<![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @JAYNESS:

I guarantee you that, if this ever happened to a plane I was on, white would not be the color everything turns into.

j12997967

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Unfortunately, I do not do my own stunts. I have my agent contact professional stunt people for me. BUT, I do make all my own Bundt cakes. And I pick my own lint. And who doesn't love an Easter egg hunt?

rhaderle

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> ROBMAN84 AT 08/30/07 04:29 AM asked:

"In situations like this, do emergency replacement underpants drop from the overhead compartment?"

No, but did you know that the shoehorns they put in the amenities kits the flight attendants hand out are very useful for scraping out your original underpants in situations like this? I found that out when we had a fake bomb planted in a lavatory on a flight from Tokyo to Kennedy some years back.


effinayright

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Carbon fiber conducts electricity as well. Graphite is used in smart bombs that are supposed to short circuit electrical grid in enemy territory. US Army dropped a lot of that shit over my city in Serbia in 99. I also know a case of a boy that got electrocuted when his carbon fiber fishing pole touched trap power line.

Stane123

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Another "lightning meets airplane" survivor here. I was riding on a JAL evening flight from Hong Kong heading to Osaka, when suddenly there was a loud "BANG" and the cabin lights flickered off for 2-3 seconds... probably the longest 2-3 seconds of my life, with the lights and several people yelling in multi-lingual panic as I heard every variation of "OMG" / "WTF" / "oh no" yelled in Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, and English.

The flight crew were complete professionals and calmed everyone down. The captain came over the PA and announced in English & Japanese that the plane had been hit by lightning, but everything was OK, and yeah... it's uncommon, but planes do get struck.

Relieved, I flagged down a stewardess for some OJ + gin, and then slept the rest of the flight...

nskripchun

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Curiously they wont let aircraft take off from US airports if their have been ground strikes at the airport in the last x minutes.

Maybe thats just to insure the ground crews dont have to be outside.

brundlefly76

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> shouldn't they have gone back to 1955? refund!!

computermachina

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> From now on...i'm wearing Faraday underpants when i fly!

Marketing slogan:

"Slap fear away - wear Faraday!"

(your results may vary - especially thru airport security areas)

EyeintheLAsky

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Actually it can be a little dangerous to a plane. I was on a Continental flight from LA in 2000 that was struck by lightening shortly after take-off. It put a hole in the plane near the pilots cabin and the plane lost pressure when it passed 10K feet. The masks dropped and people got pretty quiet as the recorded message came on with instructions to pull the mask down..... But you could hear a few passangers swear they were taking the train from now on. All the pilot would say is that we had some instrument problems.... - yea, I bet... The plane made a fast landing back at LAX and you could see the quarter sized hole (with burn marks around it) in the plane just below the pilots left side window as we exited (all the service people were checking it out). We got another plane and continued on a few hours later. But I always wonder a bit during a storm in flight even while I tell my child there's nothing to worry about.

tt299

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Cool.

Hat7

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> The idea that lightning doesn't harm aircraft is baloney. I've personally seen holes punched in radomes, radar dishes exploded from lighting hits, burnt panels (3 dot patterns where the lightning exited the airframe-usually near the tail), electronic components melted, and UHF blade antennas blown off. The first thing the pilot should've done is not takeoff in bad weather; secondly, declare an emergency and get his aircraft back on the ground for an inspection.

dfingles

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @homerjay:

you were on Oceanic flight 815 too?!?

we should meet up for coffee

XD

discounteggroll

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @-=[ArcSine]=-:

I second this giz. There are a lot of us that read this at work and when you use ads that have nudity, even if it is just a butt, it has the potential to create problems for your readers. You don't want problems for your readers, do you? I have never seen any other site, not related to the porn industry, have unappropriate ads like these. Love the giz though so please just pick better ads so I don't have to block ya for good! Thanks!

Foxbat2

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @-=[ArcSine]=-:
Edited hosts files are your friend.


AmishJohn

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> PINONO, I don't know how to say this without sounding rude, but people like you need to do some research before blabbing out comments like that. I've been flying every week for work for the past 8-9 years and have learned a lot about the commercial aviation industry. A lot of rules that people are unhappy about are not created by the "airline companies." They are put into place by the great federal government of the United States. They can't guarantee that cell phones are 100% safe to use on airplanes, so they ban the use altogether. Even if they were 99% safe, they probably wouldn't allow their use. And, like the unbelievably outdated air traffic control system, the government isn't doing enough to force companies to develop better equipment.

cdonna

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @jonnykid:

Did time slow down? Did you guys see the other dimension?

Pinkmeister

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> "We're flying in a Lockheed Eagle Series L-1011. Came off the line twenty months ago. Carries a Sim-5 transponder tracking system, and you're telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?"

Ladies and gentlemen, Toby Zeigler.

Jeff Martin

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Whoah. This is heavy.

av8thor

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> ...Later that night 4 people on the plane realized that their bodies DNA structure was changing, one could control fire, one could control elasticity, one controlling supernatural forces and invisibility, and one turned into a rock...

michelinman85

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I think some people here are a little confused on the issue of cell phones on an airliner. Cell phone use is prohibited on planes because of interference they can cause to avionics systems, not because they actually damage electronics. For instance, the microwave landing system receives microwave radiation from ground equipment to aid in the landing process. Incidentally, cell phones use some of these same wavelengths to communicate and therefore pose a risk of interfering with proper operation of the system. THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE. Obviously the rules about using electronics during flight will always be a little more restrictive than needed, just to be on the safe side.

COL

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> This is totally unrelated, but I'm blocking all your ads until you get rid of the nekkid butts. Love the site, would love to support it, wouldn't love to get fired.

-=[ArcSine]=-

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @libelle: I know the feeling. I've never seen Nepalis look so white. I always look to the stewardeses for comfort figuring that they know exactly how things should be going. I've never seen a crew so scared...not to mention they were taking a real beating moving around the cabin.

That plane was probably the oldest one I've flown in...there were places were you could actually look into the plane itself (wiring, struts, etc.).

Funny, we also kissed the ground when we landed in Thailand.

Mfumbi

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> no one on the flight probably knew this happened. probably not even the pilots

diablofreak

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Electricity can happen only when there is a potential difference. That is why a bird swinging on a transmission line is safe, as long as it has got both its legs on the same wire and not touch the pole. There is no potential difference between its two legs. You know Ohm's law V = I.R; if V = 0, I = 0; no current = no zap. (current is what kills ya or 'stimulates you') However, all that electricity breaks down Oxygen into Ozone (3 O2 = 2 O3)(You will notice the Corona effect around transmission lines = eerie glow); same thing with lightning.

A plane in air is not grounded, obviously. Thus, it follows the above analogy. It is the equivalent of a bird sitting on a high voltage transmission wire.

Microwaves are a different issue. Microwaves carry energy with them. When you are in the presence of microwaves, the water in your cells get heated up rapidly, causing it to rupture.

ashwinmudigonda

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I love turbulence when I'm flying. Lightning would be even cooler. Without these distractions, you're just sitting in a noisy tin can trying to sleep while squished into a tiny uncomfortable chair between two super-sized mouth breathers.

You're just as safe flying, per passenger-mile as you are driving. If the plane's going down, there's nothing you could do about it anyways so you might as well enjoy the overpriced roller coaster. I'd rather buy the farm while saying "WHEEEEE!" than cowering in fear.

wlcrm

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> electricity fundamentals: it take the path of least resistance if that happens to be going through the skin then that were it will go. if it happens to be through a major component then it will that direction its a matter of luck where the electrons flow.

london573

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I have had this happen on a landing approach to Cinci in a 757. I was sitting in first class on the isle toward that back of that section. Without knowing what is going on, you see a big flash of light, hear a very loud BANG (though not the CRACK you would hear if you were outside) and then (at least in this case) the plane begins a very strong maneuver. The combination can be fairly scary. In our case, because we were on final approach the pilot opted to abort the landing, so the strong maneuver was him pulling the nose up and sliding the throttles all the forward -- but we didn't know that at the time.

Later, our pilot came on and let us know it had been lightening, we were in no danger, but that we'd circle a minute while the storm cell passed before making another approach.

AndrewJayPollack

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> [en.wikipedia.org]

warcormc

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @Mfumbi: RE: Nepali flights. I had a scary flight out of Jomsom once. The co-pilot kept tapping on equipment, and looking disturbed. He said something to the pilot, who looked scared, and all of the flight attendants were simultaneously airsick.

There was some mild turbulence, but nothing bad happened.

I kissed the ground when we disembarked.

libelle

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Sweet vid...but methinks it's a bit old.

I had this happen to me on a Royal Nepali Airline flight from Katmandu to Bankok. We got hit twice about 20min out of Katmandu. It did looks like a blinding white light a big boom but that wasn't a problem, apparently.

The real problem was that we had taken off directly into a massive thunder cell that had slammed up against the Himalayas. I've never felt turbulence like that. People were screaming and crying and praying the whole flight. My wife and I said "goodbye" to one another. At some point we dropped approx. 100 feet into a pocket with no air.

Worst flight of my life but it did have a silver lining. Nowadays, I don't get bothered by a little turbulence in a new plane. If that piece of sh*t Royal Nepali Airlines junker could make it through that storm then maybe turbulence and lightning aren't as dangerous as they seem (as long as you have your seatbelt fashioned, of course).

Mfumbi

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> looks to be a ground to cloud lightning...

zarchitect

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @Jason:

Actually, in an interview with Christopher Lloyd, he admitted he pronounced it wrong. The problem was that nobody on the set, including the script supervisors, knew how to pronounce it since nobody outside the scientific community used it then. It's supposed to be pronounced the way it is today, even in 1985.

mangaguru

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Great Scott!

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> One-word explanation: toiletries

ANoel

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @rentahero1: Actually both "jigga" and "giga" are correct pronounctiations (though not both correct spellings), though "jigga" has fallen out of favor due to its similarity to a racial epithet.

Canadian Impostor

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @jonnykid: Same happened to me, although you described it much better than i could have.

evilpotato

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Hmmm, they could have ended up on the next season of Lost.

dylanjin

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> "Alright, who left their phone on!!"

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I wear aluminum foil hats for just this reason.

Klaw

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @LoganSix: and complementing the beetlebailey comment to your question, carbon fiber is a non-conductor material, so it would serve as a ground for the lightning bolt, and the outer shell of the plane is made from carbon fiber, the chassis is aluminum so that would help to dissipate the excess of electrons in the plane =D

vinchbr

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with the guy who a while ago postulated that the Giz editors have a quota...that gif is years old. I put it on my own personal website years ago, before their were any great video aggregate sites. Come on Giz, you're better than this.

DWD

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @rentahero1: Yes but it is pronounced jiggawatts in the movie... that is what he was quoting...

Polybius

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @robman84: HAHAHHAHAH
great question...
the best one so far =D

vinchbr

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @iamnotdrtran: jigga what? jigga who?

demonwolf

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I think it would be real conversation piece once you got to where your going. "So yeah, my plane was struck by a massive lighting bolt and I survived. My room is 233. See you there."

Kimber45

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @islandmonk: But it's fun to play "Catch the Lightning Bolt"!

rentahero1

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Crap -- it didn't get hit just once, the video shows it taking shot after shot. The pilot shouldn't've stayed in that spot for so long.

islandmonk

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @iamnotdrtran: It's "gigawatts" -- back in 1985, that was really the accepted pronunciation for "giga"! It's in the dictionary. (Keep in mind this was before we heard about 2.4GHz signals, GB hard drives, etc., so no one ever used the word...)

rentahero1

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Never underestimate the power of the Emperor!

Cyberziggy

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I was on flight that, as the pilot called it, "experienced an slight electrical discharge". I saw the flash through my eyelids while sleeping with sunglasses on, and heard the bang. I opened my eyes to see everyone looking around at each other, then came the pilot's announcement, and everyone went back to what they were doing. Other than bad airline food, no ill effects.

wtgeinsteen

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Well... And airline companies want us to believe that a cell phone is dangerous for in-flight equipement... If the lightning wasn't I wonder how a phone could be :-)

pinolo

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> "knowing that tomorrow we have to flight to Berlin"
Did you mean fly?

sprice82

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> there was no luck involved. airlines like this are designed to take lightning strikes. hence the faraday cage.

Angus

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> weird..what a lucky escape though!

bruckwine

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I was in a plane taking off from New York when this happen to us. There was a huge bang noise and the plane shook, with a few screams from people around us. Then the air steward came on the tanoy to say that we had been struck by lightning, and that planes were designed to cope with that sort of thing...

jotty

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @robman84: Definately wouldn't want to use any of the seat cushions as flotation devices...

@jonnykid: Mahoosive. Heh.

StarChaser Tyger

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @Qwazzerman: Madness? THISS IS AMERICAN AIRLINES

eebs

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> They're just lucky they didn't end up on the island with the Others!

homerjay

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> @LoganSix: Most composite aircraft use a metal mesh just under the surface. all the static wicks and grounding tie into this.

beetlebailey

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> were the passengers screened for super powers as they got off the plane?

craighyatt

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> How does it work with the new carbon tube body Boeing Dreamliner? Would a lightening bolt go right through that?

LoganSix

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Still has the potential to fry electronics.
Have a nice flight.

Lorticon

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Since this all transpired so quickly, were the passengers on the plane even aware of what happened?

Jesse in Japan

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Faraday cage, quote from wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org]):

"Cars and aircraft. When lightning strikes an aircraft or a car the electric currents induced on it are forced to travel on the outer skin of the vehicle's body. Other signals such as mobile phone signals penetrate the skin of cars and aircraft because the wavelength of the signal is significantly smaller than the holes present on the surface of the conductor (the windows). The BBC television program Top Gear once sat the presenter Richard Hammond in a car while it was struck by a simulated lightning bolt of 800,000 volts at the Siemens High-Voltage lab in Berlin."

stojadinovicp

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I was on a plane into Heathrow recently when this happened. Arguably looks alot cooler from the outside. Inside there is a huge strobe out of the window and a mahoosive bang.

5 minutes later, with 200 clammy handed, brown panted passengers feeling a little anxious, the captain calmly announces that we had been hit by lightning, and it was completely normal, and not to worry. Smug B*****d.

Kind beat any video game though, getting thrown around the sky..

jonnykid

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> The benefit of your flight being hit by lightning is that it leaves a metallic taste in your mouth. Let's be honest - you're not going to get anything as stimulatingly delicious from the meal cart.

montsnmags

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> In situations like this, do emergency replacement underpants drop from the overhead compartment?

robman84

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> yeah, but then you evolve into the Amazing Boltman! or Zoltron the Destroyer! I think you are all just lying. Who's Faraday anyway? Your interdimensional electric lord?

You are trying to trick me!

Jesus Diaz

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> I know a woman who is afraid to ride in trains during lightning storms...
In reality anything with a metal shell (car, train, plane) is the safest place to be.


cmsjustin

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]>
Yep, the "skin effect". It's also why we can have telescoping antennas (the electrons only travel on the outer most surface so you still get your signal even though they're hollow). It's also why people can sometimes survive being struck by lightning. The energy is conducted through the epidermis, away from the internal organs.

OddManOut

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> Behold the power of science: Faraday cages: [en.wikipedia.org]

aj_robins

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> 1.21 jiggawatts!

iamnotdrtran

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> When the lightning strikes the plane, all of the electrons want to be as far away from each other as possible, and the best way to do that is by spreading themselves out over the outermost surface of the plane. The aluminum 'skin' of the plane acts as a Faraday cage.

Qwazzerman

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> How cool would it be to be in the plane when that happens? I bet it would be very surreal, like in a movie when someone's dying and everything just turns white. Also, how cool would that be on your tombstone if something did go wrong? "Death by lightning bolt" Now that's a death worthy of a Spartan.

Jayness

]]> <![CDATA[Lightning Bolt Hitting Plane Taking Off in Osaka]]> i'll bet superman will get fried if he happens to be flying alongside the plane at the time.

weak_pig

]]>