In aircraft, electrical bonding prevents static electricity build-up that can interfere with radio and navigational equipment.

The aircraft manufacturer's quality control personnel complained that G.E. engines were not meeting specifications for electrical bonding.

General Electric clearly considered him knowledgeable enough to give him a place on its task force and a role in a 1992 seminar on electrical bonding.

The J-Pole is very sensitive to conductive support structures and will achieve best performance with no electrical bonding between antenna conductors and the mounting structure.

Electrical bonding is the practice of intentionally electrically connecting all exposed metallic items not designed to carry electricity in a room or building as protection from electric shock.

Its position was supported eventually by tests and analysis by the Air Force and the F.A.A., which found no danger in the electrical bonding.

Some of these, particularly Victorian mains that predated London's underground railways, were not constructed to carry currents and had no adequate electrical bonding between pipe segments.

Along with paying $7.18 million, G.E. agreed to make a minor modification in the controls of one type of military engine and negotiate new contract language with the Government covering electrical bonding.

In early December, Mr. Helmer filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court here, accusing General Electric of defrauding the Government by failing to meet contract requirements for electrical bonding.

In December 1993, Mr. Johnson filed suit contending that G.E. had sold engines to the Air Force, Navy and Army that it knew did not meet the electrical bonding requirements in its contracts.

In addition, by increasing the relative fraction of composite components within new aircraft, challenges regarding electrical conductivity have arisen such as lightning strike protection, static discharge, electrical bonding and grounding, interference shielding and current return through the structure.

Mr. Johnson, now 34, was working at G.E.'s aircraft engine plant in Evendale, Ohio, in 1989 when he came to the conclusion that the company was not properly testing engines for electrical bonding, which protects controls and other components from electromagnetic interference.

Electrical bonding involves grounding engine controls and other key components so they do not fail when subjected to electromagnetic interference, known in the industry as E.M.I. E.M.I. can come from lightning and laptop computers and other electronic devices that passengers are warned not to use during takeoffs and landings.