trane_fanatic Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 (edited) Just got back from Asia on a 2-week vacation. The flight home to San Francisco on United had yours truly nervous. With about 5 hrs. left to go, the plane plunged all of a sudden several hundred feet and then would go back up all of a sudden, repeating the same cycle all over again (up, down, up, down) for about 3 min. You could hear everybody screaming and I could feel the blood pushing against the back of my head. The crazy thing was, the pilot just told the flight attendants to wear their seat belts and never even bothered to comfort the passengers. The rest of the time felt like a ship riding high tides too (heavy turbulence). I had to hold my food tray to prevent my braised noodles w/ pork in a light sauce from spilling out on the floor. So, what was your worst flight experience? Edited January 9, 2006 by trane_fanatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 I was flying from Albany, NY to Omaha via Detroit. I was absolutely fine during the flight from Albany to Detroit, but the flight from Detroit to Omaha was a different story altogether. I had been reading a magazine when suddenly the plane dipped slightly. My stomach felt like it had just dropped a thousand feet, however, I was sick as a dog for the rest of the flight. In addition, it was a small craft (only two seats on either side of the aisle) so I got intensely claustrophobic. There was a moment there when I felt like I was going to scream if I couldn't get out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 (edited) Flying from DFW to O'Hare, thunderstorms all the way. The lightning strikes, the turbulence, the hairraising descent--it was terrifying. Edited January 9, 2006 by kh1958 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) Descending into Luang Prabang, amidst steep surrounding mountains, circa 1987 in an old Soviet prop plane with 110 of my closest friends. No seatbelts. No HVAC. Unpaved landing strip. Belly full of dog dinner. (Only kidding on that last part; I passed on the canine.) Edited January 10, 2006 by BeBop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Johnson Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Descent into Philadelphia from San Jose, Costa Rica. Came in from the north, along the Delaware river, and got caught in the jetwash of a DC-10 that we were too close to. The plane banked to the left (where I was sitting at the window seat), so I was looking straight down at the Delaware, and suddenly dropped--I don't know, 100, 200 feet? I was scared shitless, thought it was over...and thanks to that, often use valium when I fly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Not all that bad but one time we were on final approach into Newark (and I mean, under 1000 feet) when all of a sudden the pilot went to full throttle and we climbed at a very steep angle. Everyone was looking at each other when the pilot apologized and explained that there had been aircraft on our runway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 From 1995 to 1998, I logged a lot of flight time due to my job as the world wide apps engineer for a small firm. I have had many plane rides from hell. One of the worst was coming back from Dallas when Boston was having severe thunderstorms. The plane didn't board for almost 2 hours. The held us on the tarmac in Dallas for another 2 hours waiting for clearance at Boston. They should have just grounded us! As we approched Boston... well, an hour away from Boston... the plane was bouncing like crazy. We'd drop hundreds of feet and climb right back up. Stuff was falling out of all the overheads. People were barfing all around me. The smell made it hard to keep down my food. The plane wouldn't stop shaking. We slowly descended into Boston, with the plane shaking like a mechanical bull in a bar. I was swearing that if I ever got on the ground, I would never fly again. As we dropped down out of the clouds and I saw the lights of Boston, I was soooo relieved. Then - Wham! The plane aims straight up, more stuff starts falling out of the overheads, people are yelling "No!!" and we ride a bunch of bumps back into the clouds. The pilot comes on and says, "Well, they brought us in a little tight, we're going to have to come around again." AHHHHHHHH! Get me down! So we come in again, the plane shaking and bucking the whole way down. More people are losing it. The plane really smells... like fear. I swear even the flight attendants were praying. I was supposed to land in Boston at 8 PM. We landed at 1 AM. To make matters worse, the shuttle service stopped. I had to call their service and point out that I paid extra to have guaranteed pick up. I didn't get home until 4:30 AM. Now that was one hellish trip!! FWIW, I have been on many more bumpy rides. A lot of planes seem to have a rough time going into Philly. Some of those flights were pretty rough. I remember a flight back from Taiwan where they didn't allow the flight attendants in the aisles for almost 5 hours. That was so rough my friend got freaked out. But since that horrible trip early on in my flying days, I'd gotten used to turbulance. I just bring lots and lots of books and I keep on reading, no matter what's going on around me. It works. Funny this thread comes up tonight... I'm leaving next Sunday for a trip to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Boston-Chicago-Hong Kong-Kaohsiung out (about 24 hours total travel time) and then Kaohsiung-Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Shanghai-San Fran-Boston back. I am not looking forward to this! I better bring lots of books! Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) Descent into Philadelphia from San Jose, Costa Rica. Came in from the north, along the Delaware river, and got caught in the jetwash of a DC-10 that we were too close to. The plane banked to the left (where I was sitting at the window seat), so I was looking straight down at the Delaware, and suddenly dropped--I don't know, 100, 200 feet? I was scared shitless, thought it was over...and thanks to that, often use valium when I fly! Very common coming into Philly. Very common. I swear they vector the planes into that place about 20 times. You wind up taking these huge, wing-dipping turns as you come in and the wind off the water seems to cause nasty turbulance. There was one long flight into Philly were this one woman lost it and it caused a whole section of the plane to lose it too. I was very happy that I was nowhere near her. Kevin Edited January 10, 2006 by Kevin Bresnahan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny E Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 I was flying from Seattle to New York a few years back with my wife. About 20 minutes into the flight as we're going through thick clouds, the entire inside of the cabin flashed with white light. I looked around and most people had this weird look on their faces but seemed ready to pretend like nothing happened. I turned to my wife and said, "Did you see that?" Just then we heard a BOOM at the back of the plane and the whole thing started to shutter. A few moments later the captain gets on the intercom and tells us we were just hit by lightning! (although he didn't say it in that way. I think he said we "ran into some static electricity" ) Apparently planes are designed like lightning rods. If a plane gets hit (which I learned happens somewhat frequently) the current gets channeled to the tail and is released, often accompanied by a loud bang. Scared the shit out of me though. For the whole rest of the flight I thought that something was wrong with the plane. We landed fine, but I'm always a little scared when a plane I'm on is going through clouds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) "The crazy thing was, the pilot just told the flight attendants to wear their seat belts and never even bothered to comfort the passengers". This is the shit that really pisses me off. There was a time when commercial pilots went out of there way to speak to passengers. They seem to have forgotten that people like to here from the pilots and in rough situations it helps to keep people calm when you ket them know what the hell is going on. These days you get a two second "welcome aboard" and a 3 second "thanks for flying....."! Thanks for nothing. My worst flight was from Chicago to St. Louis. An early morning flight on a DC-9 (not long after the valujet crash). There were major storms and several tornado warnings. We were supposed to be taking the long route to avoid the bad weather, so said the Captain. About an hour later he was back on the mic telling us we were going to have to go through it or land somewhere else. It was the nastiest bumpiest damn ride I've ever had with what seemed like a sideways landing to finish it off. I thought the airplane was going to collapse from the shaking. I really did not want to get on my connecting flight back to Phoenix, but I did. The flight back was fine and the Captain (old school white hair type) was yacking it up all the way. Edited January 10, 2006 by catesta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) So, what was your worst flight experience? Summer of '83.......food poisoning kicked in hard about an hour after wheels up on a Kong Kong-LAX-New York flight. Must have been a noodle joint the night before. Edited January 10, 2006 by Son-of-a-Weizen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Hong Kong-LAX-New York flight. Must have been a noodle joint the night before. the best was the other way around when at the old HK airport you could look right in the windows of folks eating their noodles as you threaded the needle and descended right thru the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) Johor Bahru, Malaysia, to Jakarta, June 2004, on Air Asia.* The plane's only choice on ascent was to take off directly into a thunderstorm off Singapore. Early in the climb the plane plunged what felt like about 300 feet. People were freaking out for about 15 seconds, and the Malaysian kid next to me looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Upon arrival in Indonesia I got yelled at by some airport police after taking a detour looking for my buddy, who had arrived separately on a flight from KL about an hour before. Then the immigration officer was wearing a Yankees cap. Talk about a great first impression! *Interesting story about Air Asia: when we took them for the first time (Bangkok to Chiang Mai) my buddy turned to me on landing and said, "Was it just me, or was that the fastest fucking landing you have ever seen?" He looked terrified, but I was sitting in the aisle seat and hadn't been paying attention. On the way back, I had the window and was promptly scared shitless upon the landing, which I think was somewhere between Mach 4 and Warp 1.8. Only when we got back to the States a month later did we learn that one of the Air Asia CEO's much-touted cost-cutting methods was to save tens of thousands by instructing his pilots to wait until the very last instant on the runway before hitting the brakes... Edited January 10, 2006 by Big Wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 *Interesting story about Air Asia: when we took them for the first time (Bangkok to Chiang Mai) my buddy turned to me on landing and said, "Was it just me, or was that the fastest fucking landing you have ever seen?" One time, I was on a Boeing 757 flight to DFW and when we came in, the pilot just floated the thing down onto the runway. It was so smooth, the whole plane broke out into applause. The flight attendant came on and said, "And after that beautiful landing by Captain Hornblower, welcome to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport." Damnest thing I ever saw. The pilot was out shaking everyone's hand as we left. I still don't know how he did it. I mean, it didn't even feel like the plane was slowing down, never mind touching down! It was a piece of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 i HATE to fly i haven't been inside an airplane for maybe 10 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 *Interesting story about Air Asia: when we took them for the first time (Bangkok to Chiang Mai) my buddy turned to me on landing and said, "Was it just me, or was that the fastest fucking landing you have ever seen?" One time, I was on a Boeing 757 flight to DFW and when we came in, the pilot just floated the thing down onto the runway. It was so smooth, the whole plane broke out into applause. The flight attendant came on and said, "And after that beautiful landing by Captain Hornblower, welcome to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport." Damnest thing I ever saw. The pilot was out shaking everyone's hand as we left. I still don't know how he did it. I mean, it didn't even feel like the plane was slowing down, never mind touching down! It was a piece of work. Our landing wasn't bumpy or anything, just mind-blowingly fast. Actually, it turns out that Air Asia really approaches the runway at slower-than-normal speeds. The reason it feels so much faster is that they don't touch down until a much later point than usual, to save tires, and then they don't decelerate abruptly like most planes, which saves brakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 My worst flight was my trip to Maui two years ago. Bumpy as hell, and the plane was swooping from side to side on the landing. Looking around, I was the only nervous person on board so I figured I was overreacting. It must have been a pleasure cruise compared to some of these horror stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trane_fanatic Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Hong Kong-LAX-New York flight. Must have been a noodle joint the night before. the best was the other way around when at the old HK airport you could look right in the windows of folks eating their noodles as you threaded the needle and descended right thru the city. \ Ha-ha, the new airport is far away, on Lantau Island, and massive - a far cry from the old one in Kowloon which I remember descending into as a kid. You were literally inches away from the rooftops of densely populated areas and could see the top of peoples' heads. Here's an interesting read about it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Tak_International_Airport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trane_fanatic Posted January 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) .................................... Funny this thread comes up tonight... I'm leaving next Sunday for a trip to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Boston-Chicago-Hong Kong-Kaohsiung out (about 24 hours total travel time) and then Kaohsiung-Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Shanghai-San Fran-Boston back. I am not looking forward to this! I better bring lots of books! Kevin Kevin, Shenzhen is so nice now. Just spent 2 days there in the Luohu complex just past the HK-China proper border, a true shopper's paradise if you know how to bargain. Edited January 10, 2006 by trane_fanatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 I remember the old HK runs into Kai Tak. There was the final approach turn and run between the condominiulms where you could see those people hang up their washing on the balconies ! I've had a few scary runs in the past and am not a great fan of flying. The one that immediately comes to mind is a short haul flight with Lufthansa between Franfurt and London. It took 2 hours delay to get airborne because of storms over the UK. On approach at Heathrow I was looking out of the window seat with the plane about 1000 feet before touch down and the wings all over the place. I remember thinking 'no way is this one going to land here'. Within seconds the pilot had nosed up and cranked the engines on to full for a 'go around'. Very calm announcement stating that we would probably try another airport (German pilots are just GREAT at times like this). In the event we landed with no hitch at the second attempt. Sometimes you are very glad when you fly Lufthansa. Bumpiest flight was probably Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids Iowa in a blizzard, in a twin-prop. Another delayed take off and the aircraft was 'cold' when we hopped on board. There were quite a few Rockwell Collins avionics engineers on board that night and most of them looked a bit on the nervy side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 (edited) I've been on many flights where there were hard or wind-shear related landings. In particular, several flights into Cleveland and Dallas were quite rough, must be the location in regard to wind currents and such. The weirdest flight was one in Italy where we went in to land and just before we touched down (you know that moment) suddenly the plane accelerated and we went back up in the air. Never found out why, although I think that there was another plane in the landing path. Yikes! I still am amazed that such a huge, heavily loaded chunk of metal can get up into the air. I'm grateful each time I return to earth safely. I flew to a gig after 9-11, shortly after flights were OK-ed. It was weird, there was almost NO ONE on the plane. All the flight attendants seemed kind of shell-shocked or something, certainly understandably so! Edited (as always) for spelling......... Edited January 10, 2006 by Free For All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Hong Kong-LAX-New York flight. Must have been a noodle joint the night before. the best was the other way around when at the old HK airport you could look right in the windows of folks eating their noodles as you threaded the needle and descended right thru the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Considering the fact that I logged 352,000 flight miles last year, I'm guess I'm glad I don't have more horror stories. One I almost forgot: Romania, 1979. Lost cabin pressure...and about 40 percent of my hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Mine was the flight from Bangkok to Tokyo that took three days to complete. I was due to fly out of Bangkok on the now, thankfully, defunct Air Siam. After a couple of hours delay we took off but about two hours into the flight we suddenly returned to Bangkok with engine trouble. We disembarked and sat around for a few hours before the ' staff ' bundled us onto a bus and put us in a hotel for the night. The next morning we took off again but after only fifteen minutes further engine trouble caused us to return to Bangok for a second time. After another lenghthy wait we got underway again and headed for our first stop- Hong Kong. About an hour before reaching HK the pilot informed us that a typhoon had closed HK airport and we were rerouted to Taipei. We got off and spent several hours in the transit lounge . The all clear came towards evening and we finally landed in a very blustery HK. Narita airport (Toyko) was now closed for the night so we stayed in a HK hotel. The next morning we finally took off and managed to reach Narita in the afternoon without any further problems. Total time, three days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Considering the fact that I logged 352,000 flight miles last year, I'm guess I'm glad I don't have more horror stories. One I almost forgot: Romania, 1979. Lost cabin pressure...and about 40 percent of my hearing. Okay, you've piqued my curiousity. What do you do that allows/causes you to travel so much each year? Where do you consider home? And what were you doing on a plane in 1979, when your birthdate is listed as 21 July 1983? ...And I'm kinda jealous of all the traveling, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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