Fod

[tyne]

First of all I am a Civillian and not military aircrew, so if moderators think it should be shifted elsewhere, please do so.

I spend a fair deal of time as pax in military and civ helos mainly on warships (JMCs) and have been thoroughly educated in the dangers of FOD.

My question's really aimed at SAR crews. Are your requirements less strict because of the job you do?

I just saw some TV footage (Tyne Tees TV news) of what looks like Rescue 131 in a low hover during a rescue operation in Sunderland.

You can clearly see a whole tree branch being dragged up by the aft rotor then spun round upwards and flung away by the main rotor downwash.

You'd never see that level of debris lying round the deck of a ship or on a proper aifield, but at a lot of emergency landing sites - in parks playing fields etc - it's obviously a different story.

So how do you check for potential FOD hazards during an emergency? Do you rely on emergency services on the ground to do FOD sweeps et for you?

I asked a copper mate of mine whose been at a few shouts with helos and he'd never heard of FOD.

Ad bearing in mind my education about the problem - I've seen what damage to machine and man it can do - what would you reccomend a novice Civillan to do if he was at an emergency and thought there may be a FOD hazard present?

Bearing in mind I know not to do anything daft like distract aircrew, walk up to turning an burning aircraft touch cables tie Sea Kings to railings etc etc.

Cheers

Dan

[Kim Il Jong]

There isn't really any criterion or 'requirement' for FOD other than try to avoid it if possible!

When hovering overland, the occasional placcy bag etc is just an operating hazard that won't go away. SAR crews usually do a thorough recce of the operating area wherever time permits and will discuss any potential nasties, same for any military crew really.

At the end of the day if a casualty needs picking up in the middle of a rubbish tip then there are only so many ways to effect a rescue. The crew will operate to keep risk to the minimum but it will never go away completely.

Most helos these days have some sort of intake filter so FOD isn't quite the issue it is for a jet. Unless you get something in the tailrotor of course, thats usually terminal, hence flying pay I suppose.