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The Worst Flight You've Ever Had?


Digger

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This thread is prompted by comments Milo made in another topic.

 

I've done a fair bit of flying in my time, mostly for business and as I get older I seem to be getting more nervous of getting on a plane. I used to love it!

 

However, back on topic.

 

I used to go to Tasmania about 5 times a year and as a small airport was right near our office I used to take a small plane down there rather than drive an hour and a half through traffic to Melbourne airport if I was just going to Tassie. I can remember leaving Launceston airport coming home one night and climbing to about 4000 feet which quite often was the height we flew in these small turbo prop passenger planes that held a maximum of 20 people. As we started to head north across Bass Strait we entered a violent storm system, as you often do in that turbulent area of water, and although I'd been in storms while flying, this was like nothing I'd encountered before! This aircraft was incapable of flying around it or above it so we flew through the middle

 

The usual air pockets don't worry me too much but this flight took things to wild extremes. gut wrenching drops, over and over, and yes the wings on this small plane were bending like mad and shuddering, surrounded by lightning and wondering what the effects of a hit would be? The plane was shuddering and twisting and all we could see was the flames coming out behind the engines in the driving rain. Let me tell you going down in Bass Strait in a storm did not hold a high probability of survival. I took a book to read and didn't open it, in fact I was holding it so hard that I expected to see inch deep indentations in the cover when we finally reached the airport, and reach the airport we finally did!

 

That was an hour and a half of sheer terror and when we finally touched down the entire plane erupted in a long series of cheers of relief!

 

As a footnote I'd bought a Canadian Maul (block splitter) from one of my dealers and carried it uncovered onto the plane, I carried it beside me on the floor! Nobody challenged me or said anything.

 

My how times have changed!

 

Anybody else have a flying "horror story"?

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Nothing like your horror story, but worst flight I've had was going from California to Hawaii crammed between my fat boss and even fatter coworker. For some reason we were taxiing around the airport for hours, so probably about 10 hours on the plane total (nothing compared to some flights, but a very uncomfortable time nonetheless).

 

I'm one of those people that can't fall asleep on the plane while everyone is snoring around me

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Rob...

 

I've never had one that bad. Not even close... Still, a tale or two...

 

One approach to Chicago on an old Convair 2-piston engine "airliner," the pilot said they were only going to have one shot at landing because of heavy icing on the wings, but except for concern that at the time we were somewhere over Lake Michigan, it wasn't so bad.

 

Again, some bounces on various flights, a time through a thunderstorm with what appeared to be smoke coming in through the air vents, that landing in Seoul, and a takeoff at Dallas where I swear the right wing was no more than three meters above the runway in a crosswind... flying in a single-engine Cessna at 10,000 feet when the pilot told me to take the controls because he hadda get in the back seats to relieve himself (I have no pilot training at all, regardless that I know the theory of what the controls do; as if that'd help) as wings on both sides were hitting the edge clouds between 30,000 plus feet of twin thunderstorms...

 

Landing in North Carolina en route to train some Marines, I was with a gunnery sergeant who'd lost 3 helicopters under him. He figured he was bad luck. So as we came in to land, the pilot hadda pour on the gas at the last seconds to lift us well up to miss another plane on the runway. I was okay, but I think Gunny put some indentations into the aluminum of the seat rests.

 

I'll still prefer those and a few others to your tale. Nothing in the same class although a couple of trips on various sorts of flying machines had me concerned. Like knowing 8-inch howitzer shells were flying over the bubble-front helicopter I was in taking pix of 155 mm. howitzers. <grin> I figured that wasn't likely to hurt much, anyway.

 

But riding through a big thunderstorm as your trip? Nope and no thanks.

 

m

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Nothing as scary as Digger's. I used to fly with my boss who piloted a small, single engine plane. Once, I was sitting in the back, but could see through the cockpit out in front of the plane. I woke from a nap to see the ground coming up fast. We were in a straight dive, and it scared the bejesus out of me. As we pulled out of it, my boss looked back at me from the cockpit with a big grin... the little bastid!

 

Flying into Morristown, NJ, there was a rough cross wind as we were landing. The plane was at a 45 degree angle to the runway during the approach, but straightened out just before we touched down. Textbook landing. I was white knuckling it the whole time.

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Not much which was really bad. On a commercial flight from Melbourne to Canberra, the weather conditions were so rough the pilot cancelled all cabin service and everyone was told to keep seat-belts fastened and not to move from their seats. I'm mean, really! Cancelling cabin service. Outrageous. A strong letter to the airlines CEO was in order.

 

The only other incident was when I was flying a sailplane. At about 8,000 feet thermalling under the bell of the cloud above and some smartarse military pilot in a Caribou decided it would be fun to buzz me. He definitely saw me as I could see him grinning stupidly out of the side of his cockpit window. Pratt.

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Not much which was really bad. On a commercial flight from Melbourne to Canberra, the weather conditions were so rough the pilot cancelled all cabin service and everyone was told to keep seat-belts fastened and not to move from their seats. I'm mean, really! Cancelling cabin service. Outrageous. A strong letter to the airlines CEO was in order.

 

The only other incident was when I was flying a sailplane. At about 8,000 feet thermalling under the bell of the cloud above and some smartarse military pilot in a Caribou decided it would be fun to buzz me. He definitely saw me as I could see him grinning stupidly out of the side of his cockpit window. Pratt.

They cancel cabin service in turbulence for the safety of the stewardesses. What happens is the plane goes down and they hit their head on the ceiling and break their neck

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Queenstown to Christchurch, New Zealand, 2005. The 737 was thrown around like a kids toy. Talk about white knuckle flying. At one point the flight attendants started to try to do the service and the caption phoned to the head one for them to take their seats. One ran down the aisle with a scared look on her face. I'm not sure what the captain said.

 

The guy next to me, an ex flight surgeon and a friend of mine, was trying to distract me so I wouldn't be scared. I looked at him and said ,"I just can't talk right now" and I turned away. He started laughing. [biggrin]

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I'v only flown twice, or 4 times if you count there and back.

 

So I don't have a "worst flight" story, but.....

 

I flew Pan-Am to and from the USA in early 1980.

On the way out I was in a 747 which was named on the side of the cabin; "Clipper Maid Of The Seas."

I remember turning round and reading this as we all disembarked.

 

The next time I saw the name it was lying on its side in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland. Just the cabin section.

 

I think thousands, maybe as many as a million passengers, flew on that airplane during its working life.

 

I will never never forget that, as long as I am blessed to live.

 

Best wishes to all.

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Worst flight I was ever on was from Chattanooga Tennessee to Charlotte NC. I had my wife, daughter and mother flying with me and to make matters worse Mom had a fractured ankle and was wearing a boot.

We flew the whole way in a severe thunderstorm buffeted around the entire way. It was so bad that the flight attendants remained strapped into their seats the whole trip. I had a clear view of the female one and I could see she had her eyes closed and looked to be praying. I pointed this out to my wife who told me she was praying too.

When we finally touched down on solid ground the flight attendant shouted out "THANK YOU JESUS!!". The entire plane erupted into applause. Certainly the worst flight I ever experienced.

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I'v only flown twice, or 4 times if you count there and back.

 

So I don't have a "worst flight" story, but.....

 

I flew Pan-Am to and from the USA in early 1980.

On the way out I was in a 747 which was named on the side of the cabin; "Clipper Maid Of The Seas."

I remember turning round and reading this as we all disembarked.

 

The next time I saw the name it was lying on its side in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland. Just the cabin section.

 

I think thousands, maybe as many as a million passengers, flew on that airplane during its working life.

 

I will never never forget that, as long as I am blessed to live.

 

Best wishes to all.

 

 

Moral of the story, don't fly over Scotland....it's dangerous, ask the Romans!

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I'll make a long story REALLY short. Just after takeoff in a small Cessna, the pilot spoke these words; "hold on boys, we're going in!"

 

Pilot was able to put the plane down, UPRIGHT, in a soy bean field. The worst part was having to push the plane out of the beans.

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I'll make a long story REALLY short. Just after takeoff in a small Cessna, the pilot spoke these words; "hold on boys, we're going in!"

 

Pilot was able to put the plane down, UPRIGHT, in a soy bean field. The worst part was having to push the plane out of the beans.

 

After which the pilot declared the outcome was due to his magnificent flying and superb skill and insisted he be carried out of the field on a litter borne by four naked, nubile maidens all the while having rose petals spread before him. Maybe.

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Naked nubile maidens has a ring to it~

 

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[#103128] The administrator has limited the number of new posts you can submit within a short time frame. Please wait 90 seconds before replying or posting a new topic.

 

 

The above is giving me the "Jimmy Britts" ATM coming up everytime I go to post!

 

Think I'll give this place a miss while this is happening...off to other forums that actually work.

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Naked nubile maidens has a ring to it~

 

An Error Occurred

Sorry, an error occurred. If you are unsure on how to use a feature, or don't know why you got this error message, try looking through the help files for more information.

 

[#103128] The administrator has limited the number of new posts you can submit within a short time frame. Please wait 90 seconds before replying or posting a new topic.

 

 

The above is giving me the "Jimmy Britts" ATM coming up everytime I go to post!

 

Think I'll give this place a miss while this is happening...off to other forums that actually work.

 

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/132113-something-funny-is-going-on-here/page__pid__1813132#entry1813132

 

See my post of 18 November. So it's out to 90 seconds now?

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I traveled a lot on business before I retired and had a few adventures, but I would have to say the worst was in late 1990. I had to escort a prisoner from New Orleans to Houston and would return with the prisoner to New Orleans the following day. I had a torn meniscus in my left knee and was awaiting surgery ( my first of 4 over the years). A one hour flight so it should have been a cakewalk. However, as we made our approach into Houston Intercontinental Airport, a severe storm rolled in, causing us to circle the airport for about an hour and a half, bouncing around in the horrific turbulence, before we could land. My prisoner, someone who was definitely not used to flying, was engaged in some very intense praying and I was becoming rather queasy and my knee was throbbing. Fortunately, we ended up landing without incident and the return trip to New Orleans was uneventful.

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I've been on lots of commercial jets and nothing bad others then some small bumps here or there. Went through a storm once but they flew around it mostly. I've been in a small Cessna which the pilot being someone I knew just got his license and he was bragging about how great he was with the landings. So smooth he and his brother claimed I wouldn't feel a thing. He landed in Sioux Falls and it felt like the bottom dropped out and I bounced off my seat almost hitting my head on the roof. Then I got another same landing back in Nebraska on the return flight. Worst pilot I've seen. It was like he got 12 feet above the runway and killed the engine to drop on the runway. Then I got off a commercial jet in Salt Lake City and the Railroad had a military style airplane arranged for us to fly into Pocatello's airport and that was my worst flight. It was a four prop engines and the noisiest most uncomfortable plane I've been on with lots of air pockets, up and downs. So glad to get off that thing. We should have gotten ear plugs and ear muffs for the flight. Then I had a return flight on that same plane after a week. But the scariest flight I've ever had was in a helicopter with my dumb brother in law. He was bragging to the pilot about his Vietnam days as a gunner by the open door. I sat between the pilot and my brother in law and we had seat belt lap belts around our waist. No doors on the chopper. The pilot was trying to throw a scare into Mike with all types of maneuvers going side ways, tilting it at angles, steep ups and downs. The only thing Mike did was hung on for dear life while I hung on to both of them. Figured if I was going to fall out I was taking them both with me!msp_scared.gif

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My worst flight was not due to the plane, but due to a horrible sinus infection on a long flight. I felt like I was getting sick before leaving for Italy last April, so I went to the doctor and got antibiotics just in case. After I arrived in Rome, I started coughing up stuff that resembled lemon Jell-O. This continued for 10 days, after my sister convinced me that the particular antibiotic I was prescribed had horrible side effects and would ruin my trip. I didn't take them.

 

On the return flight, I started feeling a horrible pressure in my head and oozing snot nonstop. It was absolutely horrible, lasting the entire 10 hour flight. I didn't sleep at all and just sat there oozing into a wad of tissues with my head down the whole time. I felt like my sinuses were just going to explode at some point in a bloody scene worthy of a horror movie. I got home and started on the antibiotics. No side effects whatsoever and I was fine in 2 days! [mad]

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Me and my wife were on a commercial flight once from San Diego to Charlotte and we got hit by lightning. Then on the puddle-jumper from Charlotte to Tennessee it was super bumpy and the Dash 8 we were flying on took a dive for like 5 seconds and everybody was screaming. I used to have a pilot's license and I rented this little Cessna 150 and one day I flew into Westerly, RI and the winds were 35 mph gusting to 50 and we landed only going like 10 MPH ground speed. That was cool. One time I flew a guy to Nantucket and it was dark on the way back and the dashboard light went out and I had to land using a flashlight in one hand (flying's a two handed job).

 

My dad used to fly and he was like the worst pilot I ever flew with. He had one of those planes like JFK Jr. had that he crashed. A Piper Saratoga. Those are a lot of plane for a pleasure flyer. He was instrument rated and I think he had a commercial license. But those planes are pretty tough to fly. We flew somewhere and it was so bumpy I hit my head on the ceiling. He eventually stopped flying when he crashed during his biennial flight review - with the test administrator on board. Way to go, Dad!

 

I wouldn't fly if you paid me. [thumbdn]

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Many years ago, flew into Detroit in a DC-9, landed at midnight during a terrible snow and ice storm, just as we were about to touch down a strong crosswind lifted the left side of the jet, the pilot slammed it down on the runway so hard it blew out tires on the right side. That was a rough one.The other scary flight happened while we were on the tarmac, we had a lay over of about 45 min. in Phoenix, while we sat there a fueling truck approached and started fueling our aircraft, then I hear the fire trucks sirens whaling, I said to the person next to me, "oh look, someone's in trouble " then sat there dumbstruck as the trucks surrounded our aircraft and started hosing us down! The fueling team had spilled lots of jet fuel on and around our plane. That was a bit unnerving.

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I'm a retired airline pilot got my private license at 16 and flying ever since and after 49 plus years left the industry with with over 34000 hours of flying and I have had a few bumpy flights over the years , crashed once when I was a young Flight instructor with a student, totaled the single engine Beachcraft knocked all the landing gear off, THAT was a hard landing [cursing] .

Flew fixed wing and helos for US Customs chasing smugglers in the middle eighties lots of scary flights that had nothing to do with weather. Retired from a major Airline as a Captain having flown Domestic and international wide body aircraft I can say the rough weather flights are not pleasant for any one on board any aircraft.The atmosphere is like the ocean some days it's smooth and some days it's rough but I can say I've had more smooth days then rough.

Now in my day job I train mostly new airline pilots in level d simulators and have multiple emergency flights every day! But I must say these pilots are trained to very high standards of safety and competencey not all pass these rigorous programs.

For you nervous flyers out there remember being safe is a pilots mantra and they know they will be the first to arrive at "the" accident scene.

I was once told by an old sage instructor at my airline "You are professionals trained to deal with three things that will kill you: gravity, combustion and inertia. Keep them under control and you will die in bed."

It's not an easy thing for passengers to relinquish control and trust some stranger to keep them safe. I for one appreciated that trust given to me over the years.

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1479906768[/url]' post='1814290']

I'm a retired airline pilot got my private license at 16 and flying ever since and after 49 plus years left the industry with with over 34000 hours of flying and I have had a few bumpy flights over the years , crashed once when I was a young Flight instructor with a student, totaled the single engine Beachcraft knocked all the landing gear off, THAT was a hard landing [cursing] .

Flew fixed wing and helos for US Customs chasing smugglers in the middle eighties lots of scary flights that had nothing to do with weather. Retired from a major Airline as a Captain having flown Domestic and international wide body aircraft I can say the rough weather flights are not pleasant for any one on board any aircraft.The atmosphere is like the ocean some days it's smooth and some days it's rough but I can say I've had more smooth days then rough.

Now in my day job I train mostly new airline pilots in level d simulators and have multiple emergency flights every day! But I must say these pilots are trained to very high standards of safety and competencey not all pass these rigorous programs.

For you nervous flyers out there remember being safe is a pilots mantra and they know they will be the first to arrive at "the" accident scene.

I was once told by an old sage instructor at my airline "You are professionals trained to deal with three things that will kill you: gravity, combustion and inertia. Keep them under control and you will die in bed."

It's not an easy thing for passengers to relinquish control and trust some stranger to keep them safe. I for one appreciated that trust given to me over the years.

 

I bet you have some good stories. Relinquishing control is a good point, my neighbor retired from the Air Force in 1975 after 25 years flying reconnaissance aircraft, during the Korean War and the Vietnam War, in between the wars he transitioned to heavy bombers, B-47s then B52s, which he hated. After 374 combat missions during the two wars and his years in big birds, he still get airsick if he flys commercial!

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