Both environmental conditions and weather are intertwined and together they can significantly impact avionic equipment selection and performance. The following paragraphs will address that shared relationship and the influence it has on aircraft operations and maintenance.
Understanding weather is not just knowing how to avoid storms or turbulence. You must understand the different types of environment and weather – the impact and equipment to detect and protect against these are listed for each event.
The environment and weather can impact all phases of flight and later ground storage of an aircraft, including layovers during trips. Its effect can be immediate, slow to act or simply hidden, like corrosion or the intermittent failure of avionics components sensitive to extreme heat and cold.
Many people don’t realize that electronics are thin adjacent layers of different natural or man-made materials that are highly sensitive to heat, cold, static and moisture. The more we minia...