Why Aircraft Radome repairs should be of highest standards to upkeep the airworthiness ? How a small paint patch repair can hinder weather radar functions ?
✔A radome is a Fairing whose primary purpose is to protect a radar antenna from various elements.
✔Physically, a radome should be strong enough to withstand the airloads & produce minimum drag.
✔Electrically, a radome should permit the passage of the transmitted signals & return echoes with least distortion & absorption.
✔The electrical thickness of a radome is related to the physical thickness, operating frequency & material types.
✔All repairs to radomes, no matter how minor (including paint repairs), should attain original or approved condition, both electrically & structurally.
✔Major repairs on radome requires testing to ascertain Non-impairment of electrical properties.
✔Even the minor repairs may affect radomes as below.
👉Transmissivity.
Which is the ability of a radome to pass radar energy through it.
👉Reflection.
Which is the return or reflection of the outgoing radar energy from the radome back into the antenna & waveguide system.
👉Diffraction.
Which is the bending of the radar energy as it passes through the radome.
Author – Tanmay Palei
Sr. Aircraft Structure Engineer