Experimental Studies of Lightning Strikes to Aircraft

Civil aviation transportation has been growing since the early forties and has become today a massive and unique transport system for people across continents and large countries. First age propeller airliners flew at low altitude and were often subjected to dangerous atmospheric and cloud hazards. Low visibility, heavy precipitation, severe turbulence, wind shear, icing and lightning are common weather hazards that are a challenge for flight safety. Among those weather hazards, lightning was the most unrecognized and misunderstood. Damages to aircraft due to lightning strike were frequently noticed; they range from arc spots on metal to centimeter-size holes in the fuselage, and dielectric radome and antenna destruction. Some cases of catastrophic events are directly attributed to lightning [1], [2]. Experimental in-situ studies were initiated no later than the early sixties [3], but the main in-flight research efforts were undertaken at the beginning of the eighties, when the perspective of a massive use of composite material in aviation was identified for a near future. Three major in-flight test programs were initiated in the USA and Europe by NASA, the Air Force, the FAA and the French Civil and Military Aviation Authorities, associated with Research Organizations. This paper is a review of the in-flight lightning strike experiments performed during that period. Information on aircraft missions, performances and instrumentation is given. Available results and proposed interpretations are presented. The main outcomes of those experiments are emphasized and knowledge gaps and missing information are mentioned.

[1]  P. L. Rustan.  The lightning threat to aerospace vehicles , 1986 .

[2]  Felix L. Pitts.  Electromagnetic Measurement of Lightning Strikes to Aircraft , 1982 .

[3]  R. Gunn.  Electric Field Intensity Inside of Natural Clouds , 1948 .

[4]  I. Gallimberti,et al.  Observations and modeling of lightning leaders , 2002 .

[5]  T. Marshall,et al.  Voltages inside and just above thunderstorms , 2001 .

[6]  R Anderson,et al.  Vector Electric Fields Measured in a Lightning Environment. , 1987 .

[7]  Retrieving Storm Electric Fields from Aircraft Field Mill Data. Part II: Applications , 2006 .

[8]  W. Koshak,et al.  General Matrix Inversion Technique for the Calibration of Electric Field Sensor Arrays on Aircraft Platforms , 2007 .

[9]  M. Hayakawa,et al.  Meteorological and electrical aspects of several winter thunderstorms with sprites in the Hokuriku area of Japan , 2011 .

[10]  W. J. Koshak,et al.  Retrieving Storm Electric Fields from Aircraft Field Mill Data. Part I: Theory , 2006 .

[11]  J. E. Nanevicz,et al.  Airborne Measurement of Electromagnetic Environment Near Thunderstorm Cells (Trip-76). , 1977 .

[12]  W. David Rust,et al.  Serial soundings of electric field through a mesoscale convective system , 2001 .

[13]  V. Mazur.  A physical model of lightning initiation on aircraft in thunderstorms , 1989 .

[14]  J. Reazer,et al.  Analysis of Correlated Electromagnetic Fields and Current Pulses during Airborne Lightning Attachments , 1987 .

[15]  A. Bondiou-Clergerie,et al.  Analysis of Available In-Flight Measurements of Lightning Strikes to Aircraft , 1999 .

[16]  V. Mazur,et al.  Lightning strikes to a NASA airplane penetrating thunderstorms at low altitudes , 1986 .

[17]  P. Laroche.  Airborne measurements of electrical atmospheric field produced by convective clouds , 1986 .

[18]  J. A. Plumer,et al.  Lightning Protection of Aircraft , 1977 .

[19]  W. Winn,et al.  Electric field measurements in thunderclouds using instrumented rockets , 1971 .

[20]  V. Mazur,et al.  Aircraft lightning initiation and interception from in situ electric measurements and fast video observations , 1992 .

[21]  D. Clifford.  Aircraft mishap experience from atmospheric electricity hazards , 1980 .

[22]  P. Lalande,et al.  A Physical Model of Branching in Upward Leaders , 2012 .

[23]  F. Kobayashi,et al.  Aircraft Triggered Lightning Caused by Winter Thunderclouds in the Hokuriku Coast, Japan -A Case Study of a Lightning Strike to Aircraft below the Cloud Base- , 2007 .

[24]  J. Reazer,et al.  Electromagnetic Measurements of Lightning Attachment to Aircraft , 1983 .

[25]  Harold D. Burket,et al.  In-Flight Lightning Characterization Program on a CV-580 Aircraft , 1988 .

[26]  Bernard Vonnegut.  EFFECTS OF A LIGHTNING DISCHARGE ON AN AEROPLANE , 1966 .

[27]  D. Fitzgerald.  PROBABLE AIRCRAFT "TRIGGERING" OF LIGHTNING IN CERTAIN THUNDERSTORMS , 1967 .

[28]  W. Hall,et al.  Electric Fields, Cloud Microphysics, and Reflectivity in Anvils of Florida Thunderstorms , 2007 .