Scary flights... tell us yours!

[ultraflight]

I think it would be interesting to read people's experiences about scary flights they have had in the past. I have a few that I will never forget and I will start off with one:

Summer 2006 I was flying from RTM (Rotterdam) to MAD (Madrid) with Transavia, I think it was a 737. Near MAD, it was evening by this time, we got into violent thunderstorms. I was sitting at the port over-wing emergency exit (I don't fit in low-cost airline standard seats, being 1.97 m. tall). Thundercracks were audible inside the plane and when we were getting lower on the final approach, lightning struck the wing I was looking at (keeping a wary eye on flap settings etc, just in case).
The airplane was lurching violently left and right, up and down.
I am aware that thunderstorms and lightning strikes are still perfectly within safety limits, but also one realizes that those limits are somewhat reduced in such circumstances and that landing in CAVOC conditions really must be a lot safer than this was.
Then I saw the runway.
One is not supposed to see the runway from where I was sitting, just moments before touch-down. It disappeared under the plane and violently re-appeared. Then I heard the engines revving up and I said "Go-around!" to my neighbour, who was staring at the back of the chair in front of him.
We climbed back into the turbulent skies and I prepared for another 15 minutes of shake, rattle and roll.
The captain came on and explained what had happened and promised that we would land soon and everything would be allright. Captains must have some kind of training, I think, in putting the passengers at ease. I'm sure he had clammy hand palms, but his voice was steady and convincing.
And: he was right! We did a quick circuit, without going into some holding pattern and landed, still bumpy, a couple of minutes later.
During roll-out, even the business travellers applauded their nerves away!
In the airport, I took a quick glass of whisky before boarding my connecting flight to XRY.

[C-FMWQ]

Any flight on AeroFlot where every one is drunk :smilewin:.

Nehal

[AA 1818]

A few summers ago, I used to have non-rev privileges on AIrTran. I used to fly from ATL (at the time, home) to FLL to see family almost every weekend. At the time, AirTran was only recently receiving their 737s and those aircraft were quickly being employed on the long-haul premium routes (IIRC there were only a couple in the fleet).

The ATL-FLL route was such a profit maker for FL, and while they added more flights (with 717s), they simply needed added capacity. In order to make it work, they actually wet-leased Miami Air International 737-800 to do the route. I loved 717s, but one day I was so stoked that I hopped onto one of the later departure to travel on the Miami Air flight.

We took off a bit later than scheduled (bad weather at FLL delayed us) in the mid afternoon and the flight was perfect. ATL was just recieving a rainstorm and the 737 rocketed through the dark skies to such a beautiful one at cruising altitude. The cabin flooded with light, and as we raced above the storms, it was such a magnificent sojourn.

It was about an hour into the flight that I looked out of the window and noticed the sun dazzling us by beating down upon and reflecting off of the ocean, but as we looked further I noticed that the coast was on the wrong side of the airplane. There was little development on the coast, and as clouds peppered the sky, we could see to the water, it having a more 'brown' tone to it that the deep flue hue to which I was accustomed. We descended further and further as the captain gave us breathtaking views of the coast over and over (we were circling over RSW - which was our alternate).

The flight attendants joked that they simply had to get home - one in particular was angry because she thought that she was going to miss her Samba class, it just seemed all too routine for her. It was nothing. Anyone in Ft.Lauderdale during the summer knows about the spectacular weather. Quite suddenly, the pilot broke our familiar circles and made into the landmass. We climbed further - dancing in the levels of clouds between light and dark. At moments, it seemed that we would climb momentarily to the sunlight just to escape the rocking and swaying of the aircraft and the droning of the engines.

We emerged onto the east coast seemingly disoriented, somewhere between the metropolises of Miami and Ft.Lauderdale. It was to impressive to see us - seemingly alone - the highways almost motionless - as if all had taken cover. We veered in over the coast - almost whipping onto the approach path, each second seemingly clinging to this straight approach, engines ripping into the air to keep us on course, screaming against the tempest.

The cabin stayed in a constant state of motion - each seat creaking, each moment passing like hours, each shake - each drop, each flicker of the lights made passengers more and more nervous. The lady that was sitting across the aisle sat silently, her head up, her hand grasping the handrests. She seemed to mutter at every drop of the aircraft. The flight attendants were searching for familiar sight among the landscape. Quickly, as we broke the clouds and escaped a loud gasp. The ports were right blow us - but all to close. The engines screamed, and as we powered forward, there was a huge shake across the cabin. It awoke screams, allowing them to escape from the sealed mouths of the passengers around me. The aircraft rocked to the left, and then quickly to the right. The engines seemed almost silent, and then all at once, defeaning silence and unbearable motionlessness. We seemed frozen - in the clouds, in the gray. I heard the gear drop a few minutes prior, and I felt it, but then all at once, one huge bang. A massive thud signaled that we had made contact with FLL. The engines roareds, as was expected. We made it.

Then, quite suddenly they continued their orchestra - we didn't stop. The cabin rocketed backwards, and instantly we were launched into the skies. I shot a look backwards - the ground ever so quickly retreating, and the flight attendant quickly shot her attention to the window. A few minutes later, we made a deep turn to the north west. As we sailed over the Everglades, we noticed that we weren't alone. Below us shot past an AA 757, seemingly escaping to Miami. We made our way back into FLL, this attempt with much more cooperation of the ceiling above us. On approach, it was nothing but interesting to see how people were preparing for this as well.

It seemed as if they were preparing for the unknown. Each person took a position that gave the illusion to petrify them in their seats. The plane groaned as we made our way in. Like a Balinese dancer - we knew our destination, but we glided and yet powered through turns dancing as the pilot hoped to correct the winds, we made our way in ever so gracefully as we battled the winds and the rain that peeled across our airframe. The rain hit across our windows as needles made of lead, each seeming hoping to plunder into the cabin.

All at once, we slammed onto the tarmac. As we bounced back into the sky, we made a more concerted effort to grab the earth. Our beasts' talons ripping into the surafce, we skidded along the runway, and then the pilot was satisfied - pushing the limits of the tired aircraft to halt us. We all felt the seat belts tighten, and we all empathized with the aircraft as she groaned against inertia. In a few moments, we sulked away to our taxiway. We were met unusually early by a tug and as we were towed to the gate, and as the crew released themselves to a cabin of passengers that seemed glued to their positions, we stayed silent.

As we approached the gate, it was the most queer of moments - I had done this hundreds of times before - by now, people would be crowding the aisles. The plane had certainly stopped. The gate was inching closer, and yet all remained petrified, some briefly allowing the emotion and the life to return to their faces. The crew seemed silent, but white, and gracious. In that moment, as the engines began their respite, a part of me was drawn to 'eerieness' by the silence. We were slammed back to life by the
overhead announcement heralding our arrival. Almost instinctually we disembarked.

[brissypete]

AA 1818 that definately sounds rather scary, very well written too.

Peter

[ultraflight]

Quite a story AA 1818!

OK I have another one, a bit scary but mainly IMPRESSIVE:

In 1986 I flew from Islamabad in Pakistan to Skardu up in the Karakorum mountains. The plane was a normal airliner such as a 737, but I'm not sure of the type. The company was PIA.

The first try was abandoned after maybe 35 minutes and we flew back to our starting point, because there was not enough visibility to fly into Skardu.
A few hours later we boarded again and now, after half an hour, with Nanga Parbat - 8,126 metres (26,660 ft) - on our right, we plunged down and after a while started twisting and turning, well below the surrounding peaks, following the Indus river. Above us the sky was overcast. My understanding is that the pilot spotted the river and knew that from where we were, he could reach Skardu flying really low, following the river.

Rock faces and buttresses flew past the window and the wings almost seemed to touch the ridges sticking out into the river (probably had more space than I thought). Alternatively we saw the sky or looked almost straight down as the plane wove its way North.
Nobody on board seemed particularly upset, so I assumed it was the normal way to approach Skardu. The roller-coaster lasted about 10 minutes, then we passed the airstrip at Skardu, turned around and landed in the opposite direction that we came from.

Just another scheduled flight, but good grief, I was high as a kite when I came off that plane, fantastic!!

Interesting detail: on the flight out, back to Islamabad, a few days later, the stewardess was checking all passengers before we went on board. The guy in front of me carried a revolver and had to take the cartridges out and put them in his pocket. Just to make sure. :nod:

[ZK-TUI]

okay,
I live in Wellington, New Zealand.

We aren't known for the best of weather. (Most days it will be turbulent to an extent). Anyway I have had many occasions of landing in bad weather.
Not too long ago I was in an Air NZ 737-300 and as usual is was bumpy. Now as we came in the pilot flared but the plane didn't seem to want to land so the spoilers were bought up early thus resulting in a slightly bumpy landing (but then again 737's aren't the best at gliding to the ground). When parked at the gate, you could feel the plane jerking around in the wind. I went into the cockpit after wards and noted the landing. The captain said (as a joke) "we closed our eyes".

The latest time was arriving in on a DHC-8-300. The plane was rocketing around and my friend said to me "I was only feeling safe because you weren't scared" I went into the cockpit (again) after wards and the cockpit was just bumping up and down like a trampoline (well maybe not to that extent but it was bouncing a considerable amount).

Another experience was on an Air New Zealand A320. The captain made some announcement before take-off. Something about shallow...climb...don't...worry. (I pieced it together after wards). Anyway we took off from 34R and I noticed the plane wasn't climbing very steeply. What really got me though was that when we turned, for a heart stopping second I thought that the plane was falling. From my peering out the window angle combined with the low angle of climb it looked as if we were just falling and I came close to putting a meaty package in my pants (so to speak). I guess not that scary but from my point of view it was!

Watch this weather for some true "Wellington Weather.":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_LaAkAyoz0

BTW, this weather is very common (today it's been very sunny with a 30min hail storm in between).

[RingwaySam]

Back in 2001 me and my family were at Sanford waiting for our flight home to Manchester via Cardiff on an Airtours DC10. The departure was delayed due to the incoming aircraft diverting to Canada en-route to Sanford. The Atlantic crossing was uneventful.

After spending 2 hours on the ground in Cardiff due to a problem re-fuelling the aircraft we finally departed. Unfortunately, by the time we had finally departed the winds were strong and there were huge storms around. With the flight being so short (approx 30-40 minutes, only around 10 minutes cruise time coming in on the STAR) we couldn't go to high. If I remember we flew the whole route at FL160 - Just after departure the aircraft was already being rocked around, everybody looked calm although a few were already holding on.

We then reached our cruise altitude and things started to get nasty. The turbulence was pretty unreal with the aircraft being constantly shunted around - The sick bags were out for alot of the people. We then hit CAT and the turbulence became more intense. There was no word from the Pilots and the Cabin Crew looked petrified! - Not too scary for regular travellers but it was certainly very scary at the time.

Also, landing in Corfu on a dark cloudy night isn't too nice.

[T.O.G.A.]

Back in '87, non revving on American Airline 727 into LGA. The weather was the worst I have ever seen and couldn't believe the flight wasn't diverterted. Pilot made two failed landing attempts and the aircraft was like a see-saw each time pitching and rolling 40 degress each way.

Captain said he was going to make a final attempt because all the airports in the area were under the same weather and we would have to divert to Boston, whose weather wasn't much better but fuel was limited.

The third attempt was successful and extremely hard! He planted that sucker on the runway. He was at the door while we departed (only about 20 passengers) and he was soaked with sweat. I could see right through his shirt! He looked as if he took a shower.

I went right to work for my airline at LGA and was doing a layover check in the cockpit listening to ATIS say we were under a "triple windshear alert" Never heard that description before or since!

[a78jumper]

Four attempts to land in fog at CFB Lahr (LHA) en rte from LGW in a C130 Hercules New Years' Eve 1988. Pilot was classmate of mine from RMC, the 707 that departed ahead of us diverted to Stuttgart. People were barfing, kids screaming, I kept passing ou pages from my London times....

Departing TelAviv on a Cyrpus Airways BAC 111, plane was struck by lightning-I thought it was a SAM. Dropped about 1000 feet.

Any flight I took with (SC)Ariana Airlines, epsecially the last one in a 727-228ADV that had seen better days. Their Airbus 300B4s were not in much better shape, Air India rejects.

Azerbijan Airlines Tu154, baldest tires I ever have seen. 4 onz serving of vodka helped (a little)

AC 320 that took off from YYZ and then we were told we had to land immediately (we did so heavy).

The first jump outta a Herc. The one at night was even worse,

[JordanD]

The time my instructor got out of the 172 and told me to take it around the pattern alone before I even knew how to drive a car. I remember laughing nervously during the entire taxi out to the runway. Not really scary, but for a second I kinda thought "what the hell did I get myself into?" :grin:
The only other time I was a little on edge was on a cross country with my CFI from LEX to JVY then on back to LOU. JVY is 9nm across the river from LOU so we stop there since the fuel is often about a dollar cheaper per gallon. The clouds were getting a little darker. About 15 miles out from JVY I was fiddling with something on the panel and I saw a bright white streak out to the right a few miles away. I looked up at my CFI with a kind of "Did I actually see that?" look on my face. He had this sort of smirk on his face. I was a 15 year old with probably barely a full day in the air. If I remember right we were on with LOU tower since we were gonna transition through their airspace to get to JVY. I remember them saying "Cessna 867, there's level 3 and 4 thunderstorms above JVY, are you still going to be going there?" or something to that effect. I couldn't key the mic and says "No that's alright we'll be coming back into Bowman" fast enough. Then we had to do a 360 on final for traffic. I just wanted to get the hell on the ground.
Not really all that scary, but I was pretty green back then so it got my heart pumping a little faster. Another reason I sort of hate flying in summer in the south. Those storms pop up out of nowhere sometimes. Sometimes I'm a bit "overcautious" about it, canceling cross-countries if there's even an impossible chance of a small storm popping up. But oh well, I stay within my comfort zone.

[Cam]

"Sir please calm down, you are scaring the Boy Scouts"

[Crunk415balla]

They have a right to be scared!

[ultraflight]

Great post JordanD (http://forums.jetphotos.net/member.php?u=2853) thanks!
I remember flying out (passenger) of a small field near Atlanta in a Cessna, just before the Olympics, to photograph the venues when upon return in worsening weather (yeah, summer in the South) I looked out of my window to the right and saw just below us a twin engine come out of a cloud and pass maybe 150 ft below us. I saw the pilot's face look up at us. I asked my pilot over the intercom: did you see that plane? "What plane?" was his answer. Actually it wasn't scary, no time for that. Scary is when you can think about it. :razz:

[screaming_emu]

I went into the cockpit after wards and noted the landing. The captain said (as a joke) "we closed our eyes".

Where do you work? I'll be sure to stop by and criticize your work if I'm ever nearby :-P