Foreign Object Debris (FOD) is a substance, debris or article alien to a vehicle or system which would potentially cause damage.
Foreign Object Damage (also abbreviated FOD) is any damage attributed to a foreign object that can be expressed in physical or economic terms that may or may not degrade the product's required safety and/or performance characteristics. Typically, FOD is an aviation term used to describe debris on or around an aircraft or damage done to an aircraft.[1] Foreign Object Damage is any damage attributed to a foreign object (i.e. any object that is not part of the vehicle) that can be expressed in physical or economic terms and may or may not degrade the product's required safety or performance characteristics. FOD is an abbreviation often used in aviation to describe both the damage done to aircraft by foreign objects, and the foreign objects themselves.[2]
"Internal FOD" is used to refer to damage or hazards caused by foreign objects inside the aircraft. For example, "Cockpit FOD" might be used to describe a situation where an item gets loose in the cockpit and jams or restricts the operation of the controls. "Tool FOD" is a serious hazard caused by tools left inside the aircraft after manufacturing or servicing. Tools or other items can get tangled in control cables, jam moving parts, short out electrical connections, or otherwise interfere with safe flight. Aircraft maintenance teams usually have strict tool control procedures including toolbox inventories to make sure all tools have been removed from an aircraft before it is released for flight. Tools used during manufacturing are tagged with a serial number so if they are found they can be traced.
The "Damage" term was prevalent in military circles, but has since been pre-empted by a definition of FOD that looks at the "debris". This shift was made "official" in the latest FAA Advisory Circulars FAA A/C 150/5220-24 'Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Detection Equipment' (2009) and FAA A/C 150/5210-24 'Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management'. Eurocontrol, ECAC, and the ICAO have all rallied behind this new definition. As Iain McCreary of Insight SRI put it in a presentation to NAPFI (August 2010), "You can have debris present without damage, but never damage without debris." Likewise, FOD prevention systems work by sensing and detecting not the damage but the actual debris. Thus FOD is now taken to mean the debris itself, and the resulting damage is referred to as "FOD damage".
Internationally, FOD costs the aviation industry US$13 billion per year in direct plus indirect costs. The indirect costs are as much as ten times the indirect cost value, representing delays, aircraft changes, incurred fuel costs, unscheduled maintenance, and the like for a total of $13 billion per year[3] and causes expensive, significant damage to aircraft and parts and death and injury to workers, pilots and passengers.
It is estimated that FOD costs major airlines in the United States $26 per flight in aircraft repairs, plus $312 in such additional indirect costs as flight delays, plane changes and fuel inefficiencies.[4]
"There are other costs that are not as easy to calculate but are equally disturbing," according to UK Royal Air Force Wing Commander and FOD researcher Richard Friend.[5] "From accidents such as the Air France Concorde, Flight AF 4590,[6] there is the loss of life, suffering and effect on the families of those who died, the suspicion of malpractice, guilt, and blame that could last for lifetimes. This harrowing torment is incalculable but should not be forgotten, ever. If everyone kept this in mind, we would remain vigilant and forever prevent foreign object debris from causing a problem. In fact, many factors combine to cause a chain of events that can lead to a failure."
In the United States, the most prominent gathering of FOD experts has been the annual National Aerospace FOD Prevention Conference. It is hosted in a different city each year by National Aerospace FOD Prevention, Inc. (NAFPI), a nonprofit association that focuses on FOD education, awareness and prevention. Conference information, including presentations from past conferences, is available at the NAFPI Web site.[2] However, NAFPI has come under some critique as being focussed on tool control and manufacturing processes, and other members of the industry have stepped forward to fill the gaps. BAA hosted the world's first airport-led conference on the subject in November 2010 .[7]
Examples of FOD include:[8]
Generally speaking, bird strikes (when an aeroplane flies into a bird, the impact can cause severe damage from a bird striking the fuselage, engine, etc.) are not considered to be FOD strikes, unless the bird or wildlife was already dead and lying on the operating surface when the strike occurred. Bird strikes are treated separately.
All aircraft occasionally lose small metal or carbon parts during takeoff and landing. These parts remain on the runway and can cause damage to tires of other aircraft, hit the fuselage or windshield/canopy, or get sucked up into an engine. Although airport ground crews regularly clean up runways, the crash of Air France Flight 4590 demonstrated that accidents can still occur: in that case, the crash was said to have been caused by debris left by a flight that had departed only four minutes earlier.
On aircraft carriers, as well as military and some civilian airfields, sweeps are conducted before flight operations begin. A line of crewmen walk shoulder to shoulder along the flight operations surfaces, searching for and removing any foreign objects. The objects removed are often also referred to as "FOD" although they have not caused any damage. In this context a more appropriate translation of the acronym would be "foreign objects and debris".
Modern jet engines suffer major damage due to even small birds being sucked into the engine. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) requires that all engine types pass a test which includes firing a fresh chicken (dead, but not frozen) into a running jet engine from a small cannon. The engine does not have to remain functional after the test, but it must not cause significant damage to the rest of the aircraft. Thus, if the bird strike causes it to "throw a blade" (break apart in a way where parts fly off at high speed), doing so must not cause loss of the aircraft.[9] A chicken gun is used to perform experiments on bird strikes.
Some military aircraft have a unique design to prevent FOD from damaging the engine. The design consisted of an S-shaped bend in the airflow, so that air entered the inlet, was bent back towards the front of the plane, and bent back again towards the back before entering the engine. At the back of the first bend a strong spring held a door shut. Any foreign object flying in the intake flew in, hit the door, opened it, flew through, and then exited the aircraft. Thus, only small objects swept up by the air could enter the engine. This design did indeed prevent FOD problems, but the constriction and drag induced by the bending of the airflow reduced the engine's effective power, and thus the design was not repeated. However, many consider it an innovative solution to a challenging engineering problem.
The Russian MiG-29 fighter has a special engine design to prevent ingestion of FOD during take-off from rough airfields. The front air intakes could be closed and special inlets on the top of the plane temporarily opened. This would allow enough airflow to the engine for take-off but reduced the chances of the engine sucking up objects from the ground.
Another interesting design to minimize the risk of FOD is the Antonov An-74 which has a very high placement of the engines.
Boeing offered a gravel runway kit for early 737s that allows the plane to be used from unimproved and gravel runways. This kit included gravel deflectors on the landing gear; foldaway lights on the bottom of the plane; and screens that prevented gravel, entering the open wheelwells when the gear was extended, from hitting critical components. It also included vortex dissipators, devices that would reduce the airflow into the engine from the bottom so as to reduce the likelihood of ingesting gravel.[10][11]
Airbus are investigating a novel approach to reducing FOD. By developing, in conjunction with Ricardo plc, the "Taxibot", a tractor controlled by the pilot, aircraft will not need to use jet engines while taxiing, so will not be vulnerable to FOD on aprons or taxiways.[12]
The crash of a Concorde, Air France Flight 4590, at Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris on 25 July 2000 was caused by FOD; in this case a piece of titanium debris on the runway which had been part of a thrust reverser which fell off from a Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that had took off about four minutes earlier. All 100 passengers and nine crew on board the flight, as well as four people on the ground, were killed.
A Bombardier Learjet 36A, was taking off from Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport Va., on March 26, 2007, when the crew heard a loud “pop”. Aborting the takeoff, the crew tried to control the “fishtailing” and activate the drag chute. The chute did not work and the Learjet ran off the runway, its tires blown. Airport personnel reported seeing rocks and pieces of metal on the runway, after the accident. The NTSB said that the Learjet accident was caused by Foreign Object Debris (FOD) on the runway. Failure of the drag chute contributed to the accident.
On 24 June 1982, British Airways Flight 9 on route to Perth, Australia, flew into a volcanic ash cloud over the Indian Ocean. The Boeing 747-200B suffered engine surges in all four engines until they all failed. The passengers and crew could see a phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire around the plane. Flight 9 dived down until it exited the cloud allowing the airborne ash to clear the engines, which were then restarted. The cockpit windshield was badly pitted by the ash particles but the aircraft landed safely.
An unusual case of FOD occurred on 28 September 1981 over Chesapeake Bay. During flight testing of an F/A-18 Hornet, the Naval Air Test Center of the United States Navy was using a Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk as a chase plane to film a jettison test of a bomb rack from the Hornet. The bomb rack struck the right wing of the Skyhawk, shearing off almost half the wing. The Skyhawk caught fire within seconds of being struck; the two persons on board ejected.[13][14]
On 20 November 1975 a Hawker Siddeley HS.125 taking off at Dunsfold Aerodrome flew through a flock of Northern Lapwings immediately after lifting off the runway and lost power in both engines. The crew landed the aircraft back on the runway but it overran the end and crossed a road. The aircraft struck a car on the road, killing its six occupants. Although the aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing fire, the nine occupants of the aircraft survived the crash.[15]
On 17 November 1980 a Hawker Siddeley Nimrod of the Royal Air Force crashed shortly after taking off from RAF Kinloss. It flew through a flock of Canada geese, causing three of its four engines to fail. The pilot and copilot were killed; the pilot was subsequently posthumously awarded an Air Force Cross for his actions in maintaining control of the aircraft and saving the lives of the 18 crew. The remains of 77 birds were found on or near the runway.[16][17]
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 flew into a flock of Canada geese and suffered a double engine failure. The pilot ditched the aircraft in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all on board.
Significant problems occur with airports where the grounds were or have become nesting areas for birds. While fences can prevent a moose or deer from wandering onto a runway, birds are more difficult to control. Often airports employ a type of bird scarer that operates on propane to cause a noise loud enough to scare away any birds that might be in the vicinity. Airport managers use any means available (including trained falcons) to reduce bird populations. Another solution under investigation is the use of artificial turf near runways, since it does not offer food, shelter, or water to wildlife.[18]
The FOD "bible" was written by Gary Chaplin, Founder and President of The F.O.D. Control Corporation,[19] “Promoting a FOD Program is essentially a public relations campaign. Even if other elements of effective FOD Prevention are not in place, a good Promotion and Awareness Program can significantly help reduce FOD by engaging a workforce with information, feedback and involvement.”
According to Chaplin’s handbook on the topic, Make It FOD Free: The Ultimate FOD Prevention Program Manual.,[5] the basic elements of a comprehensive campaign include:
The United States Air Force, for instance, is always looking for creative ways to encourage FOD awareness. The 407th Air Expeditionary Group at Ali Air Base in Iraq brings the fun of treasure hunting into its FOD Walks, by hiding a prized “Golden Bolt” somewhere along the flightline.[20] The Aircraft Maintenance Group at Tinker Air Force Base posts signs that say “get your five today” or “what were your five”, to encourage personnel to pick up at least five pieces of FOD every day.[21]
Training is a tremendous awareness tool that is not always given the priority and forethought it deserves. It is an opportunity to highlight areas needing improvement, reinforce some of the rules that are not always being adhered to, introduce new initiatives, and applaud accomplishments. For instance, elements of new employee training should include:
Formal certification in Foreign Object Elimination (FOE) – Elements of Basic Awareness is now available from The National Center for Aerospace & Transportation Technologies, NCATT (www.ncatt.org) (formerly called National Center for Aircraft Technician Training), which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Certification covers knowledge of the following areas:
There is some debate regarding FOD detection systems as the costs can be high and the domain of responsibility is not clear. However, one airport claims that their FOD detection system may have paid for itself in a single incident where personnel were alerted to a steel cable on the runway, before a single aircraft was put at risk.[23] The FAA has investigated FOD detection technologies, and has set standards for the following categories[24]:
There have only been two detailed studies of the economic cost of FOD for civil airline operations. The first was by Brad Bachtel of Boeing, who published a value of $4 billion USD per year.[25] This top-down value was for several years the standard industry figure for the cost of FOD. The second work (2007) was by Iain McCreary from the consultancy Insight SRI Ltd. This more detailed report offered a first-cut of the cost of FOD, based on a bottom-up analysis of airline maintenance log records. Here, data was broken into Per Flight Direct Costs and Per Flight Indirect Costs for the top 300 global airports, with detailed footnotes on the supporting data.[26] The Insight SRI research was a standard reference for 2007-2009 as it was the only source presenting costs and thus was quoted by regulators, airports, and technology providers alike.[27]
However, while that 2007 Insight SRI paper remains the best free public source of data, the new analysis (2010) from Insight SRI offers new numbers. The author of the new report (not free) says "Readers are cautioned not to rely on or in the future refer to numbers from the 2007-08 Insight SRI paper‘The Economic Cost of FOD to Airlines’. This earlier effort was ‘The’ first document detailing the direct and indirect cost of FOD that was based on airline maintenance data (the entire document was a single page of data, followed by 8 pages of footnotes)."
Per Flight Direct Costs of $26[26] are calculated by considering engine maintenance spending, tire replacements, and aircraft body damage.
Per Flight Indirect Costs include a total of 31 individual categories:
The study concludes that when these indirect costs are added, then the cost of FOD increases by a multiple of up to 10x.[28]
Eurocontrol and the FAA are both studying FOD. Eurocontrol released a preliminary assessment of FOD Detection technologies in 2006, while the FAA is conducting trials of the four leading systems from Qinetiq (PVD Providence T F Green Airport), Stratech (ORD Chicago O'Hare Airport), Xsight Systems (BOS Boston Logan Airport), and Trex Aviation Systems (ORD Chicago O'Hare Airport) during 2007 and 2008. Results of this study should be published in 2009.
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