Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre ( VAAC ), nine out of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) as part of the International Airways Volcano Watch ( IAVW ) mandated warning centers. These are operated by the ICAO meteorological organizations. They were built from 1993 to observe the occurrence of volcanic ash in the air and to warn air transport of dangerous ash clouds. Volcanic ash can, among other effects cause the failure of jet engines and thus endanger airplanes serious.
Locations
The areas of responsibility of the individual VAACs cover most part of the world, with the exception of part of northern Russia and the Arctic, a part of the southern Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica. The boundaries of the respective areas of responsibility are determined by coordinates or coincide with the corresponding flight information region ( FIR).
And west of 150 ° to the east, but north of 60 ° North
Incidents involving volcanic ash
- June 24, 1982: British Airways Flight 9
- December 15, 1989: KLM flight 867
- April 15, 2010: After the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull ash clouds which drove straight towards Central Europe, followed by the aviation authorities decided to close a large part of European airspace for several days.