Patent ID: 7835130

Claim:
A method for forming a lighting protection system on a surface of a composite component of an aircraft, the method comprising: forming a dielectric coating on an area of the surface of the composite component, the dielectric coating being created on the area of the surface of the composite component during the forming of the dielectric coating, the dielectric coating covering a metal feature exposed on the surface of the composite component; applying a metal adhesion promoter in a pattern on the formed dielectric coating and on an additional area of the surface of the composite component, including on a grounding feature to form a metal adhesion promoter layer; and forming a metal coating on the applied metal adhesion promoter layer, the metal coating being created on the metal adhesion promoter layer during the forming of the metal coating to provide a path from the area including the metal feature to the grounding feature, the metal adhesion promoter layer promoting bonding of the metal coating to the dielectric coating when the metal coating is created on the metal adhesion promoter layer.