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Re: How to dissipate charges from aeroplanes?



On Sun, 8 Feb 1998, GEORGE PANAGIOTAKOPOULOS wrote:

Hi to all,

I want to know if there is a system on the airplane which operates as static
dissipater for the charges that collect an airplane when it is moving, to
avoid lightning strikes. If so, how does it operate?

I had a chance to take a look at these on a small plane. They appeared as
6" rods extending from the trailing edge of the wing out near the wing
tips. Each rod had a hollow tip with a tuft of fibers sticking out. The
fibers obviously constitute a great many sharp needle tips, which should
allow corona discharge to leak the plane's imbalanced charges to the air.
The tufts were black and felt fluffy to the touch, but I don't know if
they were carbon fibers. I'd expect carbon fibers to be eaten by oxygen
during the corona.


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