Your scariest plane ride?

[bignateyk]

I was in a 2 man cessna one time and we were about 2 hours away from the airport and suddenly a light came on saying we were running out of fuel. That was pretty damn scary. (turns out the fuel gauge was just malfunctioning)

Another time I was on a bigger plane going coast to coast (737 maybe?). We hit some pretty bad turbulence and the pilot came on and said "flight attendants please take your emergency positions". I was like "whuuuuuut the fuck is going on". Next thing I see all the attendants get down on the ground in the aisle and hold on to the seats. The drink carts started bouncing and going off the ground. That's probably the worst turbulence I've been in.

They need a code word that doesn't involve using the word "emergency". I just about shit a brick.

 

[skyking]

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KFWS

Fixed that link for you.

 

[olds]

Found you:

Blocked at work.

 

[alfa147x]

Blocked at work.

Click

 

[Paladin3]

Back when I was a newspaper photographer, a fellow shooter from another paper told me a story about how he had once fallen out of a helicopter while on assignment. The door had been removed from the aircraft and he was in the seat closest to the open door, with more media crowded in next to him. He leaned out for a shot just as they left the ground and the photog sitting next to him did the same, leaning across his lap. As the other guy leaned across him he accidentally opened the buckle of my friend's seat belt and my friend fell out of the helicopter about 15 feet to the ground and broke his arm. Ever since then he habitually tapes his seat belt closed if the doors will be open on aerial shoots.

Of course, he told me this story as we were about to lift off in a helicopter without the door on to cover a congressman taking some aerial tour. He wanted to know if I had any gaffers tape I could loan him, but I didn't have any in my bag that day. He was probably just trying to rattle me, but it was my first time flying in a copter without the door and I was seated next to the opening, so it worked.

All flight I kept reminding him not to push as we leaned out to get our shots.

 

[QuantumPion]

I was on a flight back to Penn State, on one of those crappy turboprop planes. Went right through a thunderstorm, could see lightning striking outside about once per second. The plane was bobbing up and down like crazy - I thought it was sort of fun.

Just after we landed, while stepping out of the plane, a huge bolt of lightning struck the control tower of the airport and all the lights went out except the emergency runway lights.

 

[classy]

I was on a flight back to Penn State, on one of those crappy turboprop planes. Went right through a thunderstorm, could see lightning striking outside about once per second. The plane was bobbing up and down like crazy - I thought it was sort of fun.

Just after we landed, while stepping out of the plane, a huge bolt of lightning struck the control tower of the airport and all the lights went out except the emergency runway lights.

No question I would have dropped a load right there.

 

[bignateyk]

I was on a flight back to Penn State, on one of those crappy turboprop planes. Went right through a thunderstorm, could see lightning striking outside about once per second. The plane was bobbing up and down like crazy - I thought it was sort of fun.

Just after we landed, while stepping out of the plane, a huge bolt of lightning struck the control tower of the airport and all the lights went out except the emergency runway lights.

hahaha, I fly in that piece of shit airplane all the time. The United flight from Dulles to State college? I've probably taken that flight 50 times. I'm amazed I haven't died yet. It sounds like it is going to come apart at the seams mid-flight. There have been at least 5 times I have driven home from dulles and ended up getting to the airport in state college before my original flight would have.

I'd say at least 50% of the times I have been on that flight there have been delays due to mechanical problems.

If I see any sort of delay on the board I say fuck it and go get a rental car and drive home. I sat around waiting one time and it took them 8 hours to fix that piece of shit. It only takes 3.5 hours to drive it.

 

[yh125d]

I once rode a plane with an Indian guy next to me. Scared the shit out of me.

Hey at least you know you'll never be taken hostage

 

[sandorski]

#1 Mostly nausea inducing rather than scary. Dash 7(or 8, don't remember) twin Turbo Prop, rough weather, much yawing and turbulence.

#2 Mostly after the fact imagining what must have happened. 737, coming in for Landing(at Nashville IIRC), then just before touch down pilot revs the engines and proceeds to circle around to try again. Too fast, plane on the runway, something else? Who knows.

 

[bignateyk]

#1 Mostly nausea inducing rather than scary. Dash 7(or 8, don't remember) twin Turbo Prop, rough weather, much yawing and turbulence.

#2 Mostly after the fact imagining what must have happened. 737, coming in for Landing(at Nashville IIRC), then just before touch down pilot revs the engines and proceeds to circle around to try again. Too fast, plane on the runway, something else? Who knows.

#2 tends to happen when there is a shitload of wind. If they can't get the plane lined up straight they come around for another try. That's happened a few times on flights I've been on.

 

[rudder]

Tons of them...

Taking off from Midway airport during the summer with 154 passengers and loaded with fuel... barreling down the runway and the airspeed stops increasing before you are fast enough to take off.

landing at some remote airport at 3:00 a.m. and finding out the flight engineer did not check the pin on the front landing gear. ground crews had disengaged to push the airplane back.

Getting ice on the windshield of a C-172 with now way to get it off.

Hitting a bird and watching it go up and over the airplane right where you no there is an intake for the jet engine.

Windshield cracking at altitude.

Watching the rain pour into the airplane while loading cargo and suddenly finding out after 30 minutes that it froze the autopilot controls.

 

[sandorski]

#2 tends to happen when there is a shitload of wind. If they can't get the plane lined up straight they come around for another try. That's happened a few times on flights I've been on.

Could be.

 

[darkxshade]

So one time I was flying back home and got the seat overlooking the wing of the plane. Midway through the flight I saw this gremlin tearing away at the wing trying to crash the plane. I called out for help but everytime I did, it wasn't there and no one believed me... everyone thought I was crazy. Fortunately, I spotted a air marshall and as a last ditch effort to save the asses of every ingrate on the plane who refused to listen to my pleas, I hurled at him, grabbed his gun and managed to open the auxillary door of the aircraft and shot it dead nearly killing myself in the process. It was nuts I tell ya.

 

[Wyndru]

My family flew into JFK when I was real young during a snowstorm, and there was turbulence, so I guess it was scary. It really wasn't that bad (I didn't think) but when we landed everyone was clapping. It's strange that people applaud when pilots do their job correctly.

 

[coxmaster]

Scariest moment while flying for me was doing a 12 turn spin. Explanation: A spin is what happens when one wing stalls and the other doesn't. This essentially means one wing dives quickly while the other holds and it throws the plane into a (potentially) deadly spin.

From there it spun about all 3 axes 10-12 times before I recovered. Basically fell 1200 feet in less than 10 seconds.

 

[Flammable]

Back in 95, my uncle rented a plane and took me on a ride. The whole week before I was so excited about it, I told all my friends in kindergarten how cool it would be. The day of, I could barely keep from bouncing off the walls.

We had lots of fun. My uncle almost crashed is a couple times, he looked nervous. He took us over the lake and we watched all the boats and stuff below. When he wasn't looking I threw a wrench out the window and got a water-skiier. 10 points!

He was looking at the water too much, cause he just about hit another plane head on! Moron. He got it turned right at the last minute though

If he turned right you both would've died

 

[yh125d]

If he turned right you both would've died

Thank god for NASCAR, both planes turned left

 

[Gibsons]

Flying normally doesn't scare me, I don't mind it at all, even enjoy it sometimes. One landing had me worried though. Pretty significant crosswind plus rain. The plane was very bouncy on the last bit of the approach, and as I looked out, we weren't exactly pointed straight down the runway at one point, and not really lined up with it at another. Then we did get lined up and then it felt sort of like the pilot took that opportunity and slammed the plane down while he had it. We were sort of crabbing sideways when the wheels hit, but we did hit pretty much center runway, with plenty of space. I'm not sure many others realized how hairy it was.

Anyway, nothing compared to what some military types have been through.

 

[Zebo]

Flying in a 6 seater prop job from LAX to SLO. Seemed like 1000ft off those costal mountains and plane would get tossed around like Lara Logan in the middle of a fundamentalist riot. I don't like flying anyway period but after that I said never a prop plane.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Tons of them...

Taking off from Midway airport during the summer with 154 passengers and loaded with fuel... barreling down the runway and the airspeed stops increasing before you are fast enough to take off.

landing at some remote airport at 3:00 a.m. and finding out the flight engineer did not check the pin on the front landing gear. ground crews had disengaged to push the airplane back.

Getting ice on the windshield of a C-172 with now way to get it off.

Hitting a bird and watching it go up and over the airplane right where you no there is an intake for the jet engine.

Windshield cracking at altitude.

Watching the rain pour into the airplane while loading cargo and suddenly finding out after 30 minutes that it froze the autopilot controls.

I would walk from now on if I were you. ()

 

[FelixDeCat]

Back when I was a newspaper photographer, a fellow shooter from another paper told me a story about how he had once fallen out of a helicopter while on assignment. The door had been removed from the aircraft and he was in the seat closest to the open door, with more media crowded in next to him. He leaned out for a shot just as they left the ground and the photog sitting next to him did the same, leaning across his lap. As the other guy leaned across him he accidentally opened the buckle of my friend's seat belt and my friend fell out of the helicopter about 15 feet to the ground and broke his arm. Ever since then he habitually tapes his seat belt closed if the doors will be open on aerial shoots.

Of course, he told me this story as we were about to lift off in a helicopter without the door on to cover a congressman taking some aerial tour. He wanted to know if I had any gaffers tape I could loan him, but I didn't have any in my bag that day. He was probably just trying to rattle me, but it was my first time flying in a copter without the door and I was seated next to the opening, so it worked.

All flight I kept reminding him not to push as we leaned out to get our shots.

Helicopters are much more dangerous than planes from what I hear.

 

[JeepinEd]

Flying to L.A. from Florida, I fell asleep with my head by the window. I was jolted awake as the plane shook and rattled. When I opened my eyes I saw some overhead cabinets pop open. I quickly looked out the window and it looked like we were inside a ball of fire. I thought "Oh crap, we're dead!". It took me a few seconds to regain my bearings and realize that we just hit turbulence and the fiery red light was from the sun shining through the plastic window cover. Apparently, as I slept, my wife decided to close the window. Scared the hell out of me, though.

 

[Loop2kil]

A flight from Detroit back to Atlanta...a couple of middle eastern gentlemen were sitting behind me and were acting strange during preflight and while in the air. They kept getting up and wondered around the cabin. Flight attendants would constantly have to ask them to return to their seats. Also, the time frame of this flight was around january. Of 2002.

 

[mmntech]

I was in an ancient Cessna 150 when the door popped open in mid air. Didn't panic though. The pilot just reached over and shut it. Guess it didn't latch properly.