LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Langley's Foreign Object Damage or FOD program is important. Anything from sea shells brought into the area by birds to common aircraft fasteners have been found on the flight line. An object as small as a grain of sand can damage an aircraft engine, according to Master Sgt. Duane Gibbs, 1st Fighter Wing foreign object damage monitor.
"FOD prevention helps protect the engines and everything going on the flight line," said Master Sgt. Michael Bumgardner, 1st Component Maintenance Squadron programs flight chief and FOD monitor.
FOD is any damage to an aircraft, engine, aircraft system, component, or aircraft ground equipment caused by a foreign object.
The goal for the program is a 100 percent FOD free environment.
"This is everyone's responsibility who steps foot on the flight line," said Sergeant Gibbs. "To reach this goal you have to work at it every day."
Although Langley is not 100 percent FOD free, the program here has been working extremely well.
Some of the program's accomplishments for fiscal year 2008 are:
- There were zero chargeable FOD incidents over $20,000
- The FOD rate was 0 percent; FOD rate is the number of chargeable FOD's divided by total flying hours
- The 1st and 192nd Fighter Wings only had 16 FOD incidents
- The total cost of incidents was reduced by 87 percent compared to fiscal year 2007
- Lowest number in FOD incidents and cost in more than five years
- Lowest number of dropped object program incident and cost in more than five years
- Zero FOD related discrepancies found during the Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Team Inspection
"I'm really pleased with the success of the Langley FOD program," said Col. Jeffrey Prichard, 1st Fighter Wing vice commander. "Preventing damage to our limited combat resources is critical, and our Airmen have excelled in making FOD prevention a culture and not just another task. Everything we have accomplished here is due to a cooperative effort and a lot of really hard work across the 1st and 192nd Fighter Wings."
An outstanding FOD culture, superb maintenance practices, ramp re-construction, Bird and Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazards team, airfield management, sound instruction, and trend identification were key in the program's success, according Sergeant Gibbs.
Although the 1st and 192nd Fighter Wings have excelled at the program, FOD still needs to be constantly controlled.
The biggest challenge is keeping awareness at the highest level in spite of the program's success, according to Sergeant Gibbs.
"Anybody that's out there, it doesn't matter if it's an airman basic that just arrived, or General Barrett preparing to fly, if you see something pick it up, if someone loses something, even though it may cost a bunch of man hours to search for the object, we must make every effort to find it," said Sergeant Gibbs.
People who don't work on the flight line should also be aware of FOD.
"Base cleanliness does have an impact on potential FOD hazards," said Sergeant Gibbs. "Anything in the surrounding area of the flight line can migrate and become potential FOD."
For more information on Langley's FOD program, call Sergeant Gibbs at 225-7382.