Lightning strike at DIA

gkainz

gkainz

Final Approach
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Greg Kainz
dropped off my wife, daugher and grandson at DIA this morning... sitting at the parking bandit booth to ransom the car out of the garage when there was a bright flash of light behind me. Had just enough time to think "what the he.." and KEEEE-RAAAACK!!!!! and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Then thought "That CAN'T be good!"

I assumed the terminal or tower may have taken a hit. My wife called a few minutes later and told me that their flight would be delayed an hour, as a plane was struck by lightning. She didn't know if it was on the ramp, taxiway or runway, but they pulled all personnel off the ramp until the storm passed. They ended up departing about 1.6 hrs. late.
 
Lightning strikes are impressive. The closest I got to one was when a building across the street from me got nailed. We were on a break and we all jumped from the light and noise- I distinctly saw a "ball" of coffee hovering over someone's ciip from the stobe effect- he never even knew he almost lost his coffee.
 
Closest I saw was a giant pole with the lightning release cables running down the side, I was about 15 yards away.

That was scary as hell, and I could feel the electricity in my body, not painful, but I could feel the energy.
 
I've been in a plane that was hit in mid-flight. Climbing out of SFO in a 757, loud bang, lights flickered, and we continued on. All was fine, according to pilot, by the time we got to CVG.

Know someone that was on a flight that got hit, and a plasma ball went up the aisle. That would have been impressive.
 
My wife was out on the back (covered) porch when we lived near Denver (a long time ago) turning something on the BBQ when the house behind us was hit by lightning. You've never seen anyone open a sliding glass door, come through it and close it so fast in your life! :D Took bricks off the chimney of the house. Later on a house on the next street from us was hit and lost just about everything electrical. Glad it wasn't artillery, cause all it had to do was split the difference and fire for effect. We would have been toast.
 
Lightning...eeek!

I got to watch a power line transformer thingie explode once. It was a bit sparky.
Out backpacking I was headed for lower terrain when a tree exploded not 300ft away on top of the continental divide.

The closest: Well, let's just say ball lightning sitting on the clutch handle of the motorcycle against the mirror while riding kinda stings a bit.
 

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gkainz said:
...but they pulled all personnel off the ramp until the storm passed. They ended up departing about 1.6 hrs. late.
Click to expand...

This is SOP now when there's a thunderstorm over an airport. For some reason the ground crew doesn't like to be crisped. Wouldn't surprise me if OSHA had something to do with it. Landed at KPHL once in a storm and sat on the ramp for 45 minutes until the ground crew came back out to guide us in to the gate and operate the jetway. Whole planeload of people wondering "But...but...but...what about us???"

Regards,
Joe
 
When I was a kid, the ground about 15 ft. in front of our house got hit. THe electricity travelled underground a entered the house through a wire mesh under the foyer's flagstone floor. It blew a flagstone right out of the floor which sent some grout and stone chips through the room like shrapnel. Luckily nobody was in the room at the time. Loudest thing I ever heard.
 
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