[1]. Statement of Air Commodore Andrew P.N. Lambert, RAF, to Richard P. Hallion, Nov. 15, 2009, referring to his experiences on Operation Deny Flight, in 1993, when he was Officer Commanding 23 Squadron and former OC of the RAF Phantom Top Gun school.
[2]. M.A. Uman, The Lightning Discharge (New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1987); Franklin A. Fisher and J. Anderson Plumer, “Lightning Protection of Aircraft,” NASA RP-1008 (1977); Michael J. Rycroft, R. Giles Harrison, Keri A. Nicoll, and Evgeny A. Mareev, “An Overview of Earth’s Global Electric Circuit and Atmospheric Conductivity,” Space Science Reviews, vol. 137, no. 104 (June 2008).
[3]. Data from weather archive at http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/wea00/wea00239.htm, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[4]. Joseph R. Chambers, Concept to Reality: Contributions of the NASA Langley Research Center to U.S. Civil Aircraft of the 1990s, NASA SP-2003 (Washington, DC: GPO, 2003), p. 173.
[5]. NOAA Online School for Weather, “How Lightning is Created,” at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/lightning/lightning.htm, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[6]. Richard Hasbrouck, “Mitigating Lightning Hazards,” Science & Technology Review (May 1996), p. 7.
[7]. Civil Aeronautics Board, Accident Investigation Report on Loss of DC-3A NC21789, Aug. 31, 1940, p. 84; Donald R. Whitnah, Safer Skyways: Federal Control of Aviation, 1926–1966 (Ames, IA: The Iowa State University Press, 1966), p. 157; “Disaster: Death in the Blue Ridge,” Time, Sept. 9, 1940.
[8]. Roger E. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles, NASA SP-4206 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1980), p. 374.
[9]. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Air Commerce, Robert W. Knight, The Hindenburg Accident: A Comparative Digest of the Investigations and Findings, with the American and Translated German Reports Included, Report No. 11 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1938).
[10]. E. Philip Krider, “Benjamin Franklin and the First Lightning Conductors,” Proceedings of the International Commission on History of Meteorology (2004).
[11]. Heinrich Koppe, “Practical Experiences with Lightning Discharges to Airplanes,” Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt, vol. 24, no. 21, translated and printed as NACA Technical Memorandum No. 730 (Nov. 4, 1933), p. 1.
[12]. Ibid., p. 7.
[13]. Ibid., p. 14.
[14]. National Bureau of Standards, “Protection of Nonmetallic Aircraft from Lightning,” High Voltage Laboratory, Advance Report 3I10 (Sept. 1943).
[15]. National Bureau of Standards, “Electrical Effects in Glider Towlines,” High Voltage Laboratory, Advance Restricted Report 4C20 (Mar. 1944), p. 47.
[16]. L.P. Harrison, “Lightning Discharges to Aircraft and Associated Meteorological Conditions,” U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, DC (May 1946), pp. 58–60.
[17]. Ibid., pp. 91–95.
[18]. Quotes from Paul T. Hacker, “Lightning Damage to a General Aviation Aircraft: Description and Analysis,” NASA TN-D-7775 (1974).
[19]. Edward Miller, “1964 Rough Rider Summary of Parameters Recorded, Test Instrumentation, Flight Operations, and Aircraft Damage,” USAF Aeronautical Systems Division (1965), DTIC AD 0615749, at http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0615749, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[20]. J. Anderson Plumer, “Investigation of Severe Lightning Strike Incidents to Two USAF F-106A Aircraft,” NASA CR-165794 (1981).
[21]. Capt. Lonny K. McClung, USN (ret.), e-mail to authors, May 2009.
[22]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, p. 175.
[23]. Literature on NASA’s NF-106B program is understandably extensive. The following are particularly recommended: J.H. Helsdon, “Atmospheric Electrical Modeling in Support of the NASA F-106 Storm Hazards Project,” NASA CR-179801 (1986); V. Mazur, B.D. Fisher, and J.C. Gerlach, “Lightning Strikes to a NASA Airplane Penetrating Thunderstorms at Low Altitudes,” AIAA Paper 86-0021 (1986); R.M. Winebarger, “Loads and Motions of an F-106B Flying Through Thunderstorms,” NASA TM-87671 (1986).
[24]. Rosemarie L. McDowell, “Users Manual for the Federal Aviation Administration Research and Development Electromagnetic Database (FRED) for Windows: Version 2.0,” Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Report DOT/FAA/AR-95/18 (1998), p. 41; and R.L. McDowell, D.J. Grush, D.M. Cook, and M.S. Glynn, “Implementation of the FAA Research and Development Electromagnetic Database,” in NASA KSC, The 1991 International Aerospace and Ground Conference on Lightning and Static Electricity, vol. 2 (1991). Fittingly, the NASA Langley NF-106B is now a permanent exhibit at the Virginia Air and Space Museum, Hampton.
[25]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, p. 181; NASA News Release, “NASA Lightning Research on ABC 20/20,” Dec. 11, 2007, at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/fisher-2020.html, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[26]. Felix L. Pitts, Larry D. Lee, Rodney A. Perala, and Terence H. Rudolph, “New Methods and Results for Quantification of Lightning-Aircraft Electrodynamics,” NASA TP-2737 (1987), p. 18.
[27]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, p. 182. This NF-106B, NASA 816, is exhibited in the Virginia Air and Space Center, Hampton, VA.
[28]. B.P. Kuhlman, M.J. Reazer, and P.L. Rustan, “WC-130 Airborne Lightning Characterization Program Data Review,” USAF Wright Aeronautical Laboratories (1984), DTIC ADA150230, at http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA150230, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[29]. Otha H. Vaughan, Jr., “NASA Thunderstorm Overflight Program—Research in Atmospheric Electricity from an Instrumented U-2 Aircraft,” NASA TM-82545 (1983); Vaughn, “NASA Thunderstorm Overflight Program—Atmospheric Electricity Research: An Overview Report on the Optical Lightning Detection Experiment for Spring and Summer 1983,” NASA TM-86468 (1984); Vaughn, et al., “Thunderstorm Overflight Program,” AIAA Paper 80-1934 (1980).
[30]. Richard Blakeslee, “ER-2 Investigations of Lightning and Thunderstorms,” in NASA MSFC, FY92 Earth Science and Applications Program Research Review (Huntsville: NASA MSFC, 1993), NRTS 93-N20088; Doug M. Mach, et al., “Electric Field Profiles Over Hurricanes, Tropical Cyclones, and Thunderstorms with an Instrumented ER-2 Aircraft,” paper presented at the International Conferences on Atmospheric Electricity (ICAE), International Commission on Atmospheric Electricity, Beijing, China, Aug. 13–17, 2007, NTRS 2007.003.7460.
[31]. Centre d’Essais Aéronautique de Toulouse, “Measurement of Characteristics of Lightning at High Altitude,” a translation of CEAT, “Mesure des caracteristiques de la foudre en altitude,” Test No. 76/650000 P.4 (May 1979), NASA TM-76669 (1981); Harold D. Burket, et al., “In-Flight Lightning Characterization Program on a CV-580 Aircraft.” Wright-Patterson AFB Flight Dynamics Lab (June 1988); Martin A. Uman, The Art and Science of Lightning Protection (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 155; McDowell, “User’s Manual for FRED,” pp. 5, 49.
[32]. Notes of telephone conversation, Richard P. Hallion with Richard A. Goldberg, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Sept. 10, 2009, in author’s possession. Goldberg had begun his scientific career studying crystallography but found space science (particularly using sounding rockets) much more exciting. His perception of the upward flow of electrodynamic energy was, as he recalled, “in the pre-sprite days. Sprites are largely insignificant anyway because their duration is so short.”
[33]. Although this was not the first time drones had been used for measurements in hazardous environments. Earlier, in the heyday of open-atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons, drone aircraft such as Lockheed QF-80 Shooting Stars were routinely used to “sniff” radioactive clouds formed after a nuclear blast and to map their dispersion in the upper atmosphere. Like the electromagnetic research over a quarter century later, these trials complemented sorties by conventional aircraft such as the U-2, another atomic monitor.
[34]. For Altus background, see Richard Blakeslee, “The ALTUS Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES): A UAV-Based Investigation of Thunderstorms,” paper presented at the Technical Analysis and Applications Center Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Annual Symposium, Las Cruces, NM, Oct. 30–31, 2001; and Tony Kim and Richard Blakeslee, “ALTUS Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES),” paper presented at the Technical Analysis and Applications Center Conference, Santa Fe, NM, Oct. 28–30, 2002.
[35]. G.J. Bryan, “Static Electricity and Lightning Hazards, Part II,” NASA Explosive Safety Executive Lecture Series, June 1965, NTRS N67-15981, pp. 6-10, 6-11.
[36]. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, pp. 374–375.
[37]. R. Godfrey, et al., “Analysis of Apollo 12 Lightning Incident,” NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, MSC-01540 (Feb. 1970), NTIS N72-73978; L.A. Ferrara, “Analysis of Air-Ground Voice Contacts During the Apollo 12 Launch Phase,” NASA CR-110575 (1970).
[38]. Glenn E. Daniels, “Atmospheric Electricity Criteria Guidelines for Use in Space Vehicle Development,” NASA TM-X-64549 (1970), pp. 1–2.
[39]. NASA JSC Shuttle Lightning Protection Committee, “Space Shuttle Lightning Protection Criteria Document,” NASA JSC-07636 (1973); for studies cited by NASA as having particular value, see K.B. McEachron and J.H. Hayenguth, “Effect of Lightning on Thin Metal Surfaces,” Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, vol. 61 (1942), pp. 559–564; and R.O. Brick, L.L. Oh, and S.D. Schneider, “The Effects of Lightning Attachment Phenomena on Aircraft Design,” paper presented at the 1970 Lightning and Static Electricity Conference, San Diego, CA, Dec. 1970.
[40]. William M. Druen, “Lightning Tests and Analyses of Tunnel Bond Straps and Shielded Cables on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster,” NASA CR-193921 (1993).
[41]. H.J. Christian, et al., “The Atlas-Centaur Lightning Strike Incident,” Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 94 (Sept. 30, 1989), pp. 13169–13177; John Busse, et al. “AC 67 Investigation Board Final Report,” NASA Video VT-200.007.8606 (May 11, 1987); NASA release, “Lightning and Launches,” Apr. 22, 2004, http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/9-12/features/F_Lightning_and_Launches_9_12.html, accessed Nov. 30, 2009; Virginia P. Dawson and Mark D. Bowles, Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur Upper Stage Rocket, 1958–2002, NASA SP-2004-4230 (Washington, DC: NASA, 2004), p. 234.
[42]. J.J. Jones, et al., “Aircraft Measurements of Electrified Clouds at Kennedy Space Center,” Final Report, parts I and II (Apr. 27, 1990), NTIS N91 14681-2; and J. Weems, et al., “Assessment and Forecasting of Lightning Potential and its Effect on Launch Operations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and John F. Kennedy Space Center,” in NASA, KSC, The 1991 International Aerospace and Ground Conference on Lightning and Static Electricity, vol. 1, NASA CP-3106 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1991).
[43]. D.L. Johnson and W.W. Vaughan, “Analysis and Assessment of Peak Lightning Current Probabilities at the NASA Kennedy Space Center,” NASA TM-2000-210131 (1999), p. 10.
[44]. D.E. Rowland, et al., “Propagation of the Lightning Electromagnetic Pulse Through the E- and F-region Ionosphere and the Generation of Parallel Electric Fields,” American Geophysical Union (May 2004).
[45]. The global aerospace industry has also pursued such research. For example, British Aerospace modeled lightning strikes and direct and indirect phenomena (including EMPs), current flow through composite material representing a wing or tail, field ingression within the airframe, and coupling to wiring and avionics systems. See BAE Systems, “Lightning, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD),” 2009, at http://www.baesystems.com/ProductsServices/ss_tes_atc_emp_esd.html, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[46]. M.C. Kelley, et al., “LF and MF Observations of the Lightning Electromagnetic Pulse at Ionospheric Altitudes,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 24, no. 9 (May 1997), p. 1111.
[47]. N.J. Stevens, et al., “Insulator Edge Voltage Gradient Effects in Spacecraft Charging Phenomena,” NASA TM-78988 (1978); Stevens, “Interactions Between Spacecraft and the Charged-Particle Environment,” NASA Lewis [Glenn] Research Center, NTRS Report 79N24021 (1979); Stevens, “Interactions Between Large Space Power Systems and Low-Earth-Orbit Plasmas,” NASA, NTRS Report 85N22490 (1985).
[48]. G.B. Hillard and D.C. Ferguson, “Low Earth Orbit Spacecraft Charging Design Guidelines,” 42nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting (Jan. 2004).
[49]. R.A. Marshall, et al. “Early VLF perturbations caused by lightning EMP-driven dissociative attachment,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 35, Issue 21, (Nov. 13, 2008).
[50]. Michael J. Rycroft, R. Giles Harrison, Keri A. Nicoll, and Evgeny A. Mareev, “An Overview of Earth’s Global Electric Circuit and Atmospheric Conductivity,” Space Science Reviews, vol. 137, no. 104 (June 2008).
[51]. T.E. Aldrich, et al., “Bioelectromagnetic effects of EMP: Preliminary findings,” The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System (1988); Aldrich, et al., “Bioelectromagnetic Effects of EMP: Preliminary Findings,” NASA Scientific and Technical Information, Report 1988STIN 8912791A (June 1988).
[52]. J.D. Colvin, et al., “An Empirical Study of the Nuclear Explosion-Induced Lightning Seen on Ivy Mike,” Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 92, Issue D5 (1987), pp. 5696–5712.
[53]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, at http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Concept2Reality/lightning.html, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[54]. C.C. Easterbrook and R.A. Perala, “A Comparison of Lightning and Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Response of a Helicopter,” presented at the Aerospace and Ground Conference on Lightning and Static Electricity, NTIS N85-16343 07-47 (Dec. 1984).
[55]. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Air Regulations (Washington, DC: FAA, 2009), FAR 23.867.
[56]. U.S. Patent Olson composite aircraft structure having lightning protection. 4,352,142 (Sept. 28, 1982).
[57]. D.C. Ferguson and G.B. Hillard, “Low Earth Orbit Spacecraft Charging Design Guidelines,” NASA TP-2003-212287 (2003).
[58]. The development of the composite aircraft is the subject of a companion essay in this volume.
[59]. Chambers, Concept to Reality, p. 184.
[60]. United States Patent 5132168, “Lightning strike protection for composite aircraft structures.”
[61]. “Lightning Strike Protection for Composite Aircraft,” NASA Tech Briefs (June 1, 2009).
[62]. F. Webster and T.D. Smith, “Flying Qualities Flight Testing of Digital Flight Control Systems,” in NATO, AGARDograph, No. 300, vol. 21, in the AGARD Flight Test Techniques Series (2001), p. 3.
[63]. C.M. Belcastro, “Assessing Electromagnetic Environment Effects on Flight Critical Aircraft Control Computers,” NASA Langley Research Center Technical Seminar Paper (Nov. 17, 1997), at http://www.ece.odu.edu/~gray/research/abstracts.html#Assessing, accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
[64]. Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Electromagnetic Hazards Group, “Lightning Strike Susceptibility Tests on the AIM-9 Missile,” AFFDL-TR-78-95 (Aug. 1978), p. 23.
[65]. M. Dargi, et al., “Design of Lightning Protection for a Full-Authority Digital Engine Control,” Lightning Technologies, Inc., NTIS N91-32717 (1991).
[66]. J.A. Plumer, W.A. Malloy, and J.B. Craft, “The Effects of Lightning on Digital Flight Control Systems,” NASA, Advanced Control Technology and its Potential for Future Transport Aircraft (Edwards: DFRC, 1976), pp. 989–1008; C.R. Jarvis and K.J. Szalai, “Ground and Flight Test Experience with a Triple Redundant Digital Fly By Wire Control System,” in NASA LRC, Advanced Aerodynamics and Active Controls, NIST N81-19001 10-01 (1981).
[67]. James E. Tomayko, Computers Take Flight: A History of NASA’s Pioneering Digital