Galunggung Gliding Club

On June 24, 1982, on British Airways flight 009, the pilot came on the plane's speakers to announce, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get it under control. I trust you are not in too much distress." An understatement to be sure. What followed is not what you would expect. There was no panic on board. Everyone remained calm. The flight attendants moved some passengers around so they could be sitting beside someone. With no engines, there was only one predictable outcome for the flight which was 10,000 km over the sea, on its way to New Zealand. The engine had caught fire and died, then the plane went into freefall -- a freefall that would last about 30-minutes before hitting water. With no future in sight, a miracle occurred. To save the passengers from oxygen starvation, the captain dropped the plane 6,000ft in one minute -- and the engines came alive.

So what happened? The engines was choked by fine dust from a volcanic eruption of Mount Galunggung. When the plane came under the dust cover where the air was free of dust, the engines kicked back in. The dust was so fine, it couldn't be seen, yet it almost downed flight 009. Since then of course, pilots have been trained to recognize the signs of volcanic dust in the air, and how to take precautions. Good to know if you travel by air across the oceans, cause you won't believe how often volcanoes let loose puffs of smoke around the world.