Aircraft Lightning Protection Handbook
Abstract:
This handbook will assist aircraft design, manufacturing, and certification organizations in protecting aircraft against the direct and indirect effects of lightning strikes, in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations. It presents a comprehensive text to provide the essential information for the in-flight lightning protection of all types of fixedrotary wing and powered lift aircraft of conventional, composite, and mixed construction and their electrical and fuel systems. The handbook contains chapters on the natural phenomenon of lightning, the interaction between the aircraft and the electrically charged atmosphere, the mechanism of the lightning strike, and the interaction with the airframe, wiring, and fuel system. Further chapters cover details of designing for optimum protection the physics behind the voltages, currents, and electromagnetic fields developed by the strike and shielding techniques and damage analysis. The handbook ends with discussion of test and analytical techniques for determining the adequacy of a given protection scheme. Keywords Lightning protection, Fuel vapor ignition, Fuel system safety, Atmospheric electrical hazards, Lightning safety, Lightning simulation, Aircraft certification, Atmospheric electromagnetism, Induced currents voltages, Electromagnetic shielding.