A jumbo jet plunged 13,000 feet Friday when all four engines stalled after the plane flew into a cloud of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Redoubt, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 landed safely in Anchorage after the crew restarted the engines, but FAA spokeswoman Ivy Moore said, "The whole aircraft looks like it was sand-blasted."And the volcano wreaked havoc with other air traffic, the FAA said.
None of the 231 passengers and 14 crew members were hurt in the sudden plunge from 25,000 feet immediately after the jet flew into a cloud of ash 75 miles northwest of Anchorage about noon on a flight from Amsterdam, Moore said.
At least two other planes reported problems when they flew into ash near Anchorage, Moore said, but the MarkAir commercial jet and a military plane landed safely.
Flights have been rerouted, forced to make 200-mile detours, diverted to other cities or simply cancelled, according to the FAA and Anchorage International Airport officials.
Widespread ash clouds have put normal air routes off limits. International flights that refuel in Anchorage on over-the-pole trips between Europe and Asia have been rerouted.
Pilots have reported smelling sulphur and seeing ash clouds, but the KLM crew did not see ash until it was too late and they were in it, Moore said. Ash does not appear on radar. It can cause engine failure and abrasion on windshields and wings.
Ash filling the skies over Alaska is from Mount Redoubt, a 10,197-foot mountain 110 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The mountain has been erupting for two days, spewing ash and debris into the air. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Redoubt's biggest explosion came Friday at 10:17 a.m. (2:17 p.m. EST) when ash shot 8 miles above Earth.
That eruption was almost 24 hours to the minute after Redoubt erupted for the fourth time this century, the 35th time in the last 10,000 years.
Several eruptions Friday have sent fountains of ash into the air. Winds took the ash north and northeast, covering a broad area of southern, central and eastern Alaska to the Canadian border.
Ashfall warnings were widespread, but actual ashfall was scattered and light.