Man nearly struck by lightning- Captured on video

[Bill, KD0HG]

Laffed my butt off...!
Almost a "Beavis and Bitthead get Smoked"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZo00FeYcQ&mode=related&search=

[N6WDR]

Was I seeing things It looked like there was an arc coming off of the engine to the spark plug  . 

Richard

[Bill, KD0HG]

Saw that, too. I think that was a reflected flash from the bolt.

[k4kyv]

I wonder if it was staged.  What a coincidence that someone just happened to be filming a guy tinkering with his bike just as it happened?

Looks like someone else thought  the same thing.

Okay that looks so beilevable (sic) but how could a guy be filming him right up close right when it happened.

Very realistic, though.  It looked to me like an induced discharge from a tool in his hand to the bike motor.  Lightning can do some incredible things.

But why was there no evidence of emi on the video?  I would think a jolt that close would have at least made some horizontal lines on the picture the moment of the strike.

It looked like a funnel cloud might have been trying to form in the sky right afterwards.

[W1RKW]

If that video is real, I believe it.

Something similar like that video happened to me a couple of summers ago but not as serious.  A T-storm was rolling in, I just finished cutting the lawn and figured I'd unwind with an 807 and watch the storm from the garage.  I was standing between the two garage doors leaning up against the section that separates the two doors.  I was also leaning up against the track that the garage door wheels ride in.   A very close lightning stroke hit behind the house out in the woods.  The stroke induced some amount of voltage into the track.  The shock went up my right arm, down the right side of my body to my right sweaty foot and wet sneaker and into the puddle I was standing in (yes, I'm an idiot). 

I've gotten wacked by spark plug ignition systems before and I think those are worse but that certainly caught me by surprise and made my body shake for 20 minutes or so.

I closed the door and went inside.

I had lightning in the shack once at my previous house.  That scared the crap out of me and learned something really quick.  Again, another T-storm rolled in with lightning all over the place.  I pulled the feed line from the equipment and left it on the concrete floor of the cellar. Soon after I did that, again, another nearby stroke sent a nice 8 inch or so arc from the end of the feedline to leg of the oil tank. 

Has anyone ever seen sparks shoot out of your wall outlets from nearby strikes? 

[n3lrx]

I've had a few near misses so yeah I believe it.

Once I was at work, on the air, reading the weather of all things and the 500ft tower out front got hit. I felt it, It felt like I got kicked in the chest and for hours afterward I could feel tingles and twitches. So yeah, when lightning hits that close you're bound to be hit by its charge field. This was a strong enough blast to briefly knock out the power and blow out all the beacons.

Another time I was at home on the back porch talking on 2m with a friend. Lightning hit my 60ft tower less than 100ft away. I was actually transmitting with an HT at the time so everyone heard it hit through the HT's mic. Again, it felt like I'd been kicked in the chest and my skin felt creepy crawly for sometime afterward. Later while doing some maintenance I noticed a stretch of co-ass had the side blown out of it and an arc-mark on the tower where it was laid open.

Lightning doesn't even need to hit you to kill you, most times people get killed just by being within it's charge field. If they get hit directly there usually isn't much left of them.

[k4kyv]

A lightning-generated surge came in over the power line.  I had my old computer disconnected from the a.c. power, and the dial-up modem was disconnected from the phone line.  Somehow enough of the surge hit the monitor that the screen was messed up for days afterwards.  It looked like a little piece of rainbow was permanently etched to one side.  It gradually returned to normal.  Evidently there was enough of an impulse to magnetise a portion of the screen until it had been powered on and off a few times.

My RF ammeter was turned into a block of charcoal by a lightning strike that occurred while the feedline was disconnected from the tower.  That same jolt welded the closed contacts of some of the a.c. light switches.  I was able to insert a thin knife and pry the light switch contacts apart.

Lightning can do substantial damage to electrical and electronic stuff even when it is completely disconnected from the a.c. power mains, phone lines, TV/internet cable and antennas.

[W1ATR]

Oh man. Lightning is no joke.

I had a "Shorts filling" experience back in 2001. I was working on a dead pool heater and I was out in front of the house getting a thermopile out of my truck. I was trying to hurry and get that call done because it was starting to drizzle, but I couldn't find what I was looking for without digging.(This is the norm with my work truck.) I finally found the last t-pile I had and I shut the door and turned to walk into the back yard. Right at the moment, KABLAM, blinding flash of light, and an awful smell (ozone), in the air. Damn near scared the life out of me. The sound was exactly like the sound in that video up top, and my reaction was pretty much the same too.

The pool took a huge strike and heater was completely toasted. All the wiring inside was smoldering, the whole thing was shot to hell.

If I was a little slower, or if I found the thermopile a little faster, I would have had my hands on the sucker when it got blasted.

The customer was just in disbelief over the destruction of the unit. I guess they lost some gear in house as well. That 150.00 service call wound up costing $3500 to replace the unit.

I should have bought a lotto ticket that night, but I didn't.

[AB3L]

But why was there no evidence of emi on the video?  I would think a jolt that close would have at least made some horizontal lines on the picture the moment of the strike.

It looked like a funnel cloud might have been trying to form in the sky right afterwards.
[/quote]

I looked at this about ten times. At 14 seconds on the clip timer I started rapidly clicking the stop button. I was able to first see the flash in the sky. Then just below where his hand is I see a horizontal bar of interference in the video with a downward colorfull flash. Then there is the intense flash at the location of his hand, the clap of thunder and then the car alarm going off.
It looks like a rig job at first but now I believe it is real. Besides, the guy drove himself into the brick wall trying to get away.
The kick stand is in the damp area, he is in the dry area. Maybe he became the spark plug........

[Bill, KD0HG]

I just did the same thing, examining the thing frame-by-frame.
Yes, you can see the flash in the background and a few simultaneous
horizontal lines. At full speed, you can't see these things.

I think it's real, too.  Hard to fake diving into the wall, LOL!

Sure sounds real on a good audio system, too.

I was once up on a 300' stick working on a Stationmaster antenna at the top.
I was so busy I didn't notice a storm moving into the area.
The first thing I noticed was arcing between my crescent wrench
and the bolts I was tightening and my hair standing on end.

Took 20 minutes climbing up, I literally rappelled down that stick in less than a minute.

That's when I was 25 years old and immortal.

[KB2WIG]

         "Took 20 minutes climbing up, I literally rappelled down that stick in less than a minute."

So, would you call this a hare raising (or is it lowering) experience???           klc

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

What does a rabbit have to do with it?

[Bill, KD0HG]

What's up, Doc?