This ANA airplane operating in Japan had its radome severely damaged by a lightning strike. From the photos it appears the lightning found a weak spot in the metal bar lightning diverter and then quickly separated the diverter from the radome. This can be a dangerous situation as the metal bar will travel backwards into the wing, fuselage, or tail.
This isn’t the first time a metal bar radome has suffered a damaging strike. An Airbus radome lost its metal bar diverter during a strike in recent history.
Metal bar radomes have many deficiencies. First, they can’t extend far enough forward on the radome to intercept a lightning strike because the metal interferes with the operation of the weather radar. Second, the bars are made sufficiently thin that lightning can pry them off the radome. Last, but not least, the metal bars require multiple screws to be inserted through the radome which allows damaging water to enter the radome.
Weather Guard StrikeTape segmented lightning diverters are a better choice, and not just because we say so. They are RF transparent and are applied with standard adhesive or 3M tape.
To learn more about StrikeTape and how it can save your radome, please contact us and don’t wait until the last minute! We would rather talk to an engineer at the end of the design process than after the part is completed – when we might be discussing why it didn’t pass testing.
Radome design engineers have to know a lot about almost everything – but when you have questions about lightning protection, you can ask us. We have decades of experience in radome design, installation, testing and regulations, and we’re here to help.
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Give us a call today if you need advice on how to complete your project so you can move confidently to testing and certification.
