Flash in the pan: College student dons aluminum 'helmet', runs into lightning storm (VIDEO)

A US college student took playing with fire to a new level when he decided it was a good idea to run into the teeth of a lightning storm with an aluminum pan on his head as a makeshift umbrella.

The potentially-deadly incident happened at a student dorm at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

As “Aluminum Pan Man” faced his brush with death, a fellow student was on hand to record it.

Just seconds into the footage he walks outside with the aluminum pan on his head, lightning strikes ferociously, the lights dim and people nearby scream.

Despite the title of the video being “RIP Aluminum Pan Man”, it’s been reported that the metal-wearing hero survived.

“The guy under the aluminum pan was alright. His thought process was the pan would block the softball size hail we were getting. He didn't think it through…”, one Reddit user, who says he was there at the time of the incident, wrote.

Spotting footage of the daring dash on Twitter, medical student Dirk Wristers claimed to be ‘Pan Man’, saying he had taken on nature “and won”.