Foreign Object Damage

Foreign Object Damage ( FOD) (English: FOD ) is called the damage an aircraft by foreign objects (except other aircraft). This includes from the runway derived foreign matter (especially the intake of parts in aircraft engines on parking positions during starting engines ), bird strike and hail. Not as Foreign Object Damage counts damage from missiles, icing on wings and engine failure due to sand sucked.

Causes of Foreign Object Damage

Major cause of foreign object damage are high speeds, the size of modern engines and thereby moving air masses nowadays. In jet engines, which are used to power jet aircraft, very large amounts of air are sucked to produce a forward thrust before the start. The liability in this matter pull the engine runs the risk that even very large foreign parts get with the air flow into the engine, where they can cause damage. Therefore, at airports or aircraft carriers careful and regular train control by the airport operator important in Frankfurt assumes example apron control this task.

A special case is the bird strike, so the collision of a bird with the aircraft (eg the glass of the cockpit window ) or its engines, which caused significant damage and therefore the risk to persons could result.

Measures against Foreign Object Damage

Since the problem in air traffic is ubiquitous, diverse measures against Foreign Object Damage taken:

  • Regular control of the start and runways for debris during flight operations
  • Creation of a not attractive to birds zone to start and runways
  • Weather radar hail detection
  • Verification of the integrity of the tool and personal items before and after working in a sensitive area
  • Technical measures, such as having the engines mounted above the wing ( as in the VFW 614 and Fairchild -Republic A-10), and engine forms that complicate the aspiration of foreign bodies

Foreign Object Debris

The acronym FOD is used in particular in the field of naval forces and for lying about foreign body itself, where the " D" in this case for debris (English: fragment, debris, foreign bodies) is: Foreign Object Debris.

Examples

The design of the Airbus A380, the risk of FOD was taken into account: only the inner engines are equipped with a thrust reverser function. Due to the large wingspan would otherwise at relatively narrow tracks the risk of Aufwirbelns and suction of dirt.

A tragic example of FOD is the crash of a Concorde on 25 July 2000 shortly after takeoff from Paris ( Air France Flight 4590 ), which was triggered by an intelligent on the runway metal part on the recent launched DC-10.

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