Scenario: a plow edge chips or loses carbide inserts while working on a taxiway or runway. Direct answer: treat the fragments as foreign object debris: stop, mark the area, report to operations, sweep or recover the pieces and inspect before the area returns to service, then record what happened. Follow your airport’s procedures first. The FAA texts below explain why the risk is taken seriously; they do not prescribe a carbide-specific routine, which is my adaptation.
What the FAA texts say
Two documents are quoted here because the requirement and the guidance come from different places.
- AC 150/5210-24A (8 February 2024), read on 24 October 2026, says FOD in the air operations area poses a significant threat to the safety of air travel, and that types of damage include cutting aircraft tires and being ingested into engines.
- It lists equipment operating on the airfield among the sources of FOD, and lists winter-condition contaminants such as snow and ice among FOD materials. It says FOD removal operations are not meant to occur while an area is contaminated with snow or ice, and refers to AC 150/5200-30 procedures for clearing then.
- CertAlert 24-03 (29 February 2024) says 14 CFR Part 139 requires certificate holders to address FOD in movement areas, that §139.305(a)(4) and §139.307(a)(5) require debris to be promptly removed, and that §139.327 requires daily self-inspections and special inspections after unusual conditions such as accidents and meteorological events. It also mentions a voluntary FOD database at FOD.FAA.GOV.
- 14 CFR 139.305(b) says the debris-removal paragraphs do not apply to snow and ice accumulations and their control, including sand and deicing solutions. Carbide fragments are not snow, ice or deicing material.
Routine after an edge failure (adapted)
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1. Stop and report | Stop in a safe place; tell operations the location and what was lost |
| 2. Mark | Mark the area and the plow’s path since the last known good edge |
| 3. Retrieve | Recover fragments by hand or magnetic sweeper where permitted |
| 4. Inspect | Walk or drive the path slowly, with a second person, before the area returns to service |
| 5. Account | Count recovered pieces against the missing inserts if possible |
| 6. Record | Log time, place, edge ID, cause and recovery; photograph the failed edge |
| 7. Review | Check other edges of the same batch and the hazard that caused the failure |
Prevent it
Prevention here is an inspection habit rather than a procedure document.
- Inspect inserts before every movement-area shift.
- Replace edges with chipped or missing inserts.
- Check equipment rules for edge materials near in-pavement lights.
Limits
This is not an approved procedure. Follow your Airport Certification Manual and ask your airport operations manager.
Boundary: Not an approved procedure; the FAA texts are general FOD guidance and do not prescribe a carbide-specific routine, so follow your Airport Certification Manual.
Sources and further reading. External references are dated; where a figure is quoted, the link shows where it came from.
Federal Aviation Administration: AC 150/5210-24A, Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management (Issued 2024-02-08; errata 2024-05-20 (errata not read in full); read 2026-10-24) ↗Federal Aviation Administration: Part 139 CertAlert 24-03: Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Management (2024-02-29) ↗Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: 14 CFR 139.305 Paved areas (current text read 2026-10-24) ↗How should we pack a return sample containing loose carbide fragments? ↗How should we label fragments from two damaged blades without mixing the evidence? ↗Tungsten carbide inserts for snow plow edges ↗How Often Do Airport Edges Get Changed? Building a Local Baseline ↗Equipment Capacity Is Growing: How Airports Should Read an OEM Capacity Announcement ↗One Plow, One Broom: Spare-Edge Strategy for a Small General-Aviation Airport ↗
