Redoubt redoubles

First North Korea's threats against airliner safety and now this: Alaska's Mt Redoubt, one of several active volcanoes in the Pacific States, erupted late Sunday for the first time in two decades, prompting airlines to take action.

[above: Mount Redoubt erupts in 1989. What a freakin' mess.]

This mountain is close enough to Anchorage (a little over 100 miles to the southwest) and flight routes from North America to East Asia (including Japan and Korea), that planes were diverted in the past. In December 1989 ash plume from Mt Redoubt nearly downed KLM flight 867 (Amsterdam to Osaka, via Anchorage) when all four engines stalled.

[above: "A" is for "a volcano named Redoubt." And who reviews volcanoes? Does it say something like, "Great view, but lousy service. Needs more parking"?]

Planes to and from Asia are already being rerouted, but it's not clear yet how this might affect specific routes to and from Korea, Japan, or elsewhere in East Asia.

This information, of course, was brought to you through funds that support volcano monitoring, something that a certain would-be Republican presidential candidate from hurricane-prone Louisiana thinks is "wasteful spending."

[above: Mount Redoubt in happier times.]