Apart from possibly affecting the climate , volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions also pose a serious hazard to aviation safety . For example , during the 1982 eruption of Galunggung in Java , British Airways Flight 9 flew into the ash cloud , suffering temporary engine failure and structural damage . During the past two decades , more than 60 airplanes , mostly commercial airliners , have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash . Some of these encounters have resulted in the power loss of all engines , necessitating emergency landings . Luckily , to date no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash . Ashfalls are a threat to health when inhaled and is also a threat to property with enough accumulation . An accumulation of is sufficient to cause most buildings to collapse . Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash , caused by the collapse of an eruptive column or by being laterally expelled from the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions , can generated devastating pyroclastic flows or surges , which can sweep off everything in their paths
British Airways Flight 9
British Airways Flight 9
Stratovolcano