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Focusing on FOD is safety measure for airport staff
At the King County
International Airport (KCIA) at Boeing Field, litter is not only an
eyesore, but it can also be a safety hazard. One small stray piece of
metal or wood could cause serious damage to the planes arriving and
departing at the airport. For KCIA, a clean runway is a safe runway.
FOD stands for “foreign objects and debris,” and can include anything from garbage to aviation parts. Last week more than two dozen KCIA staff members carried out a spring FOD walk. Along the way, they found your everyday kind of roadside litter blown into the airport grounds, but they also picked up a roll of duct tape, a twisted piece of rebar, and assorted construction material. KCIA Assistant Director Mike Colmant said almost all of the items discovered on the FOD walk were found in the grassy infield areas at Boeing Field. He said the multiple daily sweeps of the runways keeps them very clean, but items do sometimes accumulate in the grass. “The material can be dropped from planes, blown in by the wind, or even carried onto the infield by birds,” said Colmant. “We want to get it picked up before it gets blown into the runways or damages the mowers.”
As spring progresses and the weather warms up, KCIA staff will also be restriping the runway, patching small cracks on the surface, and seal coating. This kind of attention to the small and the large safety details helped KCIA earn high marks on its most-recent annual certification inspection by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “We received a rating with no discrepancies, which is rare for any airport,” said Colmant. “It’s the equivalent of receiving a ‘perfect score,’ and we are very proud of that.” |
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