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AEROMEDICAL service CareFlight has scaled its flights from Darwin airport until the volcano dust settles.CareFlight Director Ian Badham said it's being monitored on a minute by minute basis."To mitigate risk, we're responding to really urgent cases," Mr Badham said. "All but urgent emergency flights have been temporarily suspended. We're monitoring it like all other aviation operators. We're looking to life restrictions as soon as it's safe to do so." Careflight has six planes and a helicopter based at its Darwn hanger.

Duty Superintendent Geoff Barnhert said the police plane was still flying because the ash affected only high-level aviation.
The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre said most of the Territory is covered by an ash cloud, but it is unlikely to reach Australia's east coast. Flights in and out of Darwin have been cancelled after volcanic ash from Mount Sangeang Api moved across to Australia.

The volcano, which erupted on Friday, is 1373km northwest of Darwin on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. It is roughly halfway between Bali and Timor.

DVAAC manager Emile Jansons told the NT News it was a "fairly sizeable eruption" but that the cloud over the Territory would be invisible to the naked eye.

"The volcano has been erupting to 15km in the air," he said. "It has moved across the Kimberley and western Top End. It's high in the atmosphere so there won't be any ashfall different to normal bushfire ashfall."

He said there should be negligable impact on the air quality compared to usual Top End dry season weather, and said adverse health effects were unlikely.

There is no official announcement yet, but word on the ground at Darwin Airport is most flights will be cancelled until Monday.

Asked to look into his crystal ball to get an end date, Mr Jansons said: "It continues to erupt - it's still going up right now - but how long it'll go I don't know. They tend to stop after a day or two so it's unlikely to reach the east coast. It's almost reached Tennant Creek in the south. It won't get to Brisbane or Sydney."

He said his office monitors cloud images and distributes information to aviators to make decisions. The ash can harm aircraft engines and structures, depending on the concentration of ash in the air. "It's a hazard in the atmosphere," he said. It's a situation for airlines to balance the safety costs or the damage costs."

Darwin International Airport's website shows all incoming and outgoing flights have been cancelled.

The volcano has erupted several times since 1911. The last eruption was recorded in 1999.

Other flights around Australia may be disrupted by a major volcanic eruption in Indonesia.