Stunts vs. Chasing

[Warren Faidley]

I received a call this morning from a reporter with the BBC in London asking me about chasing "stunts."

The reason for this inquiry follows this weekend's tragedy after a German reality show contestant was seriously injured while preforming a car jumping stunt on live TV. (The video has gone viral on YT but German TV has pulled the most graphic parts from the site -- although some are still around).

The question was, "Has there been any such accidents / stunts gone bad in storm chasing?"

This does bring up an interesting question. When does our pursuit cross the line from "natural" chasing encounters and experiences into Jackass Show type, pre-planned "stunts" where the objective is to produce a dramatic product where the risk factor outweighs any real benefit for science, storm spotting, etc. There have been, unfortunately, fatal accidents involving chasers and driving, although there is no question those were accidents, not a result of "stunts." Nor would I classify an unlucky lightning strike, bad map direction or rouge hailstone to the cranium as a "stunt."

I guess one example would be extreme sports (skiing on unauthorized trails and being killed by an avalanche) vs. organized sports like the Olympics where the participant is part of an organization. For example, when someone is killed in an Olympic bobsled accident its seen as a true tragedy, not as a stunt where the bad outcome is half expected.

W.

 

[rdale]

When does our pursuit cross the line from "natural" chasing encounters and experiences into Jackass Show type, pre-planned "stunts" where the objective is to produce a dramatic product where the risk factor outweighs any real benefit for science, storm spotting, etc.

When you say "YES" to Discovery Channel?

 

[Verne Carlson]

I doubt he'll ever do this as most of his stuff looks like more hype than true attempts at tornado stunts. But this is right up there on the darwin award list:

http://www.kplr11.com/news/kplr-tornado-man-walk-into-storm-051710,0,1701817.story

 

[Sean Ramsey]

My guess is it would have a lot to do with intent. What a reasonable person with knowledge of a subject would deem unnecessarily risky, and if the intent of the person was to challenge that assumption. If someone drives into an EF5 on purpose, then I would imagine that would be a stunt...the expectation by knowledgable people is that they would probably come out on the wrong end of the situation. If someone is chasing and gets swallowed up by an EF5 trying to escape, I believe that wouldn't be considered a stunt but an unfortunate event.

 

[Jeff Duda]

There have been, unfortunately, fatal accidents involving chasers and driving, although there is no question those were accidents, not a result of "stunts." Nor would I classify an unlucky lightning strike, bad map direction or rouge hailstone to the cranium as a "stunt."

What if the unlucky strike came when someone attempted to climb a radio tower in order to get a better shot of a passing tornado?

What if someone got hit in the head by a large hailstone because they got out of their car to better view a tornado when close to the updraft region where such stones would be most likely?

Would you consider those as "stunts"? I think there is a line even for those occurrences. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I think the stunt side of chasing gets exposed when chasers start looking for attention to:

make the latest headlines
be the next hero
be the next Facebook and Youtube king.

Sure, we all do dumb things once in a while, but some do dumb things simply for the attention it may bring.

 

[Danny Neal]

I doubt he'll ever do this as most of his stuff looks like more hype than true attempts at tornado stunts. But this is right up there on the darwin award list:

http://www.kplr11.com/news/kplr-tornado-man-walk-into-storm-051710,0,1701817.story

Alright, if this was a show on TV, I would definitely watch it and "lmao" the second he gets knocked off his feet by a strong RFD

 

[Warren Faidley]

I doubt he'll ever do this as most of his stuff looks like more hype than true attempts at tornado stunts. But this is right up there on the darwin award list:

http://www.kplr11.com/news/kplr-tornado-man-walk-into-storm-051710,0,1701817.story

Thanks for the link. I think I mentioned this would be the next phase of storm chasing in a previous post this year. I suppose the body armor will be a more modern copy of this: (Caution, very funny).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENae4behwPw

Might make a good debris target for estimating vortex intensity.

W.

 

[Adam Lucio]

It becomes a stunt when theres more footage of yourself than the actual storm. Then the subject of the video changes.

I don't think many have crossed that line yet.

 

[Jason Harris]

So, will this ex-Nascar driver be targeting storms along specific parameters that he figures will be producers of minimum tornadoes (trying to avoid going airborne or getting impaled), or does he really think he can walk into any tornado? Shouldn't he start with a dust devil?

 

[Jeff Duda]

I doubt he'll ever do this as most of his stuff looks like more hype than true attempts at tornado stunts. But this is right up there on the darwin award list:

http://www.kplr11.com/news/kplr-tornado-man-walk-into-storm-051710,0,1701817.story

I hope he does walk right into a tornado (although the video says he'll be tied down with strategically positioned lead weights...and by "strategic" does he mean tied to the ground?? ) on live TV and the entire nation/world gets to see what happens when a human meets nature's full fury. I'm sure it'll be censored due to the gory, violent imagery that comes with his encounter.

Oey vey...another moron. Sad part is, since he had a 3-minute clip on a news broadcast, he's already had partial success.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

I doubt he'll ever do this as most of his stuff looks like more hype than true attempts at tornado stunts. But this is right up there on the darwin award list:

http://www.kplr11.com/news/kplr-tornado-man-walk-into-storm-051710,0,1701817.story

Well, one thing, if he ever does it, I think the end result will look something like this:

 

[Warren Faidley]

What I suspect this guy will do is walk into some type of downdraft or inflow dust cloud, shoot very tight footage and let the media feast on it. If he gets really lucky he could tackle the fringes of a landspout, which I am guessing is the favored vortex mode, although he might not be aware that even landspouts can generate destructive winds. I can guarantee it that more than one chaser will be keeping an eye on this guy for some viral footage clips for the 2011 "Darwin Award."

W.

 

[Steve Worthington]

I read some where or watched a video that he claimed he was going to do it in 2010. He was out and about but never made "the walk of death"

 

[Doug Ott]

No kidding. Then the next scene Reed and Josh could squeeze him into there probe launcher and launch him into the tornado.