I spent a lot of time in Angeles City (near where Clarke Air Force Base was located), at the base of Mount Pinatubo, back in 1989-90. I was last there in March/April 1990, just before it all began. I had some interesting experiences there. Like this one: One time I had to dive onto the ground and scamper to safety in an alley because some crazy Filipino was angry at the U.S. and was firing shots up and down the street (not very far from the Clarke AFB entrance). Scary! I was eventually help off te street and into a club owned by an Aussie. he opened the door and dragged me and my two friends inside.  Anyway, I got to know a guy from Angeles City who went on to become one of my Godfathers at my wedding and I have never heard from since the Pinatubo eruption. I'm still trying to find out whether he survived or not. A lot of people died and Angeles City was buried beneath the "Lahar". :(


JayG wrote on Jul 7^th, 2011 at 8:34pm:

I dont remember now which volcano it was, but I watched a documentary a while back about a 747 that flew through a volcanic cloud at night, over the ocean, and it shut down all 4 engines. They finally got them restarted around 13K, man the 'pucker factor' must have been off the scale!

The one you are thinking of is British Airways Flight 9 off the coast of  Jakarta, Indonesia. Mount Galunggung.

Mark