Sacramento Air Logistics: PWIG
How to win against destructive lightning!
Report from ITD of Destin, Inc.

McClellan AFB, CA. AFHQ - 6-8 February 1996: Product Improvement Working Group for Air Traffic Control And Landing Systems (ATCALS). The agenda began with Col. Orville Stockland, Air Force Headquarters Communications Commander, Sacramento Air Logistics, making welcome the eleven base commands, communication officers, SAIC personnel and Mike Helms from ITD of Destin. Why was ITD of Destin attending the annual PIWG staff meeting at McClellan AFB, California- Simple! Many USAF base locations have implemented the lightning protection recommendations of Helms during the last four years which have resulted in "zero" lightning damage to the electronics. Helms has received letters of documentation from USAF personnel and that tells the story of the rest, "After installing the recommended protection system, we have saved so much money from no downtime due to surges or repairs from lightning events that we were able to upgrade the radar system from our repair budget. We have had a flat line maintenance graph for the year. Also, we were awarded the highest up time of the GPN12 radar system Air Force wide." Col. Stockland was introducing ITD as one documented solution to the lightning damage problem and ITD offer documented results of reducing the everyday electrical maintenance and reducing repair budgets as well any lightning damage. This is the electronic equipment that shows up at McClellan depot for repair. Helms offered a briefing of the advantages of the ITD protection system and displayed successful results from Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field, and Tyndall AFB. Commands were encouraged to use the free educational seminars for training their personnel and suggestions were offered to solve the electrical damage and nuisance problems with application of effective surge suppression.

Mike Helms began solving lightning and power surge problems for the ComSq, radar and ground radio groups at Eglin AFB early in 1991 using the ITD protection product line. The success and experience offered by Helms and his team has been nothing but historical. Conducting free surveys of any troubled equipment location has enabled Helms to acquire extensive working knowledge of the protection requirements for USAF electronics. Helms is called upon by Zone Maintenance of Civil Engineering at Army, Navy and Air Force facilities to assist in areas of equipment loss or damage. ITD services also assist the Army Corp of Engineers write effective specifications for facility protection across the nation. Helms also presents informative & educational seminars free of charge to any group wanting to learn more about protecting their electronics and how to compare different protection products offered on the market. Seminars on effective grounding of electrical systems is also offered with no charge.

Solutions by utilizing ITD services to USAF problems have been recorded for years by AFMC & ACC personnel. Therefore, calls from other bases by referral from AFMC & ACC were made to Helms for recommendations. Many instances he was familiar with the electronics enough to offer suggestions by telephone, like Andersen AFB, Guam, Osan AFB, Korea and Kadena AFB, Japan. Otherwise, he offered to conduct a free site survey of the equipment without charge, like assisting Sverdrup and PRC with the thirteen tower sites for the Air Combat Maneuvering instrumentation (ACMI) located across the state of Mississippi.

Success was acquired by solving the problems like another letter states, "ITD offers a permanent fix to the problem, instead of a temporary patch." So, whether the equipment was a mobile system like the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Info Red (LANTIRN) system, a system like Radar (NEXRAD), electronics utilized in Guided Warfare Evaluation (GWEF) or MISILAB, Lasers, Localizers, TACANs, Glideslopes, Middle Markers, Runway Lighting, Fire Alarms, Security Systems, Fuel Leak Detectors, and more. ITD offers a system for protection from transient voltage surges and catastrophic surge events caused by lightning.

Currently, several base locations, Scott and Andrews, are gathering data for AF publications to suggest the systems and methods offered by ITD as approved solutions by AFMC and ACC to contact ITD for their assistance, ask for Mike Helms. A number of bases have purchased and installed several systems from ITD and have suggested the use of ITD methods as a retrofit for voice grade telephone cable pairs. The comments indicate that there has been an ongoing tracking of the success of different protection methods for phone lines. But most methods were labor intensive and space restrictive except the system offered by ITD. It offers the highest capacity for lightning protection per pair of lines and installs within the current parameters of the existing 25 pair punch down blocks utilized at most USAF telecommunication cable demarcation points. This should incorporate the staged protection method and utilization of the custom designed AC power protection offered by ITD for PBX switch gear and central office switch gear in conjunction with the punch down blocks.

"Protection of any electronic system requires consideration and protection of all paths that lightning uses", states Helms. "Basic paths utilized by lightning are the AC power phase lines, the neutral & ground lines, telephone lines, coax cable lines and hitting the structure itself. We offer coverage for everything except the structure itself," he says. When people say they have been hit by lightning, I ask them, "Did you lose block, brick, boards or roofing? Usually, they respond with, No. I lost my computer, TV, answer machine or some type of electronics." Therefore, we can protect their electronics. It takes a logical understanding of electrical paths and grounding characteristics that enable us to address problem electronics. Many times we will have no prior repair history of the equipment and the users are unable to provide a history. Ground resistance testing is offered free by ITD to the DOD. This enables a first step toward determining the path to a permanent fix. Voltage testing and recording is optional but in most cases can be avoided due to the expensive nature of test equipment, operating engineers and days of testing time. Even after expensive testing the problem still exists. "We feel that solving the problem is the key issue and usually we can address the problem on the first attempt and save the cost of the testing dollars to use for the solution," says Helms. He continues by saying, "Personnel know there is an existing problem, we usually don't need to do extra testing to determine that a problem exists. It's like a doctor who sees 50 cases a day. Pretty soon, he can diagnose your case with your symptoms since he has seen them so much already. We're like that with our experience. We conduct some preliminary checks and safety related inspections, research the electrical drawing of a facility if they are available, examine schematics of the electronics needing protection and recommend a system to effectively do the job at the most affordable option. We can provide complete installation services or supervise on site for self help installation. We do what ever it takes to work with our clientsbecause they become our friends and everyone helps a friend when they need help."

Helms explains that ITD is currently charged with distributing their protection systems to 68 USAF bases. ITD is considered by the manufacturer of the system to be the sole source to USAF. Helms also began offering these protection systems to the Army and Navy in 1992-93 which has caused the ITD staff to grow. Adding Jerry Milam for USAF, Kevin Morris for US Navy and Bob Doehrman, Redstone Arsenal, US Army Helms says that in March and April of 96 he will be presenting the educational seminar to Fort Rucker, Moody AFB, Fort Benning, Robins AFB, Fort McPherson, Dobbins AFB and Fort Gillem, Barksdale AFB and Keesler AFB.

There is excitement in what the future will bring for ITD and their staff. Travis Sanders, owner of ITD of Destin, Inc., says, "that all of us work hard to solve our client's problems in the most cost effective manner. The accomplishments that each person brings to the company are expanding". He expects to hold on to the number one position of distributors. Sanders says, "It's hard to believe that we have achieved and held for three years, the number one distributor in the world, right here in Destin, Florida."

Additional information and site survey information can be obtained by contacting

POC: Mike Helms mike@lightningmike.com