Aviation FOD Prevention Mats

Airport FOD Prevention

One of the biggest battles that airfield managers and operators face is FOD prevention. FOD is a well-known acronym that stands for Foreign Object Debris or Foreign Object Damage. FOD is presented in many ways into a flight line. One of the most common ways is vehicle traffic entering from outside the airfield. These vehicles can consist of fuel trucks, maintenance trucks, crew vehicles and many more. The vehicle’s tires trap debris such as rocks, mud, vegetation, hardware (such as nuts, bolts, screws) and stones in the treads of the tire and potentially release them on the flight line. The released debris then poses significant safety concerns to property, equipment and personnel once introduced to the airfield. With the common effects of jet blast, rotor wash and propeller blast these items can be sent airborne with tremendous velocity and damage other aircraft, equipment, buildings and very easy harm or kill personnel. The other end of this danger is on the intake side. Even a small amount of debris sucked through the intake of a jet engine can damage the turbine blades and other sensitive components of the engine. The cost to repair an engine damaged from FOD can easily cost in excess of $1 million.

FOD Prevention Products & Practices

There are standard FOD prevention protocols that are typically focused on finding and clearing debris that is already on the airfield. Magnetic bars are attached to vehicles which are used to capture metalic debris. FOD Boss is a popular tool that uses ground friction to pick up small items left from vehicle traffic on a flight line. There are also FOD radar systems that scan the ground looking for anomalies that may indicate debris to be investigated. (Whether an airfield relies on a FOD sweeper, FOD walks or FOD radar, the risk is already present in that you are addressing debris that has been introduced from vehicles which has made its way to the flight line.)

Preventative FOD Management

FODS mats work to prevent any material from entering the airfield by clearing the tire treads prior to entry onto the flight line. The blunt nosed pyramids on the FODS mats are an engineered solution designed to manipulate the treads of the tires to release any trapped debris onto the mat itself allowing the vehicle to be cleared of any materials prior to entry. The FOD material that is released from the tire is then captured onto the mat and not accessible to successive vehicles that travel across the mats. This material is recoverable by airfield operations staff to catalog and be able to identify consistent sources of FOD debris for further protocol to address FOD root causes. This process of FOD prevention is a tremendous solution for any private, commercial or military airfield.

Vehicle FOD High Risk Zone

Vehicles travel along external roads and highways and then enter the airfield access roads as they travel to the apron. Access Roads often cross aircraft taxiways which may be marked with a "zipper." This intersection of vehicles and aircraft traffic poses a risk for vehicles to track external FOD directly into the path of aircraft. FOD Prevention Plans typically rely on manual inspections to prevent vehicle FOD.

FOD Prevention Mat Durability

FODS mats do not change over time with vehicle passes and remain effective for many years of FOD prevention. FODS mats are secured directly to concrete and asphalt roadways by simple sleeved anchor bolts which hold the mats steady during vehicle travel. Each pyramid has a crush rating of over 20,000 pounds. This allows vehicles of any size to travel across the mats regardless of how small or large and clear FOD debris from any size tire tread without any loss of vehicle control or impact on driver safety.