PeachAir From United States, joined Dec 2000, 286 posts, RR: 3 Posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 839 times:
How may flights have you been on, where the weather or turbulence was so bad that you thought: "Am I going to Die?" Have you ever been on a flight where there was a "close call"? Your thoughts:
Cwldude From United Kingdom (Wales), joined May 2006, 691 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 817 times:
Wasn't turbulence, but back in 2002, flight BY482A from CWL to PMI, aircraft G-BRIG B767-200... we taxiied to the runway, turned around and went right back to the terminal. The pilot announced there was a problem with the engine and we had to get a technician to look at it.
They left us on the plane whilst he fixed it, 40 minutes later it started up again, then stopped again, then he announced that it would be another 10 minutes as there was a further minor problem and he needed the technician to actually start the engine from the outside??
By this time I was panicking so badly I'd thrown up! (bare in mind I was only 14, and had my m8 sitting next to me saying "it's a bit like final destination isn't it?")... anyway, he then said we were gonna be on our way, and that the technician was coming along too incase there were any further problems, (what he was going to do at 32,000ft is beyond me!)...
Taxiied to the runway and started powering up the runway, went past the terminal (by which time in past experiences we'd been lifting off)... I was genuinely thinking we weren't going to make it, then the plane powered off and we got there okay! (with a few flashes of the lights and stuff randomly along the way which sent a shiver through me!).
Overall a very very poor experience with Britannia! Glad they've improved now
Thomson Airways - The UKs premier charter airline // now flown : BY -AA -AJ -AE -AT; OO -AX -AU -RA -BG; BRIG; OBYD
TransWorldSTL From United States, joined Mar 2006, 568 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 817 times:
Once, on a TW flight STL - PHX, we went through some nasty storms about mid-way through the flight, and hit some pretty bad airpockets that sent people/luggage flying. I watched the wing flex so much I thought it might snap off (obviously unlikely, but still scary)... This happend most of the rest of the flight, and by the time we hit Arizona, things cleared up. I thought we were out of the woods, but it so happens it was Monsoon season in Arizona, so we spent over an hour circling PHX while we were pelted with dirty rain and crazy looking lightning.. I've never felt so happy to be back on the ground again...
RoseFlyer From United States, joined Feb 2004, 5633 posts, RR: 27 Reply 3, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 814 times:
I've never been in that situation on a commercial flight, but I did take a sight seeing flight over Milford Sound on the South Island of New Zealand. I'm a private pilot myself and am very risk averse, and the pilot was being way riskier than I ever thought he should. We were clearing mountains within a few hundred feet and there was quite a bit of turbulence, and cloud layer at level of the mountain peaks. If there had been any engine problem whatsoever in that plane, we'd be dead. I was scared myself.
My job is to make it so your flight is not delayed. Come fly the friendly skies!
Alaska737 From United States, joined Feb 2006, 968 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 811 times:
A few flights into Dutch Harbor and Kodiak in terrible storms. a certian Convair 580 flight that i wont go into detail about. one AS 737-200 flight where we had so much tail wind that the pilot came on and told us we were going 780MPH!!!!!!!!!! i dont know what type of airspeed he was going by but hey i have been over the sound barrier. and one AS MD-80 flight about 3 weeks before Flt. 261, i just felt like we were going to crash for no reason and i had never felt this way before, scary thing was it was N963AS
JetAv8r From United States, joined Jul 2004, 284 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 799 times:
An engine failure over the Serria Madres in a single engine Comanche raised the hair on my neck. I remember looking at the unhabital terrain in the area and thinking "well, we're dead" I didn't panic, but I basically figured we were out of options. Luckily my friend in the right seat managed to pick out a small gravel strip on the top of one of the mountains. We just barely made it! Sadly there have been plenty of other ones dealing with thunderstorms, icing, and other problems, but none were quite as scary as the Comanche incident!
Alex.
P.S. The failure occured do to fuel contamination. In the Comanche the only fuel sump is past the fuel selector. We were ferrying the aircraft from the East Coast to the West Coast. It had been sitting for a year (unknown to us) and quite a bit of dirt and sand had made its way into the fuel tanks. The dirt and sand filled up the fuel selector until it was completely full and no longer allowed gas to pass through the fuel selector. Atleast that is how it was explained to me, I may not have the explination 100% correct.
PanAm747 From United States, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 11 Reply 7, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 743 times:
I had a turbulence-on-landing experience that fits this category...
In June of 2005 I was flying with my father SAN-PHX-MSP. After a brief delay at PHX in taking off (some guy left his brand new Dodge truck running at a mini-mart, leading to it being stolen, and the ensuing high speed chase led to the the thief crashing through the perimeter fence at PHX, with a resulting ground delay), we had a very nice flight to MSP.
Until we arrived - thunderstorms had been blowing through all day, and the wind was blowing perpendicular to the runways. We made a left turn to align with runway 30R, and started to descend....
And then the winds kicked in. We started crabbing - rocking back and forth. I didn't think it was bad, because I figured if it got too bad, the pilot would abort the landing and we'd go around.
However, as we got lower and lower, the crabbing got worse and worse...until there was a point I realized, "we're NOT going around - he's actually going to try and land!!"
We hit with the left landing, and bounced up...then we hit with the right landing gear, and bounced up...then the left, then the right...then all together...then the front landing gear...then FULL braking and thrust reversing.
The landing was so rough, I honestly thought the plane was going to break apart. I remember thinking, "okay, I am two rows in front of the rear exit...when the plane comes to a stop, figure out if the quickest exit will be the break in the plane (because I was sure we were going to rip apart) or the rear exit!".
As we FINALLY slowed down and all of us passengers realized we weren't going to splattered all over the runway, we pulled our eyes back into our heads (even Roger Rabbit's go back in after a few seconds!), and heard the pilot announce, "yeah, folks, we're going to be doing paperwork all day on that landing!!" He and the co-pilot both were on-hand to say good-bye to the passengers, which I thought was a nice thing to do.
They did an amazing job considering the circumstances, but even a seasoned traveller like myself really thought, "this could be the end!!".
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
Oakjam From United States, joined Jun 2005, 182 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 692 times:
My morning flight on Monday 25, 2004 from FL#94 OAK-JFK on Jetblue(B6), we had a bird-strike and hit a flock of birds then this huge flame came out of the engine as we were ascending from the OAK runway. We left the ground and it felt like the tail of the plane scraped the runway at the same time that the huge flame coming outside of the right engine with a loud boom on the way up.
We circled and turned back to OAK with the smell of fumes in the cabin. We landed safely as an emergency landing, then the engine was to be replaced. Once the aircraft mechanic saw the plane, it was put out of service and everyone was put on the plane leaving at 9am. I went home and was scared to get on an airplane again. Situation was never explained well by Jetblue, they brushed it off. A hand full of passenger were really scared.
MRURUN From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2006, 155 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 646 times:
Long time ago EI DUB-GWY S360, on a VERY windy January day, had three attempts at landing including when he finally brought it down with such a clatter and such a flex of those wings!!
EI (again, LOoooong time ago!) BOS-SNN-DUB, tale end of Hurricane Charlie, which caused a lot of damage in Southern England. Very bad landing, understandably, with quite an, ahem, excitable bounce (747-100). Got into the terminal in DUB, where I met my sister (a very bad traveller) who had come in on TS (did they exist in the late 80's?) or AC, at the baggage carousel, in a wheelchair, following her fainting on the aircraft!
Last example, although I didnt think I would die, I did lose a filling, BA 757, LHR-NCL, turning in from the North Sea toward the airport, actually flying sideways due winds (I could see the runway lights!) and brought down with such determination that said filling just popped out!
NightHawk117 From United States, joined Mar 2004, 175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 years 3 months 1 week 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 520 times:
DL (ASA) ATR-72 PFN-ATL back in February 2004. I overheard the flight crew questioning whether they should try to 'beat' the storm or wait until it passed by the area (which would've caused just about everyone on the flight to miss their connections). So, they opted to leave right away and rushed all the pax onto the plane and took off ASAP. All I could see out to the West was pitch-black clouds that were approaching quickly. Needless to say, the squall hit us before we could make it to ATL. I've flown in bad weather/turbulence before, but never in such a small aircraft. It was being thrown around so much that I was really thinking that the crew made a serious mistake and we weren't going to make it to ATL. Suddenly, the skies cleared a bit and we landed just as the sun started to break through the clouds. At least I still had an hour before my connecting flight and had a few drinks to calm my nerves.
Team Stealth...when it absolutely, positively HAS to be taken out overnight!
Kingsford From Netherlands, joined Nov 2003, 409 posts, RR: 3 Reply 12, posted (3 years 3 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 425 times:
VIE-LJU flight in an ADRIA Canadair jet, landing in LJU through a lightning storm. The plane had to climb out of that area and fly around before attempting it again. It was shaking so much I was praying.
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