Rotary FOD
June 10: Keep those helipads clean, folks. Authorities in Fiji believe that foreign object debris damaged the rotor blades of a helicopter during a landing operation, causing it to crash.
Drone FOD
May 18: Predictions that small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will create debris problems have come true, at least in the Philippines. A teenaged hobbyist lost his small drone, only for it to turn up as debris on the runway’s edge at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Quadcopter. Image: U.S. Air Force.
New FAA Video
Sky Lanterns
June 4: Officials in Mumbai, India, are raising security concerns over the increasing popularity of airborne sky lanterns, especially during holidays, near Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
Keeping Fighters in the Air
May 29: Pay a visit to the F-15 functional test team, the ground maintenance unit responsible for preparing fighter jets for test flights.
Bird Strikes Increasing
May 18: India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation reports that birds strikes in that country have almost doubled over the past four years.
Moo!
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has ordered all 81 airports to take measures to prevent people and livestock from crossing runways.
Cold War Bird Strikes
Here’s an interesting 1980’s-era training video for US Air Force pilots, introducing them to a basic understanding of bird strike prevention. Includes incidents, pilot interviews and statistics.
Moments in FOD History: Learjet Crash
On February 26, 1973, multiple bird strikes crashed a Learjet after taking off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in DeKalb County, Georgia. Seven people died and an eighth suffered severe fuel burns.
