FOD or Foreign Object Damage is an aviation term used to describe damage done to an aircraft due to collision with small foreign objects. Small, in this case, is anything smaller than another aircraft.

FOD causes expensive, significant damages every year to many aircraft, and regularly causes death and injury.

Examples of FOD include:

• Bird strikes: when a plane flies into a bird, the impact can cause severe damage to the fuselage or engine.
• Rock or other metal parts: Usually occurs when the aircraft is taking off or landing. The intake suction from a jet engine is often powerful enough to suck up loose material lying on the runway.
• Hail: can break windshields and damage or stop engines.

Things that are not considered FOD are: F16 after a bird strike Bird strike (sometimes birdstrike, bird hit, or BASH (bird aircraft strike hazard)) is an aviation term for when there is a collision between an airborne animal (most often birds, but also sometimes other species) and a man made vehicle, especially aircraft. ... In an aircraft, the fuselage is the main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. ... A Pratt and Whitney turbofan engine for the F-15 Eagle is tested at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, USA. The tunnel behind the engine muffles noise and allows exhaust to escape. ... A large hailstone Hail is a type of graupel, a form of precipitation, composed of spears or irregular lumps of ice. ...

• ice on the wings
• dust clogging the air intakes (as in sandstorms in desert operating conditions)
• anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire

It should be noted that large and small aircraft alike occasionally lose small metal parts during takeoff and landing. These parts remain on the runway and cause damage to tires of other planes using that runway, hit the fuselage or windshield ("canopy"), or can be sucked up into an engine. Thus, airport ground crews regularly clean up runways to remove such parts. A sandstorm is a low-level atmospheric disturbance caused by a strong wind carrying sand particles through the air. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Jet engine design and FOD

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 throwing a fresh chicken (dead, but not frozen) into a running jet engine. 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. It is reputed that the chicken used in the tests is known in aviation circles to be a specific size and is thus known as an "aviation standard bird". The Federal Aviation Administration is the entity of the United States government which regulates and oversees all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S. // Activities Along with the European Joint Aviation Authorities, the FAA is one of the two main agencies worldwide responsible for the certification of new aircraft. ...

Engine design that avoids FOD

The US A6-E attack aircraft had a unique design to prevent FOD from damaging the engine. The design consisted of a 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 engines effective power, and thus the design was not repeated. However, many consider it an innovative solution to a tough engineering problem. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... The Grumman A-6 Intruder is a US attack aircraft. ...

FOD example case: the B-1A

In the late 1970s, the B-1A bomber began production and the military began flight testing to determine its capabilities and limitations. Very shortly after the aircraft was accepted by the military, there was at least one very high profile crash, shortly after takeoff, from an airfield in North Dakota. The cause of the crash was determined to be FOD. Specifically, the aircraft flew into a flock of geese moments after it lifted from the ground. Many geese struck the leading edge of the wings. Unfortunately, the primary, secondary, and backup hydraulic system lines were all positioned within inches of each other in that section of the wing. The bird strikes dented the aircraft skin, which in turn dented the hydraulic lines and caused loss of pressure in all three systems. The aircraft became uncontrollable and crashed. The B-1 Lancer The Boeing IDS (formerly Rockwell) B-1B Lancer is a long-range strategic bomber in service with the USAF. Together with the B-52 Stratofortress, it is the backbone of the United States long-range bomber force. ... State nickname: Peace Garden State, Roughrider State, Flickertail State Official languages English Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Governor John Hoeven (R) Senators Kent Conrad (D) Byron Dorgan (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 19th 183 272 km² 2. ... Genera Anser Branta Chen Cereopsis Cnemiornis (extinct) † see also: Swan, Duck Anatidae Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. ... Hydraulically powered cylinders are visible on this excavator. ...

It was determined that the aircraft design was the major factor in this crash, not the birds. Any military jet should be expected to operate in unimproved conditions and probably incur FOD during normal operation. Thus, the design decisions were faulty in that (a) all three hydraulic systems were too close together, (b) they were very close to the outer skin of the aircraft, and (c) they had no extra shielding on the skin nearest this juncture point.

Thus, the B-1A was a short lived model. The B-1B incorporated many changes including rerouting, separating, and shielding the hydraulics.

Wildlife and wetlands near airports

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 deal with. Airport managers use any means available to reduce bird populations, because while birds might be nice to look at and an important part of our ecosystem, the loss of life from one bird-related FOD-caused aircraft crash could be significant, is foreseeable, and thus should be prevented. Binomial name Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758) Alces alces, called the moose in North America and the elk in Europe (see also elk for other animals called elk) is the largest of all the deer family Cervidae, distinguished from other members of Cervidae by the form of the antlers of its... Subfamilies Capreolinae Cervinae Hydropotinae Muntiacinae A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. ...

FOD Operating System

A revolutionary operating system founded by Fodzocorp in 2004 to avert all the problems Windows brings about to its users. Its release debuted a variety of new programs and products formerly unavailable to the public, including the InterFOD and FOD Messenger. The free software may be purchased at FOD-OS where it was originally and continues to be produced.

• • By clicking on the link provided you support not only the growing popularity of the "fictional" character Fod, but also support Fodzocorp as an entirety.

Additional Definitions

• Also see Finger of Death
• Although runway FOD usually means Foreign Object Damage, the acronym is sometimes used to mean "Foreign Object Debris", as reported in Boeing Aero Magazine No. 1 - January 1998
• An "FOD Can" is a receptacle for Foreign Object Debris located on or near an airport ramp.
• FOD is also the name of a famous Mexican who attends a high school in Canada. More information on Fod may be found in the near future once his global popularity flourishes to unimaginable proportions.