Board, Skid
Skid Boards
Plywood skid boards, 48 by 48 by 1 inch nominal, used for the airdrop of humanitarian aid and of equipment and supplies in troop support.
A load that leaves an aircraft needs a flat board under it
Cargo that is dropped from the air cannot rely on a pallet jack, a forklift or a dock. It has to be built up on a flat, rigid base, strapped down as one unit, and released so that the base and the load leave together. The skid board is that base: a square of plywood that the supplies sit on and that stays under them from the loading ramp to the ground.
That is why a skid board is judged on being flat and square. A warped or out of size board changes how the whole load sits, and the person rigging the load has to be able to trust that every board in a stack is the same.
A square plywood skid board seen from above, grain running top to bottom
Plywood, 48 by 48 by 1 inch, nominal
The Lions Industries skid board is plywood, 48 inches by 48 inches by 1 inch nominal, NSN 1670-01-342-5961. The figures are the published nominal size, and the spec table below repeats them with the unit of issue, which is each.
Skid boards are used for the airdrop of humanitarian aid, and of equipment and supplies in troop support. The same square board serves both, which is one reason a single NSN covers it.
The boards come out of the plant at 4126 Berkeley Ave in Kinston, North Carolina, where the people who do the work are blind or visually impaired. A flat board is a product you can check by running a hand along it, edge to edge.
Manufactured for DLA Aviation, sold each
The skid board is manufactured for DLA Aviation. It is sold each, under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, the same federal framework that covers the rest of the plant's work. Unlike the cloth goods, it has no supplier-since year on the record, so none is claimed here.
The plant holds ISO 9001:2015 certification, certificate no. A-702. For a question about the NSN or the nominal dimensions, call customer service at (252) 523-1019, Monday to Thursday, 7 AM to 5:30 PM.
DLA Aviation · NSN 1670-01-342-5961 · ISO 9001:2015 certificate A-702
Spec sheet
- Nomenclature
- Board, Skid
- 1670-01-342-5961
- 48 x 48 x 1 in nominal, plywood
- Agency
- DLA Aviation
- Unit of issue
- Each