Photo: Simple Flying, PLAY

Have you ever seen a volcanic eruption from a plane before? Well, for passengers onboard a PLAY Airlines flight from New York to Keflavik got the chance of a lifetime to experience a volcanic eruption from above after a slight detour.

An “unreal” detour 

PLAY Airlines flight OG122 took off from New York Stewart International Airport (SFW) on July 10th, bound for Keflavik International Airport (KEF) in Iceland. The aircraft, an Airbus A321neo, took off relatively on time - just 9 minutes later than scheduled. The whole flight went by as normal.

When the flight neared the Icelandic capital, the flight's captain decided to give their passengers the experience of a lifetime. Ten minutes before landing, the crew decided to make a quick diversion past Keflavik to a volcano eruption just 10 miles away from the airport.

The footage of the eruption can be seen here:

Overall, the flight eventually landed 12 minutes earlier than the scheduled time of 04:40. The incredible experience was captured by the passengers on board. Lava can be seen coming out of the volcano with a cloud of ash in the sky above.

On Saturday 15th of July, the same scheduled flight, OG112, made the exact same detour as the one on July 10th - showcasing the spectacular views. Many of PLAY Airlines flights that come from Europe get to experience the eruption coincidentally as the flight path for arriving aircraft coming from Europe fly near the site.

A country known for its volcanoes 

Iceland, being geographically located on both the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian tectonic plate, is a geologically active island. The country is famously known as the land of fire and ice with its stunning glaciers and breathtaking volcanic eruptions. Although the passengers onboard the PLAY Airlines flight got to have a positive experience with a volcano, many passengers worldwide likely experience the negative effects.

When a volcano erupts, a large cloud of volcanic ash is spewed into the atmosphere. This causes havoc for planes. Aircraft flying cannot fly through volcanic ash as the hot ash contains sediment, and if the sediment gets into the engines, it damages them severely. There have been many recorded accidents of this happening.

Most notably, British Airways flight 009, operated by a Boeing 747, experienced quadrupole engine failure after flying through volcanic ash near Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1982. Although there were no recorded fatalities, the danger was immense.

In the spring and summer of 2010, a volcano called Eyjafjallajökull erupted in Iceland. It was such a big eruption the ash cloud spread as far as North America and Europe. As a result of this eruption, flights throughout Europe were forced to be canceled. This was at the height of the busy summer season and thousands of flights were affected. Regulations were implemented to regulate the response to a volcanic eruption.

Nowadays, aircraft can fly over ash if the density of the ash is between 2mg and 4mg per cubic meter. This is to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft. However, thankfully the PLAY Airlines flight this time wasn't affected by an ash cloud.