Some orders feel like a milestone. This one shipped last month.
NetJets, operator of the world’s largest private jet fleet, is now a TheCanKey client. Their initial order: 500 TheCanKey openers, each carrying the FOD reminder logo and fitted with a red FOD awareness flag. And they have already told us this is just the start. The plan is to expand FOD prevention across their entire fleet.
For us, it was a proud day. For the wider industry, it is something more interesting: one of the most safety-driven operators in the world has decided that foreign object damage prevention starts at the smallest level of daily maintenance, the oil can.
Who is NetJets?
If you work in aviation, you know the name. NetJets pioneered fractional aircraft ownership in the 1960s and has been flying for more than 60 years. The company has been owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 1998, operates more than 1,400 flights per day, and reaches over 5,000 airports across 200+ countries and territories. Its fleet is roughly the size of the next five private operators combined, spanning everything from the Embraer Phenom 300 to the Bombardier Global 6000, with more than 80 new aircraft expected in 2026 alone.
What matters most for this story is their safety culture. NetJets pilots specialize in a single aircraft type, complete twice the industry-standard training hours, and are evaluated every six months. The company runs its own dedicated maintenance facilities and monitors flight data across the entire fleet.
NetJets does not really sell private jets. It sells certainty. Customers pay for the confidence that the aircraft, the crew, and the operation are taken care of, every time. An organization built on that promise cannot afford preventable failures. Which is exactly what foreign object damage is.
What is FOD, and why does it matter in business aviation?
Foreign object damage (FOD) is any damage caused by a foreign object entering an aircraft system where it does not belong. A dropped washer on the ramp. A forgotten tool in an engine bay. A metal shaving in the oil.
The aviation industry spends heavily on FOD prevention at the airport level: ramp sweeps, FOD walks, magnetic bars, containment programs. What often gets overlooked is that FOD can be introduced during routine maintenance itself, when the tool is not designed for the job.
Business aviation faces a particular version of this problem. Fleets are dispersed across hundreds of airports. Line maintenance happens wherever the aircraft is. Turnarounds are fast. The more locations and the more hands involved, the more a FOD prevention program depends on simple, repeatable habits rather than one-off inspections.
That is the level NetJets chose to address.
The problem NetJets wanted solved
Two concerns were on the table: FOD prevention and high visibility. Both were addressed, and both were solved.
The FOD source. Conventional can openers shed microscopic metal particles when they pierce a can of oil. Those shavings can end up in the oil, and from there in the engine, where they circulate through bearings, gears, and oil passages. It is one of the most overlooked FOD risks in oil handling, precisely because it happens during routine maintenance. For an operator running hundreds of flights a day across a large fleet, that is not an acceptable risk, however small each individual particle may be.
The visibility problem. A tool is only as safe as your ability to account for it. An opener that disappears into a pocket, a toolbox, or worse, an engine bay, is itself a FOD risk. Tool accountability is a core pillar of any serious FOD prevention program, and it depends on tools being impossible to overlook.
The solution: a certified FOD-free opener you cannot miss
Each of the 500 units in the NetJets order is a TheCanKey opener with the FOD Logo, independently certified FOD-free by Saybolt Laboratories. The certification showed particle levels of 0.00023 percent on new openers and 0.00032 percent after use, with no metal particles detectable by microscopy. The opener also carries NATO Stock Number 7240-22-619-5935.
Every opener in the order is printed with the FOD reminder logo and fitted with a red FOD awareness flag carrying the “I AM FOD AWARE” message. The flag does two jobs at once. It makes the tool visible on the ramp, on the bench, and in the pocket, so it is accounted for after every use. And it puts a daily FOD awareness reminder directly into the hands of the people doing the work.
That is the quiet strength of this approach. FOD prevention posters hang on walls. A FOD awareness flag travels with the technician to every aircraft.
An initial order, with the entire fleet to follow
NetJets described this as an initial order, with the goal of eventually equipping their entire fleet. We could not ask for a better endorsement of what a FOD prevention program should look like: start where oil meets engine, make the safe tool the visible tool, and scale the habit across the operation.
TheCanKey is already in daily use with more than 520 clients in over 60 countries, from single-aircraft operators to some of the largest names in aviation. NetJets joins operators like AAR Corp, which ordered 800 FOD Bags for its maintenance teams, in making FOD prevention part of the daily routine. It confirms something we have believed from the start. The operators with the strongest safety cultures are the ones who take the smallest details seriously.
Welcome aboard, NetJets.
Want to build FOD prevention into your own operation? Start with our free FOD Prevention Guide, or explore the certified FOD-free TheCanKey opener and the full product range at thecankey.com.
