For those working in aviation or having more insight in it FOD is a steady term. It stands for Foreign Object Debris (or Damage) and includes every object that can be found on the APRON besides flat concrete. In which way does this affect you? Let´s find out:
While many talk about FOD as "Foreign Object Damage" it is more precise to use the term "Debris" instead of "Damage". As long as everyone involved does its job right, there is no use for the term "Damage" as the debris can be detected and removed prior to an accident or incident. Both, civilian and military aviation fight FOD as good as possible. In general civilian airports will have airside duty managers that will check taxiways and especially the runways while driving them down and having a close look at the surface. Checks on stands or the APRON are then performed by ground staff such as loading personnel or the turnaround coordinator prior to the arrival of an aircraft. As FOD may occur during the turnaround of an aircraft, the responsible agent for the pushback will check the ramp surface during the final walkaround of the aircraft once more to ensure that no FOD will be a threat during the pushback.
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| Some random examples of FOD found on the ramp of a civil airport (not all found in one check, tapeline shows centimeters) |
Contrary to that, many military airports or flightdecks have the FOD check performed on a daily or scheduled basis (in addition to random FOD and runway checks as in civil aviation) but instead of one designated person performing the check all ground crew members (and sometimes aircrew members) will take place in a walkdown. This means one or more rows of personnel walking right next to each other, which makes it easier for the individual, as each one has to check only a rather small area.
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| FOD walkdown performed by sailors on the flightdeck of CVN 69 (source: US NAVY) |
If you want to find out more about military measures and what the story behind this picture from Lakenheath AFB is, click the link below:
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| Intentionally placed FOD to keep ground personnel aware (source: US Air Force) |
What FOD might cause can be realized in a tragic way regarding the story of the Air France flight 4590. A DC-10 lost a metal piece on the runway causing severe damage at the Concorde 34 minutes later during take off. The end of the story is known to all of us and finally resulted in the death of 113 people. Not all FOD incidents or accidents end that tragic, but still, FOD has to be taken very serious!
The picture here shows the major deformation of three fanblades on an IAE V2500 engine, while some more blades still show minor deformation and damage. The damage was done by a rather small bird that flew into the engine. Stones or metal parts as nuts, bolts and others even shred those blades.
What moste people do not realise is that FOD does not only pose a threat to aircraft or material but especially to people in close proximity to an aircraft. Besides being ingested by the engines or causing damage to the tires or fuselage, FOD can also become a deadly projectile once the jetblast blows it away behind the engines. Some airports do have walk boarding and pushing or taxiing airplanes may cause exactly this hazard to ground personnel as well as to passengers that have no idea of the hazard they are in. Therefore technical measures such as jetblast deflectors can be taken as well as a good coordination to keep the passengers out of the jet blast in the first place. As ground personell it might sometimes be inevitable to cross the jetblast or be in it, but even then you can turn away from the blast, protecting your eyes. From expereience it can be said that even small grains of sand are not that comfortable if they get blown in your face with the force of a jet engine!
To avoid FOD make sure neither you nor your vehicle are losing parts. If your are missing something, check the ramp surface and if you find something - no matter if you lost it yourself or not - PICK IT UP! SAFETY CONCERNS ALL OF US!
Be safe on the APRON
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