Diversion due "volcano smoke" ?

[Nauclerus]

"The passengers were on a flight from Hawaii to Vancouver in April 2023 when it was diverted to Victoria due to smoke from a volcano, according to the tribunal."

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/westjet-ordered-t ... -1.7049408

Obviously prudent to avoid areas of volcanic ash, what I'm trying to understand is a situation that that would necessitate a diversion of 34 nm due to "volcanic smoke" ? During the entire evening of April 13th 2023 the reported METAR at CYVR was 15SM FEW clouds with light winds.

[rookiepilot]

Call Greta. Quick.

[BigQ]

Consulting the databases of eruptions around April 2023, there was 2 potential volcanoes. Great Sitkin in Alaska which made an ash plume drift 100km SE, and the Bezymianny Volcano in Kamchatka which had a massive eruption on April 7 from which the ash plume drifted 2000km to the east.

So either the Global Volcanism project is wrong, or the pilots used "an overabundance of caution" which could mean "fuel burn was higher than planned and we landed in YYJ instead of asking for priority handling due to fuel".

bezymianny.png (82.93 KiB) Viewed 1948 times

[Diadem]

It took me 30 seconds to find out that this was a widespread problem and the WestJet flight wasn't the only one affected.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9624672/ash- ... d-delayed/

[Nauclerus]

It took me 30 seconds to find out that this was a widespread problem and the WestJet flight wasn't the only one affected.

It still doesn't explain what really happened. We're talking an extra 10 minutes of flying time here, that's cutting it pretty tight. It appeared the ash was a known threat so how did they end up with not having enough fuel to get to destination ? Planning failure, forecasting failure, unforseen ATC delays ? It would be helpful to know the details so "we" (the system) can maybe learn something and hopefully avoid the same situation should it happen again. The mainstream media, and WestJet PR doesn't cut it, this forum probably doesn't either but it's worth a shot.

[BigQ]

Shiveluch did indeed have a paroxysm on the 12th of April - thanks, I searched that volcano but it didn't come up, however it's ash plume extended 3,000km, approaching Anchorage, not 5,000km.