were parked overnight received significant coatings of ash.







https://twitter.com/insivumehgt

Look like AF planes

TWA302 wrote:

Look like AF planes

True, or Aeroflot's silver-gray livery.

Schedule to start operations again 7:00 am local time or 1300 UTC

6 commercial airplanes where in the ground when this happened.
2 United Airlines 737-800 N77518 and N76528
1 American Airlines 737-800 N929NN
1 American Airlines 737-MAX8 N304RB
1 Volaris A319 N504VL
1 Avianca A319 N521TA
1 Copa 737-800 HP-1855CMP

juanchito wrote:

Schedule to start operations again 7:00 am local time or 1300 UTC

6 commercial airplanes where in the ground when this happened.
2 United Airlines 737-800 N77518 and N76528
1 American Airlines 737-800 N929NN
1 American Airlines 737-MAX8 N304RB
1 Volaris A319 N504VL
1 Avianca A319 N521TA
1 Copa 737-800 HP-1855CMP

There appears to be an Avianca A320 (N684TA) also with soot.

How do you get the ash off ? Just get a high pressure water hose and wave it around until it all washes off ?

TWA302 wrote:

Look like AF planes

Hahahaha

Seems they were taking precautions in advance. Engine covers installed on all the RONs, that should make recovery easier.

TWA302 wrote:

Look like AF planes

Omg I was thinking the same thing. Hahahaha

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How do you get the ash off ? Just get a high pressure water hose and wave it around until it all washes off ?

Good question, I am also curious on this process.

gdg9 wrote:

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How do you get the ash off ? Just get a high pressure water hose and wave it around until it all washes off ?

Good question, I am also curious on this process.

USGS has some info https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/airports_clean_up_mitigation.html. At least they have all of the engine intakes covered.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How do you get the ash off ? Just get a high pressure water hose and wave it around until it all washes off ?

Fly through a cloud

aemoreira1981 wrote:

juanchito wrote:

Schedule to start operations again 7:00 am local time or 1300 UTC

6 commercial airplanes where in the ground when this happened.
2 United Airlines 737-800 N77518 and N76528
1 American Airlines 737-800 N929NN
1 American Airlines 737-MAX8 N304RB
1 Volaris A319 N504VL
1 Avianca A319 N521TA
1 Copa 737-800 HP-1855CMP

There appears to be an Avianca A320 (N684TA) also with soot.

Yes but that one was on the Avianca mantainance hangar in La Aurora.

Regards

Took this picture 2 days before it closed where winds where not affecting the airport.

Do they get sent to the de-ashing pad?

Time to call Eric Moody....

They used blowers and high pressured water.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How do you get the ash off ? Just get a high pressure water hose and wave it around until it all washes off ?

Pacaya volcano is the correct name. I climbed it when I went in 2019. It was mildly erupting at the top but nothing serious. I roasted marshmallows in the "dried' lava. Guatemala is a hidden gem. Beautiful beautiful country

maverick4002 wrote:

Pacaya volcano is the correct name. I climbed it when I went in 2019. It was mildly erupting at the top but nothing serious. I roasted marshmallows in the "dried' lava. Guatemala is a hidden gem. Beautiful beautiful country

Glad you didn't climb it in 2021 or you would have been a roasted marshmallow

Look like AF planes

Nah, they look better than AF planes!

Pontius wrote:

Engine covers installed on all the RONs, that should make recovery easier.

The attachment illustrates by itself how dangerous could be the ingestion of the ash when entering through the inlets of their engines.
These particles are extremely abrasive and they could damage the inner systems of their engines.
BA09 routed London Heathrow to Melbourne in1982, lost power in their four engines while flying through a volcanic cloud over Indonesia.
The crew started again three of the engines and the 742 landed safely in Jakarta.

https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/B742,_en-route,_Mount_Galunggung_Indonesia,_1982

Regards.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Pontius wrote:

Engine covers installed on all the RONs, that should make recovery easier.

The attachment illustrates by itself how dangerous could be the ingestion of the ash when entering through the inlets of their engines.
These particles are extremely abrasive and they could damage the inner systems of their engines.
BA09 routed London Heathrow to Melbourne in1982, lost power in their four engines while flying through a volcanic cloud over Indonesia.
The crew started again three of the engines and the 742 landed safely in Jakarta.

https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/B742,_en-route,_Mount_Galunggung_Indonesia,_1982

Regards.

With all due respect - BA 009 to which you refer was Heathrow to Auckland, not Heathrow to Melbourne.. The stops were BOM, KUL, PER, MEL and then on to AKL. Better to get it accurate. It was on the KUL-PER sector that this incident happened.

Based on a google-earth exercise, the area marked within the ellipse belongs to the Pacaya volcano, which lies from 20 to 25 kilometers from GUA and following purely a straight line.
The above caption featuring IB landing at GUA confirms this hypothesis.
It's remarkable how the approach procedure for runway 01** is too close to the influence of this volcano.
Searching among other sources, on March 26th their mainline operations seem to be back to normal.
** If I remember correctly, it was shifted to 02.