
Lightning Protection for Avionics
Fall 2022 Lightning Training Schedules:
Lightning Protection of Aircraft: September 26 – 30, 2022
Lightning Protection of Avionics: October 3 – 7 , 2022
Each course will be presented virtually via Microsoft Teams.
These four and one-half day courses have been presented in person at Lightning Technologies in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, since 1984. They will be continued virtually until the COVID-19 crisis has passed, when they will be resumed in person.
Lightning Protection of Avionics covers the whole range of topics related to lightning effects on and protection design of aircraft avionics and electrical systems. Many years ago this topic was also included with the first course but it has expanded so much that beginning in 2000 this separate course was created. The course begins with a brief review of lightning interactions with aircraft and the electromagnetic coupling mechanisms that give rise to induced voltage and current transients in aircraft wiring. From here the course introduces computational tools that may be used to estimate magnitudes of the induced transients, and examples. The uses and methods for numerical modeling are presented. Lightning protection design methods including circuit architecture for immunity, transient surge protection, vehicle and system electromagnetic shielding are presented. The influences of composite airframe materials and tradeoff considerations are described. The course includes several live demonstrations of vehicle, system and equipment certification tests, in accordance with the applicable industry standards.
Details
- Course instructor is Andy Plumer, a recognized authority in aircraft lightning protection, assisted by other members of the Lightning Technologies staff. Class sizes will be limited to allow for instructor interaction with each student.
- Each student receives a copy of our 550-page textbook Lightning Protection of Aircraft which covers both courses, plus the course three-ring notebook which includes copies of regulations, advisory material, test standards, and other material not included in the textbook. Each student receives a certificate upon completing the course.
- The courses address all categories of manned and unmanned civil and military aircraft and helicopters.
- Persons who will benefit from these courses are design and/or certification engineers, maintenance, flight safety and airworthiness specialists, R&D engineers, and operations and maintenance personnel. An engineering or physics degree is helpful but not required.
- Students interested solely in electrical/avionics topics may take only the “Avionics” course and are not required to take the “Aircraft” course beforehand. Likewise, those who are involved more in the whole aircraft situation may find that there is sufficient coverage of avionics issues in this course so that they may not need to take both courses. There is about a 10% overlap.
- Time schedule: In order to accommodate students from each of the US time zones, the virtual course will be presented from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM US EST Monday through Friday with a one hour break for lunch. If interest is sufficient, a course tailored to European or Asian Time Zones may be presented. Prospective students are invited to signify their interest in such a course by contacting Lightning Technologies, an NTS Company, at the email address below.
- Cost: The tuition for each course is $2,100. This price includes the course textbook and notebook, which will be shipped to each student upon registration and payment of the course tuition. You will be sent a secure payment link by an NTS representative once you register.
Register Now
Deadline to register is September 19.