1  Introduction

The purpose of this AIC is to provide operators, owners and maintenance organizations with guidance on aircraft operations where volcanic ash contamination may be a hazard for flight operations.

2  Key principles

• The operator is responsible for the safety of its operations under the oversight of their respective State regulatory authority. The guiding principle for such operations is the use of a safety risk management approach, as described in ICAO Doc 9974 and EASA Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) 2023-13.
• In order to consider whether or not to operate into airspace forecast to be, or aerodromes known to be, contaminated with volcanic ash, the operator should have in place an identifiable safety risk assessment (SRA) within its Safety Management System (SMS).
  1. Operators registered in the European Union must ensure that their SRA complies with the relevant requirements: GM2 ORO.GEN.200(a)(3) applies to aircraft operators, and GM3 ORA.GEN.200(a)(3) applies to approved training organizations.
  2. For operators registered outside the European Union, the SRA must be prepared in accordance with the provisions of ICAO Doc 9974. The development of a separate SRA specifically for Europe is not required.
• It is recommended to avoid flights in airspace where volcanic ash is visible or visibility is impaired due to other conditions, such as IMC or nighttime, as well as to avoid flights in airspace where volcanic ash is discernible.
• In order to decide whether or not to operate into airspace forecast to be, or aerodromes known to be, contaminated with volcanic ash, the operator’s SRA must be accepted by its State regulatory authority.
  
• The safety control measures set out in ICAO Doc 9974 and EASA Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) 2023-13 are intended to be sufficiently robust that they facilitate acceptance, without further investigation, by a State whose airspace is forecast to be affected by volcanic ash. The State can – based on the implementation of internationally accepted Safety Management principles – be confident in the ability of operators from other States to undertake operations safely in its airspace.

3  Terminology

The following definitions of contamination are applicable in the Republic of Lithuania regarding operation of aircraft in airspace contaminated with volcanic ash.

• Area of Low Contamination: Airspace of defined dimensions where volcanic ash may be encountered at concentrations greater than 0.2 x 10-3 g/m3, but not exceeding than 2 x 10-3 g/m3.
• Area of Medium Contamination: Airspace of defined dimensions where volcanic ash may be encountered at concentrations greater than 2 x 10-3 g/m3, but less than 4 x 10-3 g/m3.
• Area of High Contamination: Airspace of defined dimensions where volcanic ash may be encountered at concentrations equal to or greater than 4 x 10-3 g/m3, or contaminated airspace areas where no information on volcanic ash concentration is available.

These definitions are consistent with ICAO EUR/NAT Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan (VACP) (ICAO EUR Doc 019) and EASA Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) 2023-13.

4  SRA application in the Republic of Lithuania

As part of its overall decision making process regarding the operation of aircraft in airspace forecast to be, or aerodromes known to be, contaminated with volcanic ash, the Republic of Lithuania will allow aircraft operators registered in other States to base their decisions on their SRA, as accepted by their State regulatory authority, in accordance with the above mentioned approach (see 2) to decision making in the Republic of Lithuania.

5  Notification of volcanic ash contamination

In the case of a potential contamination of airspace of the Republic of Lithuania with volcanic ash, Volcanic Ash SIGMET (VA SIGMET) and NOTAM messages for Vilnius Flight Information Region (Vilnius FIR) will be issued.

VA SIGMET will provide a warning for the airspace in which the presence of any ash is forecast. According to ICAO Annex 3 and MET.TR.250 no information about ash contamination levels is given in a VA SIGMET. The official Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre’s (VAAC’s) products prepared to internationally agreed Standards (Volcanic Ash Advisory and Volcanic Ash Graphics) as well as special air-reports provided by pilots will be used to prepare and revise VA SIGMETs for Vilnius FIR.

NOTAM will be published on the basis of information received from the MWO and will give information on the status of the volcano eruption or its significant changes, references existing information such as VAA/VAG, Volcanic Ash Concentration Charts and VA SIGMET.

6  Detection of volcanic ash

No ground-based instruments, specialized research aircraft or aerosol sonde will be available for detection of volcanic ash in the airspace of the Republic of Lithuania during a volcano event. Only satellite observations and pilot reports, if that are available, will be used as a best estimate of where the ash cloud is currently present in the airspace.

7  Volcanic ash reporting

8  Request for information

For more detailed advice on the implementation of the SRA, contact:

Transport Competency Agency
Rodūnios kelias 2
LT-02188 Vilnius, Lithuania

Phone: +370 5 273 90 38

Email: [email protected]

For information about volcanic ash and its distribution, contact:

LHMS forecasts and warnings division (aviation) forecaster

Phone: +370 648 05 448

Email: [email protected]

9  Reference documents

• ICAO Doc 9974 Flight Safety and Volcanic Ash (Flight Safety and Volcanic Ash-Risk Management of Flight Operations with Known or Forecast Volcanic Ash Contamination) - https://www.icao.int/publications/doc-9974
• ICAO EUR Doc 019 ICAO EUR/NAT Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan (VACP)
• EASA Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) 2023-13 Flight in Airspace with Contamination of Volcanic Ash http://ad.easa.europa.eu/ad/2023-13

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