Redoubt Just Steaming

Check out this photo that Zoya took of the volcano on her flight back from Anchorage. When she showed it to me I was amazed that commercial planes are allowed to fly so close to the volcano. But Zoya tells me the pilot assured them that what they see coming out of the volcano is mostly steam and not ash. The planes don't fly after a major ash eruption because the ash damages the plane turbines, but steam is fine. The pilot also informed the passengers that just to be totally on the safe side they fly upwind of the volcano. So I gather all the planes to Kodiak have been flying a huge detour to the West over the Alaska Peninsula to fly around upwind of the volcano. The detour also means cool pictures! Patrick