Drifting ash from a volcanic eruption in the Russian Far East forced Alaska Airlines to cancel more than 100 flights last week, including its northbound and southbound jets through Wrangell and Petersburg last Thursday and Friday.
Flights throughout Alaska had largely returned to normal by Saturday, other than a couple of missed flights to Sitka that day as a portion of the ash cloud hung around the community.
Although a “very large area” of gas left over from the ash cloud still hovered over the eastern Gulf of Alaska near Sitka by Saturday morning, most of the actual ash appeared to be thinning and was becoming difficult to see via satellite, John Cowen, a forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Alaska Aviation Weather Unit, told the Anchorage Daily News.
The Shiveluch Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula began erupting April 11, creating ash clouds that climbed more than six miles into the air. A long ash cloud drifted toward the Aleutian Islands on April 12, then continued into the Gulf of Alaska and started disrupting air traffic on Thursday.
In order to avoid the abrasive ash, which can cause major damage if ingested by a jet engine, some Alaska Airlines flights that managed to get into Southeast on Friday flew below the drifting hazard at 16,000 feet, about half the usual altitude.
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