A United Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N652UA performing flight UA-950 from Washington Dulles,DC (USA) to Brussels (Belgium) with 176 passengers and 11 crew, had departed Dulles runway 01R and was climbing through 9000 feet about 5 minutes into the flight, when the crew was informed tyre debris had been found on the runway. The crew levelled off at 10000 feet and decided to stay in the Metropolitan area, burned off fuel and returned to Dulles runway 30 for a safe landing 2.5 hours after takeoff.

The flight was cancelled.

The airport reported that a section of the runway pavement was found missing after the debris was spotted. The runway was closed for short term repairs. There is a distinct possibility of a link between the pavement and the tyre damage.

Source (Aviation Herald)

A Jade Cargo Boeing 747-400, registration B-2439 performing freight flight JI-7453 from Shanghai (China) to Istanbul Ataturk (Turkey), completed a seemingly uneventful flight being cleared for an ILS approach runway 36R but advised of glideslope unreliable and tower suggesting to use a LOC approach only and landing on runway 36R with no apparent problem. The airplane taxied to the apron.

Ground staff discovered tyre debris had penetrated the fuselage just above the right hand body gear somewhere during the flight, either on takeoff from Shanghai or landing at Istanbul. It could not be established where the tyre damage occured.

Source (Aviation Herald)

I'm not sure it's anything to smile about.

The LATimes has a short article about a typical FOD walk at LAX. They have some interesting images of the types of items recovered from the runway. The article makes no mention of the existence of FOD detection systems.

You have to feel sorry for the Brits, not only has the launch of the Apple iPad in the UK been delayed by a month (yes, I was eagerly awaiting one) but now they can’t even fly to the US to pick one up, at 12:00 today UK airpsace will be closed due to what can only be described as the ultimate FOD event, here’s the news from the BBC:

Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.

The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace from midday to 1800BST amid fears of engine damage. The restrictions were imposed after the Met Office warned the ash was sufficient to clog engines.

This is one situation that would not benefit from a FOD detection system.

Source (BBC)

This incident provides a compelling reason to install a FOD detection system. If the debris had not been spotted then not only would it have endangered aircraft at Toronto, but the aircraft with the blown tyre would not have been aware of the problem. Ironically, if this flight had been from Vancouver to Toronto then the Tarsier system installed at Vancouver would have alerted airport staff of the problem within minutes.

Incident: Westjet B737 at Toronto on Apr 2nd 2010, tyre damage on takeoff

ZA Westjet Boeing 737-700, registration C-GWBX performing flight WS-699 from Toronto,ON to Vancouver,BC (Canada), took off Toronto’s runway 23 without apparent incident and climbed to cruise level on its way to Vancouver.

A short time later the crew of another departing aircraft reported considerable tyre debris on the runway. The runway was closed for about 30 minutes and airport staff collected the debris. Westjet staff determined, that the tyre debris might belong to one of their aircraft.

When flight 699 was near Calgary,AB about 3 hours into the flight, the company advised the crew of the possible tyre damage and had the airplane divert to Calgary, where the airplane landed safely on runway 16 and was disabled on the runway with a flat tyre. The airplane was towed off the runway about 10 minutes after landing.

Source (Aviation Herald)

From the BBC

The Australian airline Qantas has launched an investigation after two tyres burst on one of its Airbus A-380s as it landed at Sydney airport.

Video footage showed sparks showering the runway as the flight from London touched down.

Passengers on board said they heard loud bangs. Nobody was injured.

Source article.

The cause of the tyre burst is believed to have been due to a braking problem. A FOD detection system can be used after such an event to confirm that the runway is clear after the clean up operation.