A Word on FOD

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janikpilot

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janikpilot
Today I went to my home airport to casually watch the jets take off and land, from the public viewing park they have by the threshold of one of the runways. This is a common activity for me, but today I noticed something that normally isn't there. Trash. Little plastic grocery bags and paper blowing around on the side of the road, right up against the barbed-wire airport fence. The 'airport security' sitting on the other side of the fence in his white F-150 didn't even notice it blowing in front of him. Granted, it wasn't exactly a ton of trash, but it was definitely enough to get sucked into a jet engine and do who knows what to an aircraft. It just surprises me that somebody who has a job of protecting an airport can't spend the 5 minutes it would take to pick up some trash.

I posted this thread in hopes that if you ever encounter FOD (Foreign Object Damage) at your local airport, to pick it up and throw it away, even if it's just a small piece of paper. Especially if you fly out of an airport with jet traffic.
 
Yep, FOD can really put a damper on ones day, security dude should have been on that like fly on chit, honestly he'll probably have a better chance of saving lives by picking crap off the airport then hoping to catch one of em' "terrorists".
 
Technically, you want to be looking for FOD inducing materials to pick up. If you ever came across actual FOD, you would leave it in place, mark it and report the position to the NTSB or some airport safety official.
 
Henning said:
Technically, you want to be looking for FOD inducing materials to pick up. If you ever came across actual FOD, you would leave it in place, mark it and report the position to the NTSB or some airport safety official.
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Technically yes, I was thinking the same thing when I wrote it. But FOD sounds better than FODIM :p
 
I was taught FOD was an acronym for "Foreign Objects and Debris". So that means I can pick up FOD. ;)
 
I was actually taught both. Foreign Object Debris is the crap laying around the airport. Foreign Object Damage is what's broken or 'damaged' on a plane due to the debris. Whatever your cup of tea, no bueno!

Where I used to work (KSUS), I have found tons of FOD laying around, besides the standard plastic bags and assorted paper trash. Among the most memorable include: (all were on the movent area or runways, ramps) 6 dead birds (all on one runway at once); About 10 live shotgun shells; A box of a dozen assorted Einstein bagels and a full carafe of coffee; A bag of "remove before flight" ribbons; A headless Robbin (never did locate the missing appendage); Several golf balls (an elderly gentleman was then detained for deliberately attempting to hit aircraft from the golf course); And last but certainly not least, a door from a Cessna 310. Ahh, fun times.
 
The FAA AC on the subject:

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/150_5210_24.pdf

Their terminology section has this to say on the acronym:

d. Foreign Object Debris (FOD). Any object, live or not, located in an inappropriate location in the airport environment that has the capacity to injure airport or air carrier personnel and damage aircraft. NOTE: The FAA is cooperating with international aviation organizations in an effort to develop a standard, international definition of FOD. If, and when, such a definition is developed and adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), that definition will take precedence over the one provided in this AC.

e. Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Damage. Any damage attributed to a foreign object that can be expressed in physical or economic terms which may or may not downgrade the product’s safety or performance characteristics. NOTE: For the purposes of this AC, and to reduce confusion and ensure consistency in language and terminology, “FOD” will only refer to the phrase “foreign object debris.”
 
I'm a ramper for a pax airline at a Class C airport and you'd be amazed at how much crap is on the ground after a flight turn. Tons of zippers, luggage locks, broken pieces of plastic all over. We do our best to pick it up but sometimes while we push one aircraft the next one is already waiting to be marshaled in and there's simply no time for the "FOD walkaround."
 
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Ryan7943 said:
I'm a ramper for a pax airline at a Class C airport and you'd be amazed at how much crap is on the ground after a flight turn. Tons of zippers, luggage locks, broken pieces of plastic all over. We do our best to pick it up but sometimes while we push one aircraft the next one is already waiting to be marshaled in and there's simply no time for the "FOD walkaround."
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No kidding.....if commercial airports did the kinds of FOD walk-downs that the military does, they'd only get about half the flights out.

Worst thing I have seen was a ramper for ASA at Atlanta leisurely kicking an empty soda can around the ramp while waiting for the aircraft to finish boarding.
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
I was actually taught both. Foreign Object Debris is the crap laying around the airport. Foreign Object Damage is what's broken or 'damaged' on a plane due to the debris. Whatever your cup of tea, no bueno!
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This is how we use the acronym in the Navy as well. FOD is both the debris and when the debris and the damage it causes.
 
I've seen a bunch of FOD walk downs and I'm pretty sure they weren't lined up walking across the ramp looking for broken engines.
 
Slightly off topic, but a friend of mine was driving her Honda Civic home on a dark night on a back mountain road, and there was a cardboard box in the lane. She decided to just run the box over.

Bad move, there was an engine block inside the box. Her car was totalled.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Slightly off topic, but a friend of mine was driving her Honda Civic home on a dark night on a back mountain road, and there was a cardboard box in the lane. She decided to just run the box over.

Bad move, there was an engine block inside the box. Her car was totalled.
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Oh wow! That sux
 
Military doesn't play around when it comes to FOD. We did a FOD walk every morning when I was in the Marines. It was actually relaxing going out for a stroll on the ramp. I went out to an aircraft carrier for a couple days and they do it religiously as well. Different environment though and you have to be careful what you walk into with your head down.
 
Velocity173 said:
Military doesn't play around when it comes to FOD. We did a FOD walk every morning when I was in the Marines. It was actually relaxing going out for a stroll on the ramp. I went out to an aircraft carrier for a couple days and they do it religiously as well. Different environment though and you have to be careful what you walk into with your head down.
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Yes. We did FOD sweeps as well, ashore and at sea. Sucking something into a single engined helicopter on a tiny flight deck is never a good idea. Re: walking with your head down during a FOD sweep. I'm curious, if a Marine walks into something head first how exactly is that a problem??? Is it from the damage inflicted on the impacted item???? :dunno:
 
Threefingeredjack said:
Yes. We did FOD sweeps as well, ashore and at sea. Sucking something into a single engined helicopter on a tiny flight deck is never a good idea. Re: walking with your head down during a FOD sweep. I'm curious, if a Marine walks into something head first how exactly is that a problem??? Is it from the damage inflicted on the impacted item???? :dunno:
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Correct. You can't hurt a Jarhead but they can sure damage some govt property.:D
 
One of my friends was driving on the freeway behind a pickup with some stuff in it. Guess what fell out? And anvil. A full on anvil. He couldn't avoid it without hitting other people so he hit it. Took out his exhaust, oil pan, front & rear bumpers. :yikes:


Where I worked we were pretty serious about FOD. First of fall none of us wanted to be responsible for an airplane crashing, and secondly it's kind of fun to chase a bunch of crap around. Depending on how windy it was we found some cool stuff.
 
Ahhh the ultimate aerobic FOD walk --area 51 runway at some 24,000 feet. Not counting the Camo Guy avoidence run to the start line ..... :)
 
Are baggage containers left on the ramp without the brake engaged on a windy day, considered FOD? Or, just a delay or cancellation waiting to happen? When I worked at Dulles Airport, I had to chase one. Luckily one of our baggage loaders didn't realize he was being chased by it in his little tractor. I kindly radioed him to stop and check his 6. I wish I had a camera to capture that look when he realized what was about to happen. :hairraise:
 
Sac Arrow said:
Slightly off topic, but a friend of mine was driving her Honda Civic home on a dark night on a back mountain road, and there was a cardboard box in the lane. She decided to just run the box over.

Bad move, there was an engine block inside the box. Her car was totalled.
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ROFLMAO! Man that sucks...
 
MDeitch1976 said:
Are baggage containers left on the ramp without the brake engaged on a windy day, considered FOD?
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They certainly could be.....somewhere on the web, there is a photo of an L-1011 with a cargo container stuck in the nacelle.
 
Fearless Tower said:
They certainly could be.....somewhere on the web, there is a photo of an L-1011 with a cargo container stuck in the nacelle.
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HighFlyingA380 said:
Isn't the one on the left an L-1011 (note the 3rd engine up top)? I know the right one is a 747.
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The one on the left looks more like a 727 or L-1011, judging by the lack of the engine continuing through the fin. The DC-10 had the whole engine up there; the 727's and L-1011's were in the fuselage and fed air from up top.

Dan
 
Biggest FOD I ever dealt with was a 600-gallon plastic water tank. Flat black. It had been used by a cropsprayer and left, with another one, both empty, on a flatdeck trailer. Not tied down. Eventually a strong wind came along and blew one of them off the trailer and across the ramp and runway and about 300 yards into a field. It fell off that trailer the day after a Musketeer that had been parked right there had been flown away; it would have busted the airplane otherwise.

If it had blown away at night, and stopped on the runway, some pilot would surely have collided with it. Flat black doesn't show up too well until it's too late and it weighed about 200 pounds, enough to really spoil the landing.

Dan
 
Since we briefly touched upon roadside stories, I once had a bat fly out from under a bridge at hit my windshield when I was going 70mph on the highway to school one morning. Quite an interesting shock.
 
Ran over a smart phone weekend before last on the taxiway at the EAA pancake breakfast in Winchester, TN (SFG). Stopped and got out to pick it up and maybe track down the owner. It was smashed so i pitched it into the dirt by a taxiway light. I think it came from the RV 6 that taxied out just before us. Looked the tire over and proceeded on our way.

Worst fod incident I had was doing a touch n go in a B-52. We had just reset the trim and pushed the throttles up when we saw this object lying on thecenter line and then ran right over it and felt a thump. The squadron commander decided to raise the gear despite my reminding him that the Dash 11 reccomends leaving the gear down for any known or suspected gear damage. It turned out we had hit an aluminum pilot chute canister from the full stop aircraft in front of us. It shattered and scattered about 2 pounds of aluminum chunks all over the runway. The sweeper truck driver wasn't around since it was late at night so the SOF, DO, and a bunch airman were feverishly sweeping the runway with brroms so we wouldn't have to divert. Found a large cut in a tire after we landed. Did more damage than the turkey strike we had a while later.

Did manage to miss the alligators on center line at Spruce Creek and Fort Myers though.
 
We joke about collecting the hardware that we pick up. Eventually, we could use it to build an airplane.
 
I regularly dodge FOD at my rural home airport. There is always a constant parade of deer, geese and turkeys!:yikes:
 
Understandably easy to confuse as they are both pronounced the same:

FOD = Foreign Object Debris
FODD = Foreign Object Debris Damage

See? Everybody's right,"fawd" means both.
 
DrMack said:
Understandably easy to confuse as they are both pronounced the same:

FOD = Foreign Object Debris
FODD = Foreign Object Debris Damage
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I think that is only AF.

NATOPS uses FOD interchangeably (Looking at my LHD NATOPS right now). I've never seen the Navy use FODD.
 
Graueradler said:
We joke about collecting the hardware that we pick up. Eventually, we could use it to build an airplane.
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That reminds me... a Bonanza was smoking pretty good and had aborted takeoff 3-4 times. He finally got smart and taxiid back to find his problem. I found a piece of exhaust where his airplane was. I handed it to him and said "Does this belong to you?" he goes "I don't think so. Oh wait, that's Bonanza exhaust......" He left anyway after a couple more aborted attempts on takeoff. I was surprised I didn't read about him in an NTSB report.
 
Ryan7943 said:
I'm a ramper for a pax airline at a Class C airport and you'd be amazed at how much crap is on the ground after a flight turn. Tons of zippers, luggage locks, broken pieces of plastic all over. We do our best to pick it up but sometimes while we push one aircraft the next one is already waiting to be marshaled in and there's simply no time for the "FOD walkaround."
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Make time.

It is a lot less time consuming than an engine change or a tire change. Or picking thru the wreckage.

I spent 35 years at the airline, a lot of that on the ramp. Have held too many planes to count out there for the 2 minutes it takes for 4 guys to do the FOD walk.
 
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