UK budget airline to test ash cloud detector

LONDON (AP) — A U.K. budget airline will create an artificial volcanic ash cloud over Europe this summer to test ash detection technology. The experiment aims to avoid the kind of chaos that paralyzed air traffic during eruptions three years ago.

Thursday’s announcement was made by easyJet, which acquired a ton of ash collected in Iceland by scientists in the months after the 2010 eruptions for its test. Air travel was virtually suspended for days in Europe and millions of passengers were left stranded because of fears the ash cloud could disrupt plane engines and was too dangerous to fly through.