Sunday, November 22, 2009

Do Not Leave FOD on Airbridges



Spotted this sign at the Manchester airport. Was very concerned about not leaving FOD on airbridges because did not know what FOD was, and by not knowing, might accidentally leave some on an airbridge. Which could be very, very bad. Depending on what FOD was. And we were boarding a plane for takeoff and didn't want FOD on airbridges messing anything up.

So started asking around. One nice couple figured it was probably meant to say FOOD, and that the Mancunians (Yup. That's what they call "A native or inhabitant of Manchester, England") did not know how to spell food. To which my Pi guessed correctly, "You must be from London." (Londoners tend to look down on Manchester as being somewhat of a backwater.)

Then we asked some guys who looked like they might be airport workers given that they were wearing reflective vests. And they cleared it up for us. FOD is Foreign Object Debris. So I said, "You mean garbage?" To which they replied, "It's an aeronautical term."

By the way, anyone know what an Airbridge or Apron Level are?

3 comments:

notElon said...

Honestly, I would have just figured the Londoner was right.

notElon said...

The Airbridge is that thingie that extends from the gate to the door of the plane. Passengers walk through it when entering and exiting.

notElon said...

I just came across this. FOD News reporting live.