Could anyone explain why wooden aircraft does not seem to be critically affected
by the possibility of a lightning strike as are composite planes? Here in
Europe,
we have thousands of certificated all wood Robin DR400s, some of them approved
for IFR, flying without any specific lightning protection such as aluminum
mesh in the skin, wicks and so on. However, in my previous aircraft, a DR380
which is very structurally similar to the still produced DR400, there were
a full network of tinned copper braid running inside the fuselage, connecting
all metallic parts (fuel tanks, control hinges, engine mount...) together to
the negative terminal of the battery and the engine block. I am not sure wether
or not there were also such a ground network inside the wings.
Remi Guerner
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=433769#433769
|