Direct Lightning Strikes to Aircraft.
Abstract
Two direct lightning strikes to a NOAA WC-130 aircraft equipped with eleven electromagnetic field sensors were recorded in South Florida during the summer of 1981. In both cases, the aircraft was flying in precipitation at an altitude of about 4 km and a few kilometers away from active thunderstorm regions. An analysis of the data shows that both strikes exhibit a train of discrete pulses which can be correlated in most of the eleven sensors. The flashes lasted 295 and 460 msec and were characterized by an initial active period of about 40 msec with a pulse repetition rate of ten pulses per millisecond. In both flashes the most of the current flow was along the fuselage with peak currents estimated at 3 KA in one flash and 600 A in the other flash. A continuing current of an estimated 50 A was evident in only one strike. The electric field sensors recorded a maximum change of 200,000 V/M. In one flash the leader appears to propagate from the cloud to the aircraft with a duration of 350 microsecond which implies a distance of about 175 m to the cloud charge center.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA118075
Entities
People
- Jeffrey S. Schowalter
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology