Karl van der Elst

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Karl van der Elst born in Jakarta in 1938 (Batavia) Indonesia and deceased in Naarden, the Netherlands in 2000. Karl van der Elst was captain on flight KLM Flight 867 which flew into volcanic ash on December 15, 1989. The Boeing 747-400 ‘City of Calgary' was on the way from Amsterdam to Tokyo and was descending into Anchorage International Airport when it flew though a thick cloud of ash from Mt. Redoubt. All four engines stalled and the standby electrical system failed. After descending more than 14,000 feet, Captain Karl van der Elst and crew were finally able to restart the engines and safely land the plane. In this case the ash caused more than $80 million in damage to the plane, but fortunately no lives were lost.