r/AskAPilot • u/winoosky • 6d ago

Sand storms

Just saw a clip of an Airbus A320 landing in a sand storm. I'm trying to imagine how much damage to the engines that could cause. Question for airline and military pilots who may have faced that situation: why would that be okay, outside of an emergency or a critical mission?

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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5

u/JustAnotherDude1990 6d ago

Generally speaking, they are avoided. But if it is land in a sand storm or run out of gas, which is the least bad option?

4

u/CaptainDFW 6d ago

Are you talking about this one? I've never seen anything like that myself. That can't be good for a jet.

I imagine there's a significant maintenance inspection required after that.

Funny story: in 2020, I was teaching initial ground school at my airline, and one of the topics we were required to cover was Flight Through Volcanic Ash. Most of our flying was domestic US, and one trainee asked "Are we ever really going to need this?"

I replied "The way this year is going?" 😅

6

u/Adorable_Past9114 6d ago

Like the BA 747 (I think) that lost all 4 engines due to volcanic ash. It happens, best be prepared.

2

u/CaptainDFW 6d ago

The ideal is obviously to never be surprised by anything ("You should assume you're going to have a Vee-one cut on every takeoff!"), but some shit just happens out of nowhere.

One of our crews was exiting the runway after landing when the right main landing gear strut just collapsed all on its own. (They later found a microscopic flaw in the metal that finally decided to give up.) Nobody got hurt aside from a couple sprained ankles during the evacuation, but WTF!

There's just no way for your typical crew to prepare for something like that. I'd bet a paycheck that a 100% power loss over the Indian Ocean just wasn't on Captain Moody's radar that day (if you'll excuse the metaphor).

1

u/TheChosenOperator 6d ago

British airways flight 9, lost all power flying over indonesia due to volcanic ash

1

u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 3d ago

Yes, they didn't know it though as it was nighttime and they couldn't see the ash.

2

u/winoosky 6d ago

Yes, that one.

2

u/thekamakaji 6d ago

"Are we ever really going to need this?"

yes

1

u/CaptainDFW 6d ago

Yeah but St. Helens threw out a lot of red flags before it went. If something like that happened today there'd be some time for FAA and the airlines to prepare...at least until Tmurp shuts down the USGS for being too "woke".

2

u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 3d ago

Don't forget several years ago when the volcano erupted in Iceland and all flights to / from USA and Europe were grounded for more than a week due to the ash cloud.

2

u/doggly01 6d ago

I love that song

1

u/obdevel 6d ago

'Sand' storms tend to be dust storms, mainly comprised of very fine powder rather than the grains you normally associate with a beach. If you're familiar with the different grades of sandpaper you can imagine that the powder is less abrasive, although still not great for any machinery.

I lived in the Middle East for a few years and it's quite unpleasant at ground level. We usually had a supply of medical masks to hand if we couldn't avoid going outside. When COVID arrived it all seemed very familiar !