I wanted to throw a little something to our flightline folks. Y’all keep searching for that golden bolt!
-Farva
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Ah the good old days of FOD walks. Now, instead of looking for nuts and bolts on the flightline, I’m looking for feathers in/around my engines!
It’s been almost two years since I’ve done either of those. There is only one thing I miss about working on aircraft engines. That is being about to work outdoors. Even then I hated working outdoors if it was above 70 degrees.
A+ on today’s comic.
Ah, you mean that Golden Bolt that doesn’t actually exist……
Working down the hall from the FOD god, I can assure you, there IS a golden bolt. How often it gets USED, is another issue entirely.
most of the time its only a sticker, not a bolt.
Depends on the base, most of the ones I have been to they have an actual golden bolt
Ya Mean it’s Not the “Million-Dollar Pliers” anymore?
I’m a flyer, and I’ve done my fair share of FOD walks. Am I the only person in the AF who thinks that DELIBERATELY placing FOD is a dumb idea? If it’s not found, the guy who hid it has to go back out and pick it up. Really? Can’t we find a better way to do this? Ughh…..
There you go thinking again. Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to think or use logic. Its in the really fine print at the bottom of your enlistment paperwork.
I’m told that you can always tell where it is because the QC folks are always in a pickup about 30 yards away from it. If anyone misses it, they just go and pick it up.
FOD walks are really fun after a storm comes through. We had a microburst with 90 mph winds hit my base back in 2008 that threw stuff everywhere. The entire dayshift had to FOD walk the entire two mile runway. It wouldn’t have been bad if it weren’t 110 degrees on the concrete.
The bolt (like the cake) is a lie.
I saw one at Elmendorf.
We found a wrench out on Elmo last year check out the photos, http://www.jber.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123149026 to toot my own horn a little.
Epic! Love this strip today!
as an Army groundpounder that’s flown in C-17′s, C-130′s, CH-47′s, M/UH-60′s I’ll tell you I appreciate air and ground crews a huge freaking amount. Safe takeoffs and landings, and scores of hours of air time, all thanks to the people who kept things safe and maintained. And that’s not even mentioning the B-1′s and other aircraft we called when we needed CAS.. Always there when we needed them, and we were grateful. (ETT, OEF 5)
Depending on a base’s QA office they can use bolts of various sizes. Some use small ones others use “gi-normous” ones that can be easily spotted. Found the bolt twice on a deployement, too bad no freebee days off out of those.
And yes, if someone misses the bolt (or bolts, sometimes multiple ones are put out there during a walk) QA will pick it up behind the line of people. Plus they’ll rag on everyone for missing them. Particularly those who just jawjack during the FOD walks and not looking on the ground. And Ops people are notorious for that. **chuckle**
Ops people are notorious for that because they have the mentality of “the maintainers will catch it”
So, the Air Force is comprised of hundreds of multi-million dollar jets, with state of the art weapons systems and safety features…and they can still be defeated by a single bolt or rock on the ground…anybody else see a flaw here?
It was FOD that caused the Concorde crash back in 2000. FOD kills and effects more than just the Air Force.
Why have I never heard of the golden bolt before? (except from my wife, but that was a different context)
If you want to have fun: pocket the bolt without anyone noticing. Fun watching the QA guys not be able to find their own toy.
Why do I feel like C-130 bases doing FODs is kinda dumb. I mean the rock strip the tactical landing shall be done on wont be clean lol
I’m proof that the “Golden Bolt” exists. I found one about 2 months ago, it turned out pretty well I got a day pass. Luckily I used it to go see a huge car show. So if you think the bolt doesn’t exist you just haven’t been lucky.
With all the money we, the taxpayers, spend on the military, why aren’t there robot (or at least ride-on) vacuum cleaners to clean the runways?