Foreign object damage
[1] External FOD hazards include bird strikes, hail, ice, sandstorms, ash-clouds or objects left on a runway or flight deck.
Internal FOD hazards include items left in the cockpit that interfere with flight safety by getting tangled in control cables, jam moving parts or short-out electrical connections.
The Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 fighters have a special intake design to prevent ingestion of FOD during take-off from rough airfields.
By developing, in conjunction with Israel Aerospace Industries, the Taxibot, a tractor controlled by the pilot, aircraft will not need to use jet engines while taxiing, and therefore they will not be vulnerable to FOD on aprons or taxiways.
Types of debris trapped in a vehicle tire can include rocks, mud, stones, loose hardware (screws, washers, bolts, etc.)
This material, once loose around operational aircraft, can lead to serious safety concerns, including personnel injury and equipment and property damage.
The crash of a Concorde, Air France Flight 4590, at Charles de Gaulle 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 that had fallen from a Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 during takeoff about four minutes earlier.
Rubber debris from the tire struck the wing, rupturing a fuel tank and starting a severe fire leading to loss of control.
[4] A Gates Learjet 36A, registration number N527PA, was taking off from Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Virginia on March 26, 2007, when the crew heard a loud "pop".
[5] On 24 June 1982, British Airways Flight 9 en route to Perth, Australia, flew into a volcanic ash cloud over the Indian Ocean.
On 15 December 1989, KLM Flight 867, en route to Narita International Airport, Tokyo flew through a thick cloud of volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt, which had erupted the day before.
[6][7] 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.
[9][10] On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 flew into a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff and suffered a double engine failure.
Airport managers use any means available (including trained falcons as well as robird flapping-wing falcon-like drones) to reduce bird populations.
[12] However, NAFPI has come under some critique as being focused on tool control and manufacturing processes, and other members of the industry have stepped forward to fill the gaps.
[19] "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.
[20] "From accidents such as the Air France Concorde, Flight AF 4590, 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 more detailed report offered a first-cut of the cost of FOD, based on a bottom-up analysis of airline maintenance log records.
[21] 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.
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.
Per-flight direct costs of $26[21] are calculated by considering engine maintenance spending, tire replacements, and aircraft body damage.
