February 21: Lion Air had to cancel or delay flights from Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for three days, delaying departures for thousands of travelers celebrating the Chinese New Year. The rapidly-expanding airline blamed “foreign object damage” but provided virtually no details.
Image courtesy of Boeing.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…drone?
March 13: What happens when an errant Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) slams into a manned aircraft? George Morse of Failure Analysis Service Technology offers some clues.
February 19: You can also read a recent FODNews.com article on concerns about a proposal to allow commercial operators to fly drones in the USA’s airspace.
Image: US Geological Survey.
FOD Inspector Becomes FOD
March 11: Detail, details. Pilots of a Boeing 717 had to react quickly during an approach to Perth Airport in Australia, after the airport forgot to tell them that a runway inspection was taking place, turning the inspector’s vehicle into potential runway debris.
March 21: A passenger shot this fiery footage of a bird strike taking out the left engine of an Airbus A321 taking off from Beirut Airport. Ironically, the passenger later explained that he was on his way to photograph the Aurora Borealis in Iceland.
What Causes Bird Strikes?
What makes a bird fly its body right into the body of an aircraft, or for that matter your car on a weekend drive? Check out this interesting rundown of reasons for such birdbrain behavior. Now if we could only do the same for people…
Image: Federal Aviation Administration
Video: Heated Flight Area
April 8: Watch this time-lapse of snow melting at Greater Binghamton Airport, where an experimental geothermal heating system runs heated water through pipes installed underneath a terminal apron, keeping it relatively snow-free during the winter. Here are some specs, diagrams and photos as well.
Air Force Airfield Operations
April 13: From an undisclosed location in southwest Asia, US Air Force Airfield Management and Air Traffic control personnel perform FOD checks, identify and remove obstructions, obtain flight clearances and otherwise assure that the nation’s aerial warfighters depart and arrive safely from their missions.
Video: Planet of the Apes
April 10: One man’s aircraft is another man’s – er, primate’s – FOD. A chimpanzee attacks and successfully brings down an airborne drone with a wooden stick. Maybe the high-tech weapons labs could learn a thing or two from this low-tech warrior.
