Have you had a scarey moment flying?

I had a funny experience yesterday on my way back from France.
My flight from Geneva set off half an hour late but we still got to Leeds/Bradford
airport on time. Saying that the ending of the flight was the reaction I wanted myself to do.
About 20 minutes out from Leeds the air currents started to bounce us around and
there were even vapour trails coming off of the wings. I have never liked Fairground
rides apart from the Speedway so the Roller Coaster feeling on the plane was making
everyone go Ohooooooooooo!!!! laugh.
The high winds were battering the plane from my side North West and it was pushing
the plane around. You could hear it hitting the plane. As we got to the ground the
Pilot put his brakes on hard and we whoshed down the runway.
Then as seen in the Movies nowadays everyone shouted Hooray and started clapping
the Pilot for our safe landing. It was a fabulous moment.
He had stated to us over France that there might be turbulance at Leeds but seemingly
it was nearly the limit of what they are allowed to try and land in and after one swoop and
not landing we were going to have to go to another airport. I was just hoping it would have
been Nottingham and not Manchester. Great experience for everyone and put smiles on
faces when we landed.

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Sounds like you had fun on that flight Bowieeyes.

We have had a couple of flights where we have had turbulence, I must admit it does worry me until we land, we have also had times when we have not been able to land for what ever reason and had to circle around again. Although not religious a little bit of praying has been going on.

Most of the flights that we have been on over the years the Captain has been clapped and cheered when we have landed, just thought that is what happened now a days.

Glad you are ok.

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Crosswind landings can be a nightmare, and when we used to fly our light aircraft there was a saying that every landing that you walked away from was a good landing..

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Good story Sandy

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

When I was about 10 we were at Clacton Butlins and there was a bloke with an Auster aircraft offering joyflights for 5/- per person. My old man took my brother and I for a ride; it only lasted about 10 minutes but as we flew out over the sea the plane dropped like a stone for a fraction of a second (seemed like forever).

Frightened the life out of me. The pilot said it was an 'air pocket'

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

I had a similar experience to Bruce flying into the Grand Canyon. 6-seater aircraft and as we hit the air pocket one woman starting screaming hysterically and asking to go back. Calm and collected pilot turned round immediately and she was taken off. We took off again, so got an extra bit of time! It turned out the woman hates flying and hadn't wanted to go but was persuaded by her husband...bet he won't try that again!

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Years ago coming back to the UK from SA I had to change flights in Zurich. All the passengers had boarded and everything was set for the take off when the pilot announced that a suitcase had been placed onboard but its owner had failed to check in.

We were then told to remain in our seats whilst all the baggage was removed from plane and put on the tarmac after which we could disembark row by row from the plane to identify our luggage. As you might expect this was greeted with instant panic from some of the passengers who started screaming "Get me off this plane".

Fortunately for me the couple I was sitting next to remained very calm and when our row was called we climbed off the plane and identified our luggage. We eventually arrived at Heathrow only an hour late.

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

I've had a few because I worked offshore in the 70s and back then it was a hell of a lot of ex-Vietnam chopper pilots.

The stunts they pulled were terrifying, like taking off fully-laden from a platform and the pilots throwing the chopper into a a steep banking manoeuvre to gain speed as quickly as possible, like they did in Vietnam - under fire!

The rotor blades would be skimming the wave tops!

They used to race each other and even do mock dogfights, always with a full load.

The 2nd time I flew out we'd just cleared the coast (Dubai) and I was sat up front.

The pilot asked me to grab the "stick" which I did and he let got so he could roll a "funny fag"!!

He puffed away on that all the way out to the Bull Run - an accommodation platform!

I was on another out of Abu Dhabi that had complete engine failure - we hit the beach at quite a speed but it was under control.

In Algeria Air Algerie used to use the Orly flights for training and I was on my way back to a place called Annaba on a moth-eaten old 737 when I noticed we were lower than the lighthouse just up the coast from Annaba.

We normally should be well above that and sure enough, suddenly full power was poured back on and the undercarriage barely cleared a housing complex at the edge of the runway!

There's been a few others but you forget after a while. stevmk2

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Flying through a nasty storm, on my first solo trip to the USA when I was 21. I can't remember why I flew Boston to New York, but I had a connecting flight to UK (why didn't I book Boston - UK), and we were late to NY. Fortunately for me the storm had knocked out the radar down the east coast so all flights were delayed, but the experience was harrowing because of the storm! The whole works: thunder and lightning.

I think it was the trip where I booked UK - NY, Greyhound buses Montreal- Ottawa - Toronto - Niagara Falls - Buffalo - Boston. Stayed near my friend in Ma.

Good job I love flying, and it didn't put me off.

Re: Have you had a scarey moment flying?

Yes one was landing in a storm at Faro in Portugal.
The rain was lashing down and streaks of lightning flashing across the sky. The plane was bobbing up and down like it was made of paper. We all had the seat belts fastened of course and my poor husband who hates flying nearly wet himself!

Another time was coming from Palma Majorca. We'd just got airborne and unfastened our seatbelts when a woman halfway down the plane started screaming - she was standing on her seat and her companions couldn't make her sit down - she just screamed and screamed...
The hostess managed to calm her down and brought her down the plane where she could keep an eye on her. Guess where that was? The empty seat next to yours truly. We had
the emergency door seat where there's a lot of leg room and the hostesse's landing seat was opposite. She finally calmed down and for the next two hours Tony & I kept up a constant conversation to keep her mind off it. It must have worked because she didn't get agitated again thank goodness and when we landed she thanked us and said she'd never fly again..

Strange how you can go off like that - she'd been on many plane journeys so why panic on this one?