Aluminum conductors for aircraft

WEIGHT is one of the major factors in aircraft design, and any reliable means of weight reduction must be thoroughly exploited. Substitution of aluminum for copper conductors offers appreciable weight savings, especially in view of the continuing increase in the size and power of aircraft electric systems. The designer of aircraft electric systems is very limited in the amount of weight that he can save. Aside from choosing the lightest components, the only other weight economy that he can control is the cable weight of his system. Since the cable weight of recent military and commercial aircraft is approximately 32 per cent of the total electric system weight, weight reductions of 40 to 100 pounds may be realized by use of aluminum cable.