Most controversy in the lightning protection field centers
upon the air terminals, those devices intended to intercept the
lightning event. Failures of other components of lightning protection
systems, such as the down conductor system, grounding
electrodes, and equipotential bonding are easy to characterize.
Lessons from failures of these subsystems were documented
and incorporated into lightning protection standards over the
years. Characterization of the air terminal remains difficult to
this day since the leader initiation and propagation processes