Over 10,000 Foreign Object Debris Incidents on Airport Runways in the Past 5 Years

Park Yong-gap of the Democratic Party Stresses the Need for a 'Foreign Object Debris Detection System'
to Prevent Aviation Safety Accidents

It has been confirmed that more than 10,000 foreign objects have been found on airport runways over the past five years.

Incheon International Airport Runway 4. Photo by Airport Photographers Group

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Park Yong-gap, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 29th, a total of 10,167 foreign objects were found on the runways of 15 domestic airports from 2020 to last year.

Foreign objects on runways are one of the causes of accidents during aircraft takeoff and landing. The types include ▲aircraft parts ▲vehicle and equipment parts ▲lighting parts ▲paving aggregates ▲paper and vinyl, among others.

Among these, small parts such as screws that have fallen from aircraft or vehicles and equipment and left on the runway are very small and difficult to remove with the naked eye.

For this reason, Park pointed out the need to introduce a ‘foreign object debris detection system.’

So far, it has been identified that only Incheon Airport has introduced a foreign object debris detection system among domestic airports.

Incheon Airport has the highest number of flight operations among domestic airports. Nevertheless, the number of foreign object debris incidents on its runways over the past five years was only 119, which was the third lowest among domestic airports after Cheongju Airport (43 cases) and Gwangju Airport (117 cases).

Currently, Incheon Airport is equipped with eight fixed hybrid detection systems and one mobile hybrid detection system.

Park said, “We need to identify new technologies and equipment used at overseas airports to prevent aviation safety accidents and promptly introduce them to domestic airports.”