In 2006, landing in Louisville, the plane was over the runway for what seemed like way too long without hitting it. Then we hit it and not three seconds later the plane makes a sharp turn, which I guess is a big deal if you’ve never seen it before but must not be too important because no one seemed worried and the plane didn’t seem taxed by the maneuver. But for someone who doesn’t fly much it’s like, “Whoa! Was that supposed to happen that way?”
I used to live in a remote location in California. To get there you had to fly over the mountains into the desert and then land at Midluhnowear Airport in one of those 20 passenger prop airplanes.
It was an okay route in the winter, but between June and September the heat waves coming up from the desert rolled up the mountains, Once you came over the top it was UP—down–uppupupupup-downdowndowndown–upupUP–down down–over and over again. It was controlled flight in that you could control direction and stay upright. Altitude–totally arbitrary.
I usually avoided flying out between June and September, but one August some doofus in Florida wanted me to fly rather than drive to Big City Airport because it saved the government .50 or something over me driving.
It was the worst flight I’ve ever been on (an I was once on a flight where we had an emergency landing, and I’ve flown SEL, and I’ve flow aerobatics). Up and down and up and down at the speed of light.
Finally the pilot put it down on the runway and we lifted up again, then down really firmly. When we got off, the lady in the seat in front of me grabbed the pilot and kissed him. When I got to the bottom of the ladder it was the first time I ever thought I could have sincerely kissed the ground.
In the late 1980’s on a flight from Detroit to Chicago the airplane hit something just after lift-off. The entire airplane was yanked to one side. Then the guy on that side said the engine was on fire. Sure enough - bits o’ engine, smoke…
That’s how the flight started.
Despite what you might suspect, the pilot did not turn around and go back to Detroit. No, he continued on to Chicago - following I-94 the whole way instead of the usual direct line across Lake Michigan. Over Lake and Porter counties in Indiana we were low enough I could read the freeway signs.
We landed at Midway, to the sound of fire trucks following us down the runway. This was 40 minutes later. The wouldn’t let us pull up to the terminal, we had to get off the airplane away from it and be transported the rest of the way.
Probably the most terrifying flight I’ve had.
There was one flight I was on where several people were removed in wheelchairs, more than a few were bleeding and I assume most were bruised.
Sudden drop in altitude. Those words “sudden drop in altitude” just don’t quite convey the reality though. Pure terror. I never understood the whole ‘keep your belt on mid-flight’ thing until that day. I did have my belt on, but loosened and the extensive bruising I had across my thighs and bum as a result means I always have it reasonably snug now. All those who didn’t have belts on hit the roof of the plane, hard. I’d guess that was about half the passengers, the flight attendants and included one unfortunate who has in the bathroom at the time.
Worst: I got to sit next to the fat lady who overflowed her seat. I had to scrunch into the window–which was cold–and hold my arm at such a weird angle that I had a shoulder-ache for days. She knew about it and was sorry and she was a nice lady, but it was still very unpleasant.
Scariest: Tie. A plane slid off the runway while taxiing. Everybody on my side of the plane could see this. There was a 45-minute delay while things were righted, people were taken off the plane, etc. No attention was paid to the runway. Then we headed right for it. For the same place. Where the previous plane had slipped off. Well, we made it, but it was nerve-wracking.
In-flight turbulence. My coffee cup suddenly jumped off my tray table straight up into the air and hovered there. Meanwhile, one of the flight attendants fell down. Immediately followed by announce that we were encountering some turbulence and please to keep seat belts fastened. Yeah, no kidding.
Honorable mention: Plane landed, then suddenly braked really sharply and then made an absolutely screeching left turn. Uh, I guess it would have been really bad to overshot that turn, hey? Anyway this elicited the “Contents in the overhead bins may have shifted, particularly after that landing” response from the flight attendant. But it was okay with me because at least we were on the ground when it happened.
My stuff is merely annoying compared with a lot of the experiences listed here.
Aborted landings, twice, two different flights.
Hitting another plane’s wake, twice, two different flights.
Hit by lightning, once that I saw and once that I suspected. Unpleasant but no further repercussions to the planes. Also two different flights.
Compass went out on a plane more than halfway to the destination, destination airport was unable to guide us in so had to turn around and return to departure airport.
Guy died on a plane in flight, plane diverted. I felt horrible for that guy. Crap way to die, in the aisle of a commercial plane. 
Bad turbulence several times but the worst was a milk run from Salt Lake City to Butte to Missoula to Helena. Up, down, up, down, all very short flights. The bit between Missoula and Helena, we hit very unexpected turbulence and the flight attendants went flying along with a few passengers. The violent shaking of the plane never stopped until we were practically on top of the runway. Fun times!
A non-stop once from LAX to Melbourne that was delayed on the tarmac due to a missing passenger who straggled in more than an hour after the departure time. If they’d found his luggage and put it off the plane before he showed up, he would have missed the flight. Wouldn’t you know, he was the smelliest person I’ve ever encountered and he sat directly in front of me. For sixteen hours. After that flight, I learned to bring a jar of Vicks VapoRub in my carry on luggage so I can smear some under my nose like they do for performing autopsies on decomposing bodies. His stench was truly horrendous.
I was once on a flight where, despite being firmly strapped in I still wound up with bruises across my hips and shoulders from the safety harness. Yeah, pretty bad stuff even if you know what’s going on and (allegedly) in control of the airplane.
I may have posted this before. Flying from London to NY (Kennedy) in 1968. Everything fine until we got over Kennedy - we circled forever until we needed to refuel. Went to Montreal. Sat on the tarmac, couldn’t leave the plane. After a long time, got refueled and back to Kennedy. Circled again, waiting for a runway. Finally landed, waited a while for the gate to open I spent 24 hours on that plane.
My sympathy to you all. Not fun, not in the least.
But for a bit of perspective:
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Wikipedia and http://www.aloha.net/~icarus/243a.jpg
I like boring flights. The more boring the better. But the last time we flew into Taipei, on our way back from New York three years ago, it was raining, and the plane shook like all get out. That was not fun at all.
Then last December 30, our domestic Thai AirAsia flight to Khon Kaen had to return to Bangkok due to a technical problem, a first for both the wife and me. The crew had heard some sort of noise, and since this was just a couple of days after that Indonesia AirAsia flight crashed into the sea, I guess they decided to err on the side of caution. But nothing out of order was found, so we took off again and made it. Just an hour or so flight.
Interesting only to me, probably. 20 years ago, flying into Salt Lake City, big old passenger airliner. Clear, sunny morning, temp in the 40’s.
Nice, smooth, mundane descent. I don’t think we were over the runway but must have been close- we were pretty low. WAG: 300 feet.
SUDDENLY we’re veering up and away, climbing at what felt like a 45° angle (but was undoubtedly not that steep), also “leaning” right about 45°. Other than the abrupt acceleration the event felt very smooth, and I doubt that anyone was scared; my reaction was more “WTF” or “Whoa, that’s interesting!” As we circled around for another attempt (which was normal) the pilot finally spoke up with “Sorry about that, we had a couple of items loose in the galley.” And that was it.
I’ve always wondered if the “loose item” was the real story. Felt to me as if they’d spotted a Volkswagen on the runway or something.
For airline flights, it was this one, with a lot of passengers becoming ill and passing out. After the third request for any medical personnel to identify themselves (and assist), I begin to wonder what was going on. I also wonder what would’ve been the reaction if this “sick flight” had happened after the Ebola scare, rather than before.
Ahh, TAAG Airlines. I remember it well. After years of using Sabena, Air France, and TAP the government purchased two pretty old 747’s and we rode on those to and from Paris. Many of the seats did not recline and the food was terrible, and this was business class. Passengers to and from the plane had to walk on the tarmac so bug spray and earplugs were essential. We also got to see the damage done by tail strikes. :eek:
As the camp was located an hour north of Luanda, we flew some F-50’s or 727’s that had definitely seen better days. In the late '90’s the Angolan government entered the Rep. of Congo civil war and set up operations at the Cabinda airport. Needless to say, the military planes had priority so often times we be would coming in for a landing and at the last moment, get waved off by the tower.
Chinese regional airline between two small cities, in a mountainous area on the edge of the Himelayas. We had a rough take off, and shortly after the plane started to dive and was clearly not in the control of the pilot.
Whoever I fly these regional flights, I always think to news articles on plane crashes where they say “there was one American on board” and you think to yourself “what was an American doing way out there.” All I could think was that was about to be me. “Well,” I thought, “I guess this is how this story ends. I wonder what it will feel like when we hit the ground. Oh god, this is gonna hurt.”
More distressing, Chinese people tend to giggle when they are nervous. So this whole falling plane was full of people tittering and guffawing. I’ve never reacted so strongly against another culture. I did not want to contemplate my last moments in the midst of a hundred people laughing in the face of death.
The pilot recovered, and I’m here to tell the tale.
The customary explanation when the crew doesn’t want to say they messed something up is “dog on the runway”. More usually the plane in front didn’t clear the runway in time and they’re required to go around.
I had that happen coming in on final approach to Hobby Airport in Houston. We were low, the gear was out, and we could see city lights out the windows that were mostly alongside us, not way below us.
Then all of a sudden we pitched up to what seemed to be about 30-45 degrees and the pilot gave us what I assume must have been full military throttle and squashed us back into our seats far more violently and forcefully than your average takeoff, and we heard the landing gear retract. We shot upward like we were shot out of a cannon for a couple of minutes, at which point, we leveled out and throttled back, and the pilot explained that ALL the landing lights at Hobby had gone out, and he decided to go around, and the ATC controllers had everyone circling until it was figured out.
So we did some lazy circles around Galveston Bay/Bolivar/Baytown for about 30 minutes and then landed without event.
I wasn’t ever scared though; at no point were we doing anything that wasn’t clearly under positive control by the pilots, and it wasn’t bumpy or anything.
In reading this thread, I realize anew just how lucky I’ve been in my air travel.
We always deployed overseas via charter aircraft. On one trip to Japan, we passed through Anchorage, which was my hometown, so I was very familiar with the airfield. As we got closer, it was obvious that the wind was going to be a problem. As the pilot dropped altitude, the crosswind became more problematic and the plane was all over the place. I looked out my side of the plane and all I could see were trees, which I knew wasn’t a good thing, and the plane lurched in that direction. The pilot suddenly went full throttle and for a short while it was a losing battle against gravity as the plane continued to drop. Eventually thrust won out and we went back up to circle around and try it again.
A hundred-plus supposedly tough military guys held their breath as the pilot crabbed the plane into a rough landing.
Yeah, when TAAG was flying that DC-8 I mentioned, they gave out meal vouchers at CDG, to be used before boarding. Drinks only once on board. For a scheduled 12-hour flight.
At the time, TAAG also had a L-1011 they used on regional flights. I watched that thing take off from Luanda one time while I was waiting for my flight out. A trail of fire erupted from the starboard engine just as it lifted off the runway: apparently the fuel was passing thought the engine unburned, igniting when it hit the open air. They just kept going to their destination.
Heh, I remember seeing several charter-line 727s every time I’d fly into Luanda, all of them with a thick coating of mud on the vertical stabilizer. Flying them into and out of wet dirt strips must have been…interesting.
The same thing happened to me three years ago.
It was really foggy that morning so we had absolutely no idea of how high we were exactly but we had been descending uneventfully for quite some time when, all of a sudden, we started going up very quickly. And noisily I might add.
I can’t say that I was really scared but definitely uncomfortable. I don’t fly very often, perhaps a couple of times a year and I’m always a bit nervous about it so this wasn’t exactly welcome.
The pilot said something like: “The conditions were not good. We’ll give it another try, no need to worry.” Yeah, speak for yourself.