Issues, Information, And Actions To Help Prevent Foreign Object Damage
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Aviation attorney Stephen P. Prentice raises an alarm over France prosecuting two Continental Airlines employees for criminal manslaughter. Why should the USA share safety data with the Europeans if a foreign government could use it to throw innocent Americans in jail?
Compliments of U.S. Navy “Mech” Magazine
By Ltjg. Jason Bauman
Five minutes to flight quarters and my flashlight doesn’t work. I was already late, the HAC had already strapped in, and I was just now getting to preflight my SV-2. Luck would have my flashlight going from fading in and out the night before to not working at all. Hindsight would say the responsible thing to do would have been to take care of the problem the night before. However, I found myself taking the easy way out. I thought, “Nobody’s around; there’s no time to find new batteries. No harm, no foul, I’ll just grab a flashlight off of one of the SV-2’s hanging above me, return it when I get back, and no one will be the wiser.” Bad idea. This was the first mistake in a string of them, which ultimately led to me downing two aircraft. [Read more…]
A preliminary NTSB report indicates that a stray metal bearing roller may have jammed an elevator control system, causing a pitch-up event during the attempted landing of a Boeing 737 last year.
The Concorde nearly repeated itself in Mexico, happily this time with no fire or casualties. During takeoff from Cancun, an engine cover fell from an Airbus 318, shredding a tire on a nearby Boeing 717. Here is the news report, translated into English from the original Spanish.
TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, is the first commercial airport in the United States to install and operate the latest Tarsier Foreign Object Debris (FOD) technology. Developed by QinetiQ, an international defence and security technology company, Tarsier is a 24-hour runway debris detection system. The system is currently being tested and evaluated at TF Green on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration by the University of Illinois Centre of Excellence in Airport Technology.Checking for runway debris is currently performed manually with visual inspections several times a day. The new, fully automated system provides continuous scanning of the runway area and alerts airport operations specialists about foreign objects that are detected. Operations specialists then recover and keep a record of all debris that is recovered. [Read more…]What is FOD?
by Master Sergeant Frank Merchant,
Whiteman AFB
So what is Foreign Object Damage and what can it do? What does FOD mean to a pilot and crew?
It may be ice, birds, tools or hardware, sucked into a turbofan. Sometimes “acts of God” (ice and birds) but all too often FOD is an act of man.
An aircraft frightfully out of control, its occupants feel their hearts in their throats. The pilot struggles desperately to wrestle control, as the plane goes down in a billow of smoke. [Read more…]
Enjoy this presentation on Foreign Object Elimination: Click here to Download the powerpoint file.
Public access to previously confidential bird strike records has been granted by the FAA.
An airline cargo container sucked into a jet engine? Have you seen what bird strike can do? Visit www.aviationpics.de for these and other photos on aircraft with foreign object damage. Take a look….you will be amazed at what FOD can do!
