<story><title>Dropped iPad implicated in fatal Rotak Chinook helicopter crash</title><url>https://verticalmag.com/news/dropped-ipad-implicated-in-fatal-chinook-helicopter-crash/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sph</author><text>FOD? EFB? Any explanation of these acronyms for people outside the US military?</text></item><item><author>the__alchemist</author><text>Some loose thoughts:&lt;p&gt;Military aircraft cockpits sometimes don&amp;#x27;t have a great concept of &amp;quot;inside&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;outside&amp;quot;, the way a cell, waterproof device, the aircraft&amp;#x27;s pressure seal etc do. If you drop something (FOD), there may not be a clearly defined boundary to where it can end up, or it may not be possible to see or get to it while strapped in etc. Rudder pedals, or the various mechanical and electrical connections around them, as indicated in the article, are a great example of this. If you can&amp;#x27;t find it, the AC may have to be grounded and thoroughly searched&amp;#x2F;panels removed etc.&lt;p&gt;Military avionics may be missing basic things that an EFB can help with, including maps, nav point and airport databases, weather info, ADSB info etc. EFBs are (IMO) a poor substitute due to the FOD concern here, the clunky touch screen interface (which you probably have to take gloves off for), the risk of getting locked out of important things like checklist and plates by BlackBerry, Foreflight licenses, passcode timers or other security layer etc.&lt;p&gt;You might have a jet that&amp;#x27;s 30 years old, just got retrofitted with a really nice radar etc, but the funding didn&amp;#x27;t make it through for a database, better displays&amp;#x2F;UI etc that would be better integrated with a jet, so you lean on the EFBs.&lt;p&gt;There are sometimes EFB mounts that can attach to a canopy via suction cup, clip onto various surfaces etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kunwon1</author><text>FOD = Foreign Objects and Debris
EFB = Electronic Flight Bag. A flight bag, traditionally, contains charts and checklists. EFB means you have a device that contains those documents&lt;p&gt;20 years ago, I was an avionics technician on F-16 fighter jets in the USAF. We had &amp;#x27;FOD Walks&amp;#x27; daily, which involved slowly walking down the flightline while staring at the ground, and picking up any loose objects&lt;p&gt;Even a tiny object, when ingested into a jet engine, can cause catastrophic damage. And F-16s have intakes very low to the ground, making them a much higher FOD risk.&lt;p&gt;The worst FOD events were when something broke. We used bit drivers to remove aircraft panels, and the bits were fairly standard screwdriver bits. Sometimes, one of those bits would shatter when applying force to remove a stubborn fastener. If that happens, you have to retrieve every single piece of metal. If you return your toolbox at the end of the day and it is missing anything that can&amp;#x27;t be accounted for, the entire flightline could be shut down while a search is carried out.&lt;p&gt;Dropping things in the cockpit could sometimes be much worse. If it drops down into a void left by removing a control panel, then it could potentially fall to the &amp;#x27;bottom&amp;#x27; of the aircraft. If that happens, you&amp;#x27;ll be taking off all the panels in that vicinity, you&amp;#x27;ll have multiple people looking with flashlights, borescopes, etc.&lt;p&gt;If something is dropped but can&amp;#x27;t be found, that&amp;#x27;s probably a multi-day event that will involve some fairly high ranking people.&lt;p&gt;FOD was considered a serious threat, and a tiny piece of metal broken off of a tool could hinder operations for days at a time</text></comment>
<story><title>Dropped iPad implicated in fatal Rotak Chinook helicopter crash</title><url>https://verticalmag.com/news/dropped-ipad-implicated-in-fatal-chinook-helicopter-crash/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sph</author><text>FOD? EFB? Any explanation of these acronyms for people outside the US military?</text></item><item><author>the__alchemist</author><text>Some loose thoughts:&lt;p&gt;Military aircraft cockpits sometimes don&amp;#x27;t have a great concept of &amp;quot;inside&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;outside&amp;quot;, the way a cell, waterproof device, the aircraft&amp;#x27;s pressure seal etc do. If you drop something (FOD), there may not be a clearly defined boundary to where it can end up, or it may not be possible to see or get to it while strapped in etc. Rudder pedals, or the various mechanical and electrical connections around them, as indicated in the article, are a great example of this. If you can&amp;#x27;t find it, the AC may have to be grounded and thoroughly searched&amp;#x2F;panels removed etc.&lt;p&gt;Military avionics may be missing basic things that an EFB can help with, including maps, nav point and airport databases, weather info, ADSB info etc. EFBs are (IMO) a poor substitute due to the FOD concern here, the clunky touch screen interface (which you probably have to take gloves off for), the risk of getting locked out of important things like checklist and plates by BlackBerry, Foreflight licenses, passcode timers or other security layer etc.&lt;p&gt;You might have a jet that&amp;#x27;s 30 years old, just got retrofitted with a really nice radar etc, but the funding didn&amp;#x27;t make it through for a database, better displays&amp;#x2F;UI etc that would be better integrated with a jet, so you lean on the EFBs.&lt;p&gt;There are sometimes EFB mounts that can attach to a canopy via suction cup, clip onto various surfaces etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fullstop</author><text>FOD = Foreign Object Debris&lt;p&gt;EFB = Electronic Flight ~Book~ Bag&lt;p&gt;edit: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_flight_bag&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Electronic_flight_bag&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s bag, not book.</text></comment>