TABLE OF CONTENTS Atmospheric electricity manifests itself most visibly and violently as lightning. As aircraft fly through air spaces with actual or potential lightning activity, a good understanding of the interaction between lightning and aircraft is imperative. The statistical fact that lightning has not caused too many fatal accidents has often led to the assumption that lightning may not be a serious hazard for aviation. However, lightning can and does cause significant functional impairment of modern aircraft. The increasing use of digital devices in navigational and control systems of contemporary aircraft is likely to make the aircraft more susceptible to direct and indirect lightning effects.
Several systematic experimental studies conducted in recent years have provided quantitative information about the impact of lightning on aircraft and served to dispel some preconceived notions regarding the susceptibility of aircraft to lightning strikes. Such knowledge is likely to be of great value in designing aircraft and their flight paths, and in mitigating the effects of lightning on aircraft.
[1]This chapter has been contributed by Dr. Vladislav Mazur of the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK, USA
Thunderstorms, also called electrical storms, are produced by cumulonimbus clouds and are always accompanied by lightning, usually with strong wind gusts, heavy rain, and sometimes hail. A unique property of thunderstorms is their electrical activity which results from space charge generation and separation. Such activity occurs during the strong convective updraft stage of the cumulonimbus (see Section 4.3), in the early phase...
