Volcanic Fall out?

[Crossroads]

Apparently the ash is similar to a component of glass and melts when sucked into a jet engine - looks like better safe than sorry.

Indeed. The FAF reported "severe damage" to F-18 engines that flew at northern Finland at the time the northern airspace was still open.

They reported ash like material on many places inside engines, with some of it having melted in places where it should not. This was last friday IIRC...

I would rather not fly through the ash cloud without an ejector seat?

EDIT: It was last thursday. Here's some pictures of the F-18 engine, although the second pic is about a Hawk that did some tests today:

http://bit.ly/cLXgSX (in finnish).

The first pic is from the inside of an engine with melted residue, while the third and fourth pic are about plain dust particles inside air intake.