AUGUST 2, 2024 – August is Foreign Object Debris awareness month and Corpus Christi Army Depot FOD prevention program managers want you to be remembered for doing quality work and not dropping foreign object debris.
Imagine having surgery and, by accident, the surgeon dropped surgical instruments in your body. Most likely, a foreign object would adversely affect your body, likewise, a helicopter.
FOD awareness month is a month-long schedule of events targeted at getting the workforce involved and increasing their knowledge of CCAD’s FOD prevention program.
These events include face-to-face FOD training conducted by Steve Magnus, safety officer for the directorate of quality management, and Chris Rauen, FOD prevention program manager. In addition, an aggressive marketing campaign includes posters distributed depot-wide and a series of videos.
Rauen said, “It is a requirement for all of us to take part in the FOD prevention program offered by CCAD. Every day, FOD is important. If we focus on preventing FOD, we won’t ever need to respond to it. The goal is prevention.”
Magnus shared an experience about FOD:
“I worked in support of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, performing rotor smoothing, a standard maintenance procedure that entails a systematized method of adjusting an aircraft’s pitch links, blade weights and trim tabs. The purpose of these modifications was to lessen vibrations at the basic (once-per-revolution) rotor frequency.”
The single-engine, four-bladed OH-58D Kiowa Warrior was retired in January 2017 and included cutting-edge armaments, cockpit integration, navigation, and visionics systems.
Our maintenance test pilot, a fellow Soldier, and I had been out on the ramp early one morning. It was close to 100 degrees outside, and it seemed like our squadron maintenance officer was shouting, ‘What is the status?’ every 10 minutes or so. We were adamant about getting the airplane airworthy despite all the challenges and the intense heat. We were determined to get the aircraft airworthy.
As the day wore on, repetitive tasks like bend trim tab adjustments, pitch change link adjustments, weight changes, and shutdowns became more and more taxing. We gave up after trying to balance several times without success and decided to take a quick break. I also got in touch with our supply officer and asked for two hydration packs. With icy water inside the hydration bladders, he brought them out. Our squadron’s command sergeant major gave us a lecture for improper attire and pointed out our [hydration packs] after we put them on our backs. The hydration packs had the potential to be FOD, just like jewelry, if caught on machinery.”
Foreign object damage is defined by Army regulation as “harm done to Army property, vehicles, or equipment by foreign or odd objects.” This definition excludes aircraft turbine engines, which are foreign object damage incidents. These unfamiliar objects are known as “debris” and are referred to as FOD.
The safety officer for the directorate of quality management monitors the FOD program and ensures it is fully integrated within the aviation safety program. Magnus and Rauen, together, comprise CCAD’s FOD prevention’s aviation safety team. They are committed to the upkeep of FOD prevention zones.
A FOD prevention zone is where manufacturing or modification processes remain open without potential FOD entanglements. This includes, but is not limited to, components or assemblies undergoing manufacturing or modification without any closeout activities on the product.
Ensuring accountability of tools and hardware before and after working on any aircraft or equipment is crucial. For instance, everyday maintenance tools can be foreign objects if they are not placed in their proper place. In fact, any material that originates from any source can be considered FOD, such as misplaced instruments, soda cans, paper, plastic bottles, jewelry, and unsecured hardware.
Magnus related an additional incident:
“Two crew chiefs were working together on a helicopter. At the completion of their job, one crew chief asked the other if the tools were accounted for after finishing their project; the answer was in the affirmative. A maintenance test pilot climbed into the aircraft and initiated the start procedure. The rotor blades turned on and accelerated. Then, there were two thuds and several metallic bangs, and the tool shot between the two crew chiefs. After the initial shock subsided, there was an investigation. According to the investigation findings, a multi-tool device was left on the hub, dropped into the pitch change link adjustments links, bounced about like a pachinko machine, and eventually blasted out, striking the main rotor blade with the knife edge. The blade fractured, sending a projectile along down the flight line. The moral of the story is that although all the tools seemed to be accounted for, having a second set of eyes to verify can save additional work.”
The FOD prevention program manager works as part of the FOD prevention and investigation team, which includes personnel from quality control and assurance, the aviation safety officer, directorate FOD program managers, FOD monitors, supervision and management.
However, FOD prevention is everyone’s responsibility, both direct and indirect personnel. Therefore, collaboration and cooperation are needed to support the FOD program and report findings to help enforce it. Educating Soldiers, Department of Defense civilians and contractors to strive for zero defects and the integrity and discipline to recover items left behind or lost during maintenance is critical.
Story by Kathleen Pettaway-Clarke
Corpus Christi Army Depot