Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Walk

The Greenville Downtown Airport will close its two runways for 30 minutes so volunteers can walk the area looking for and collecting Foreign Object Debris (FOD). Why? Because FOD is responsible for quite a bit of aircraft damage each year and is a threat to aircraft safety.

What is FOD? It is anything that should not be on the airport surfaces where aircraft have movement. Common items are things that can fall off of people or out of shirt pockets like badges, hats, pens, pencils, cell phones, and pocket lights. Some items come off of aircraft or vehicles moving in the area like tire valve caps, aircraft lens lights, screws, nuts and bolts. Other items are naturally occurring like sticks, acorns, rocks and pavement particles that have come loose from the surface.

The process involves a team of volunteer FOD inspectors walking in lines, spaced about 10 feet apart, to find and pick-up any foreign objects that might cause damage to aircraft. Items are secured in individual bags during the walk, then consolidated, counted and a FOD index of pieces per 1,000 square meters of area inspected is determined. The index can be compared to the score of other airports and to a later survey to determine the success of the airport in controlling possible FOD on a regular basis.

FOD is everyone's responsibility on a daily basis at an airport. Airport employees, tenants and pilots dispose of FOD all day long. A FOD walk determines how well an airport is doing and where improvement may be needed.

Please join us at 6:15 am on Saturday, August 29th at the Greenville Downtown Airport 's Tower lobby to start a FOD walk at 6:30 am. We will walk both runways at once and then walk the East and Tower Ramps. The walk should be over by 8 am. PLEASE BRING A FLASHLIGHT. We will have bags.

Please email Keat Pruszenski at mississippiwildcat@excite.com if you can make it.