Question: Why do some general aviation airplanes have static wicks on them and others don’t? I thought they were there to prevent lightning strikes—don’t all airplanes need this?
Answer: Static wicks are attached to an airplane to discharge static electricity.
The static wicks—sometimes known as static dischargers—are often attached to the thinnest metal surfaces on the aircraft such as the horizontal stabilizer and ailerons. As the airplane moves through the air—any air—it picks up a static charge. Although a lightning strike is the big kahuna of a static charge, the static wicks don’t repel lighting, rather they dissipate the electrical charge.
When flying through clouds and precipitation such as those encountered when instrument flight rules (IFR) prevail, the static charge is greater than in clear weather (remember P-static?) Therefore, static wicks are more common on aircraft certified for IFR conditions, as opposed to VFR-only aircraft such as the Piper J-3 Cub. Also, IFR aircraft are much more reliant on radios, and static electricity can greatly compromise radio fidelity.
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