Are the Skies Friendly for Fiber Optic Cable?

Detailed guidelines covering the design of aerial facilities for copper cables have been available for many years. Outside plant engineers are familiar with the dozens of pages of charts and figures used to select the proper components for a specific application. Now that fiber cables are beginning to appear on pole lines, there seems to be some confusion about the proper way to design the plant to accommodate them. For example, it may be difficult to understand why a strand strong enough to carry a heavy copper cable may not be adequate to support a much smaller, much lighter fiber optic cable.