FOD Tips from the NTSB

An AA-5B prop plane brought down by paint chips? If you’re an aircraft mechanic, read this Safety Alert from the National Transportation Safety Board. Includes recommended practice for controlling FOD during MRO activities, a collection of failure examples and a list of informative links.

Image: Shop rags in compressor case. Source: NTSB.gov

Video: Medical Cleanroom

Take a walk through Brentwood Industry’s 12,000 square foot ISO Class 7 cleanroom at its Reading, Pennsylvania manufacturing plant, with custom thermoforming, injection molding, airlock entrance to maintain air pressurization, dedicated gowning room, and a segregated material loading bay.

Image Source: YouTube (screenshot)

Is the F-18 Safer than the F-35?

The fighter wars are raging again, only this time in the press room instead of the skies. Boeing’s chief F/A-18 Super Hornet test pilot makes his case for the two-engine fighter being less vulnerable to catastrophic FOD incidents than the single-engine F-35 Lightning.

Image credit: Royal Canadian Air Force

Fatal Crash May Have Involved Bird Strike

Investigators have discovered eagle residue on a Cessna 172 that crashed near Birchwood Airport in Alaska, killing the pilot, a retired National Transportation Safety Administration investigator, and three other occupants.

Image Credit:US FWS

News Report: Airport Remains Open Despite FOD

January 24, 2016: The runway at Bauerfield International Airport (IATA: VLI, ICAO: NVVV) in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has deteriorated to the point that some airlines have halted flights, according to a report by Newshub. Airport authorities have commenced short-term solutions, such as daily sweeping, to collect debris formed from loose pieces of tarmac. Read more…

Bauerfield IAP. Image Copyright © Julie Lyn. Some rights reserved.

White Paper: Comparing Airport Sweeper Technologies

January 4, 2016: There is no “one size fits all” single best technology for sweeping foreign object debris (FOD) from broad airport surface areas such as runways, taxiways, ramps and aprons, in all circumstances. So, instead of looking for the best sweeper available, focus instead on acquiring the most appropriate solution for your specific FOD control program. Read more…

Image Copyright © The FOD Control Corporation. All rights reserved.

News Report: Dead Deer vs. Aircraft

February 1, 2016: Hunters kill deer for food. Deer remains wash ashore near Sitka Rock Gutierrez Airport (SIT). Birds flock to the airport to dine on the remains. You can imagine how this can affect runway safety, so airport officials need to be extra vigilant during subsistence hunting season in Alaska, according to this article by KTOO Public Media. (Warning: graphic images) Read more…

Sitka Airport. Image Copyright © James Brooks. Some rights reserved.

FOD Education: Tool Room Assessment Checklist

February 1, 2016: Tracking and inventorying tools in a FOD-sensitive environment can take away precious time from your core mission activities. Here’s a handy guide to help you speed up the process, get better organized and prevent lost items from damaging equipment and endangering lives. Read more…

Image Copyright © Unsplash. CC0 public domain license.

News Report: Automated Detection System

December 8, 2015: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) has installed a new FOD detection system for its recently-reconstructed center runway, according to a public statement by the Port of Seattle. Developed by the Israeli firm Xsight Systems, it utilizes image and radar processing algorithms to scan for debris and birds. Read more…

Image courtesy of Xsight Systems.

When does an airborne aircraft resemble FOD? When it’s smaller than practically everything else in the sky.

Drones — basically any unmanned, remotely-controlled aircraft — populate our nation’s airspace in greater and greater numbers. Depending upon design, they are also described by various acronyns, such as UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems), sUAS (small Unmanned Aircraft Systems) or mUA (micro Unmanned Aircraft).

Quadcopter. Image: U.S. Air Force.

Military and law enforcement agencies already use them extensively. Long banned for commercial purposes, the FAA has recently proposed a set of regulations that would allow the routine use small drones. So, it is only a matter of time before all manner of little machines start buzzing over your community, ranging in size from a small plane to a large insect.

It is the miniature drones that concern manned aircraft pilots and industry officials, because in size and behavior they often resemble a bird in flight. They can collide with manned aircraft before pilots have the opportunity to take evasive action. Their relatively fragile construction can cause FOD issues on the ground during a forced landing or airborne break-up.

The FAA receives approximately two dozen reports per month of either near misses between UAV’s and manned aircraft, or of UAV’s flying close to airports. In 2013 a four-foot-long unmanned helicopter came within 200 feet of a Boeing 777 during a landing approach at JFK International Airport. An analysis of possible consequences, had a collision occurred, includes many of the same results of a bird strike, such as a fodded-out engine or cockpit intrusion.

Of course, in most cases, a bird strike will more likely to bring down the bird instead of the aircraft. With small UAV’s, it’s just the opposite, as this video of a hawk attacking and crashing a quad-copter will attest. Now you have the potential for FOD debris on the ground.

So many UAV’s have taken to the skies so quickly, including private craft making low-altitude flights (which are not usually regulated by the FAA), that government officials struggle just to keep up with the pace of events. For instance, a local videographer caused a stir when his camera-mounted drone buzzed a suburb of Chicago one night to make a promotional video. Confusion abounded over whether or not he had created a safety hazard, invaded people’s privacy and followed FAA regulations.

RQ-16A T-Hawk. Image: U.S. Geological Survey.

A drone strike would also create a more complex knot of insurance and court cases. Unlike a FOD incident caused by a generic piece of debris (such as a small bolt) of unknown origin, or a bird strike where the perpetrator is a natural object, after a drone strike it would not be difficult to trace the ownership and manufacturer of the offending craft. You would know exactly who to sue or prosecute.

One way to unclog the traffic, at least during takeoff and landing operations, is to give drones their own dedicated airport. The U.S. Army is doing just that, building a launch and recovery complex specifically for its military UAV’s. Located at Fort Bliss, Texas, it will include two runways, taxiways, a hangar, aprons and maintenance assets.

Military aviation faces some of its greatest FOD challenges when deploying to forward locations with no airfields or improved surfaces. To help solve this problem, a British manufacturer of portable runways developed an aluminum UAV Landing Mat for the Australian Armed Forces.

A partnership between the FAA, the UAV industry and model aircraft enthusiasts has put up a website, Know Before You Fly, that encourages responsible behavior by private drone operators.

It may be the tail end of the holiday season, but don’t expect Santa to shove a wad of extra cash into your airport’s FOD control budget.

While the nation’s aging airport system requires numerous infrastructure upgrades, there’s not a lot of new money coming in. The new Congress is unlikely to increase FAA funding and may even cut it. Efforts to raise the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) cap have so far proved fruitless. Compared to major airports overseas, the US is falling behind.

When funds are hard to come by, a good FOD program manager learns how to make do.

Maintain your existing equipment as well as you can for as long as you can. Every month that you spend a few hundred dollars to keep that old machine running is another month that you don’t need to shell out many thousands of dollars on a new one. Milk your suppliers for every possible ounce of tech support; they want your business, so let them earn it.

When it does come time to buy new equipment, get proactive and bring up creative financing options. If they want the sale, they will work out with you a mutually-acceptable cash-flow plan. If your facility has always made that extra effort to pay its bills on time, now is when that effort pays off for your program and staff.

Be a smart buyer. Write up a detailed list of desired performance specifications and include it in correspondence, bid solicitations, and contracts. Ask your supplier for their product’s specifications, other facilities where it is currently deployed and, if possible, an on-site field demonstration. The last thing you want to do is purchase a hundred indoor FOD cans and then watch them rot in the outdoor sun.

Is your facility planning a construction project? Most construction contracts require that the contractor keep the work area clean of FOD, so the contractor may have to purchase equipment, such as sweepers and barriers, to fulfill that requirement. Cut a deal with them to transfer ownership of that equipment to you once the project is complete. They recoup a portion of their original purchase costs and you obtain equipment for a portion of its market value.

Do you have a GA airport or other facility with a relatively light surface sweeping program? A secondary market exists for used sweepers, which can save you a considerable sum. Even better, get in touch with suppliers and ask if they have an old demo unit that they would be willing to let go of for a nominal sum. This is a win-win situation—they pick up a few dollars and you pick up some extra hours of sweeping.

Performance incentives to motivate staff to maintain safety standards need not cost and arm and a leg. A logo jacket or a dinner for two goes a long way to show appreciation. One great way to jazz things up is to let the staff select the type of reward, within the budget that you set, before you award it. Remember, you are not rewarding employees for following the rules. You are thanking them for making the personal decision to treat seriously their own safety, as well as the safety of their colleagues and customers.

Our grandparents used to think of coyotes as reclusive creatures wandering the western deserts and woodlands. Not any more.

Today these hardy and picturesque predators are just as likely to live in urban areas throughout North America, helping to control the local population of rats, mice and the occasional little yap dog. In October, Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Michigan had to delay several flights after an airliner struck one on a runway.

Over the past quarter century, wildlife strikes on civil aircraft in the USA have increased six-fold, from about eighteen hundred in 1990 to over eleven thousand in 2013. The cost to civil aviation, especially general aviation, runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Not surprisingly, populations of large birds, coyotes and deer – which, as a trio, cause the most damage – have increased over that same time period. While minor fluctuations do occur, such as a recent deer decline in some regions, the overall trend is for more birds and animals living and feeding closer to urban areas, including your airport.

When new building or agricultural developments encroach on their traditional habitats, wildlife will adapt as best they can, including migrating to the wide-open spaces of airport property. They also feed at agricultural, fishing, sporting, wildlife refuge, industrial, waste-disposal, and other facilities that expose organic matter to the elements.

The FAA generally recommends wildlife-attracting land uses should not be created within five miles of an airport. Given the powerful local constituencies that support such land uses, you will have a difficult time removing existing projects. But you can still make your voice heard whenever a new land use is proposed that may impact safety.

Regardless of the causes, it is undeniable that the summers are getting hotter and the winters are getting wilder. Changing climate patterns can also shift populations, because most species are used to living within a limited range of temperatures and precipitation. If that range changes, they may migrate away from your airport to a different region, only to be replaced by new species that like the new weather.

While nobody can predicting the weather months in advance or how it will affect complex ecosystems, you can still take practical steps to stay ahead of the curve. Contact colleagues at airports with weather similar to the patterns that you are now beginning to experience. Ask them about the birds and animals that normally cause problems there and how they deal with it. Also get in touch with your local university’s wildlife experts to discuss recent changes in local populations and get their thoughts on what the future might hold.

If you want to learn more and help your colleagues to learn more, participate in the FAA’s voluntary Wildlife Strike Database program. You can report a strike that occurred at your airport, search the database for past strike reports, and read the agency’s annual report on the topic.

Keeping your employees on the lookout for foreign object debris or damage (FOD) can prove challenging in a busy work environment. Try these three proven methods to encourage awareness and a strong safety culture.

While the examples focus on airport environments, you can easily apply the same principles to manufacturing facilities.

1. Provide clear goals and instructions.
FOD control training sessions involve more than just instructing staff to “pick up after yourself.” Each job description creates its own unique potential for discovering – and creating – potentially dangerous debris.

How roughly a Ramper handles cargo influences how many broken suitcase handles, torn ID tags, and ripped labels litter the ramp. The route and speed of a driver towing a runway sweeper influences how efficiently it sweeps.

Likewise, the Ramper is in a perfect position to follow “clean as you go” procedures during loading operations. Ground vehicle drivers can be trained to visually scan the pavement during routine operations.

Assess each job description, then create a short and specific list of instructions for that employee or team.

2. Bring senior management aboard.
Employees pay attention when the C-suite pays attention. Your top executives must set an example by personally encouraging awareness and compliance.

For example, in the US Air Force – which has the best FOD program in the world – oversight of an air base’s program is normally performed by the Vice Wing Commander, who is a colonel or general and the unit’s second-highest ranking officer. Typically, the VWC delegates day-to-day activities to a career sergeant with ground maintenance experience, relying upon his or her reports and recommendations when making command decisions.

In a civilian facility, program oversight normally falls to the safety or operations manager or, in a small GA airport, the airport director. Regardless, a senior manager with supervisory authority must hold ultimate responsibility.

3. Hold a FOD contest.
Most folks don’t think of picking up garbage as fun, so let’s make it fun. Challenge staff to create safety posters and distribute copies of the best designs. Lead a round of applause to the employee who brings in the heaviest trash bag during cleanup.

A popular and productive contest is the Golden Bolt hunt. First, management colors a bolt with gold paint and hides it. Then, employees perform a “FOD Walk,” visually sweeping an area for FOD, collecting it as they go along. Whoever finds the Golden Bolt wins.

During staff meetings, award prizes to employees who collect the most debris, design the best poster, or locate the hidden bolt.

They need not be expensive and might include a dinner coupon, gift card, or framed certificate of achievement. You are not “buying” responsible behavior from your employees. You are recognizing their personal decision to actively support the safety of their company, co-workers, and customers.

Looking for formal training materials? Visit FODProgram.com for a list of online courses that will teach your employees how to practice responsible FOD awareness and control.

September 10, 2013, will forever live in infamy for Lt. Cmdr. Nick Toth, NOAA pilot, and for everyone else involved in the first recorded “fish strike,” in the history of NOAA at MacDill that occurred that morning.

At roughly 10:50 a.m., Toth and the rest of the aircrew were cleared for takeoff and started their roll in their Gulfstream GIV.

“We were nearing the point in the takeoff where we needed to rotate, or raise the nose of the airplane off the ground, when an Osprey with something in its claws flew in front of our aircraft,” explained Toth. “We saw that the Osprey did not gain enough altitude, and that it passed underneath the centerline of the aircraft.”

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