56
RDR-1600 Pilot’s Guide
TM106101(8/01)
Advisory Circulars (Cont.)
General
• Airborne weather radar should be operated on the ground only by quali-
fied personnel.
• Installed airborne radar should not be operated while the aircraft is in a
hangar or other enclosure unless the radar transmitter is not operating,
or the energy is directed toward an absorption shield which dissipates
the radio frequency energy. Otherwise, radiation within the enclosure can
be reflected throughout the area.
Body Damage.
To prevent possible human body damage, the fol-
lowing precautions should be taken:
• Personnel should never stand nearby and in front of radar antenna which
is transmitting. When the antenna is not scanning, the danger increases.
• A recommended safe distance from operating airborne weather radars
should be established. A safe distance can be determined by using the
equations in the Appendix. This criterion is now accepted by many indus-
trial organizations and is based on limiting exposure of humans to an
average power density not greater than 1 milliwatt per square centime-
ter.
• Personnel should be advised to avoid the end of an open wave guide
unless the radar is turned off.
• Personnel should be advised to avoid looking into a wave guide, or into
the open end of a coaxial connector or line connector to a radar trans-
mitter output, as severe eye damage may result.
• Personnel should be advised that when power radar transmitters are
operated out of their protective cases, X-rays may be emitted. Stray
X-rays may emanate from the glass envelope-type pulsar, oscillator,
clipper, or rectifier tubes, as well as magnetrons.
Combustible Materials.
To prevent possible fuel ignition, an
installed airborne weather radar should not be operated while an
aircraft is being refueled or defueled.
M.C. Beard
Director of Airworthiness
AC 20-68B
8/8/80
