Foreign Object Debris (FOD)

FOD is any debris (a rivet, a washer, a torque wrench, a piece of safety wire, a snack wrapper) that ends up where it should not be on or near an aircraft, engine, or production line. FOD prevention is a discipline, not a slogan. It is the single biggest source of avoidable damage in aerospace manufacturing. The cost is brutal. A single ingested bolt in a high-bypass turbofan can scrap a $20M engine. The Concorde crash in 2000 (Air France 4590, 113 dead) was triggered by a titanium strip that fell off a preceding aircraft onto the runway. FOD programs are mandatory under AS9146 and inspected as part of any AS9100 audit. Every aerospace floor runs FOD-walk drills, tethered-tool policies, foreign-object-control fencing, and FOD sweeps before and after every shift. Roles where this matters: Manufacturing, Quality, Operations, Flight Test.