2024
What is EWIS? - Answers It is any wire, wiring device or termination device installed in any area of
aircraft for the purpose of transmitting electrical energy between two or more intended termination
points.
What are the things EWIS does not include? - Answers It does not include electrical equipment for
testing procedures, portable electrical devices not part of airplane's type design and fibre optics.
What are the things EWIS does include? - Answers Wires, cables, bus bars, connectors, clamps, electrical
grounding and bonding devices, electrical splices, wire insulation, labels, pressure seals.
What are the two fundamental properties of insulation materials? - Answers Insulation resistance and
dielectric strength.
What is insulation resistance? - Answers It is the resistance to current leakage over and through the
surface of insulation.
Which device is used to measure insulation resistance? - Answers A megohm-meter insulation tester.
This device does not damage the insulation.
What is dielectric strength? - Answers It is the ability of the insulator to withstand potential difference
and is expressed in terms of the voltage at which the insulation fails.
How are the maximum dielectric strength values measured? - Answers By raising the voltage of a test
sample until the insulation breaks down.
Which type of insulation materials are no longer used for new aircraft designs? - Answers PVC and nylon.
What are the substances used to make the insulation materials for new aircraft designs? - Answers
Teflon, Kapton, PTFE.
What are some of the consequences of poor bonding and grounding of aircraft electrical systems? -
Answers Electromagnetic interference (EMI), personnel shock hazard or electrostatic discharge damage
to sensitive electronics.
What is grounding? - Answers It is a process of electrically connecting conductive objects to either a
conductive structure or some other conductive return path to safely complete a normal or fault circuit.
What is the consequence of mixing return currents from various sources? - Answers It could cause a
major problem to digital systems.
How is the interaction of various return currents minimised? - Answers By identifying and using different
types of ground. As a minimum, the design should use three ground types, AC returns, DC returns and all
others.