Tell us about your worst flying experience.

[Old TexMex]

Mid '70s on the way to LAX from DFW (I think) and the pilot had just announced "you can see the grand canyon...." Loud boom, shudder, cabin fills with acrid white smoke, aircraft tilts way up on its side , and I thought "oh, this must be the death spiral I've heard so much about." I wondered how long from 35,000 ft it would take....the airplane was full, and not a sound...

Pilot on the intercom says, "we've lost an engine, but this aircraft flies just fine bla bla bla. We'll be landing in Flagstaff."
I remember thinking " huh, never been to Flagstaff..."

When the "air-stairs" dropped ( it was a 727) we all bolted down to the tarmac. Foam/fire trucks all around, we were right next to an outdoor open air kind of waiting area for internationals at the little Flagstaff airport. A bright sunny mid morning in Aridzona.

There was a bar, like a kiosk, but no bartender. I hopped over that bar and started making drinks and there was no waiting, baby, we were throwin' 'em down. I don't remember much else, except I obviously made it somewhere...
on something. Don't recall L.A. or my international connection, but I did catch my ship in the Philippines.
Aw well, maybe it wasn't the worst after all.

 

[DeathGrip]

Has nothing changed at Lawton airport?

Permanent Party in 1983 and dang if it weren't a record hot one. Something like 30 days over 100 degrees.

 

[rojodiablo]

The year was 1988. Flying from Ensenada, Baja Mx. to Natividad island for a surf and fish trip. The flight is taken with the locals, on DC-3's which fly supplies to the island. Me and about 6 buddies, for a week of 'Endless Summer' vacation.


So, did I mention it was on a DC-3? A great old plane. A military grade cargo plane, meaning no paneling to even cover the cable runs and hydraulic lines running down the airframe, with about 20 seats which were easily removable to adjust for passenger/ cargo loading.

And, about 20 miles out from Isla Natividad, the port screw started making a LOT of noise, and reduced power. You could FEEL IT losing power. The plane listed, and felt like it was 'twisting' as the starboard motor began doing more of the work. ( I think it was 'Yawing' IIRC) Well, they increased power to the starboard screw until it was hammering out a tune that instantly took my 18 year old mind to my grandfather navigating B17's over Europe. I figured any second now a Messerschmitt would appear out of the sun, and we were going down.

The flight engineer (He was literally a guy with some tools working on stuff) came to the back of the plane and told us he was going to toss some non-essential cargo to lighten the plane. We were actually going to jettison weight. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???!!! He harnessed in, and opened a cargo door. The first bag to go was one of our bags of surfboards. The bag with....MY new surfboard. Dude- dude, that board cost $300 of 1988 money. It only weighs in at a whopping 12lb. Good going chief. The next bag to go was some food stuffs. That one was pretty heavy from the looks of things. He kept going, and was kind enough to look to the passengers and if people protested, he put the bag aside. My fishing rods were spared. Clothes bags for the most part were spared. He threw a lot of stuff out. Mind you; none of this was the HEAVY STUFF stored in the cargo crates which were under the partition deck. So, the plane forfeited about ??500lb of stuff, and the 12 or so locals who lived on the island flying with us belted out the world record amount of Hail Mary's in Spanish for a really tense 15 minutes. The landing was uneventful, and the pilot was given much credit for A: His testicular fortitude, and B: He was probably the best pilot in action I have ever flown with.....

The biggest casualties were the 3 surfboards. And, the one crate the guy pushed out had the beer. THAT hurt.

6 days later.... the same pilot, in the same plane flew us back to Ensenada, with no drama. Like it never even happened.

We had such a radical adventure, we went back 2 months later!! We took junk boards, and split up the beer in several bags jus to be sure. Same old plane. Ran like a champ.

 

[Old TexMex]

They threw out the boards and the beer! That is wrong wrong wrong. Forced to fish!

 

[feralmerril]

A long time ago I was flying out of O`hare to LAX. I sat down by a drunk merchant seaman from parkersburg W.V. He was going to L.A. to catch a ship. We got talking and found out we both had dated the same girl. (I had worked there maybe 8 years prior.) That led to us getting drunk. That led to me hitting on the worlds prettiest stewardess. I remember asking her to go to dinner when we get to L.A. She said sure! Can I bring my husband?

 

[johngalt]

Flying back from Wisconsin (Wausau) to Cincinnati, northwest airline, connecting through Detroit after New Years, 1999. If you recall, there was an epic blizzard then, shut down the entire upper Midwest. The snow had stopped the day before my flight.

At the airport in Wausau, I asked if Detroit was open, as I knew from the news it had been shut down for days. I was told yes, the airport was open, the connecting flight to Cincy was on time. They lied.

I got to Detroit, and found it crammed full of people. Some had been living there for 4 or 5 days. Northwest was continuing to let planes arrive, but nothing was leaving. My flight showed on time status until the departure time, then was cancelled. Every single ticket agent had lines hours long. Lines at the bathrooms. No food. No place to even sit down. Hotels were full.

I ended up doing a one way car rental, which was expensive. Drove far enough to get out of Detroit, found a hotel, got some sleep. Drove back to Cincy the next morning. I-75 was a sheet of ice, heavy traffic in the right lane only doing 40. Left lane was empty because it was completely covered in ice. Except for the one jack wagon doing about 60 who went into the ditch and almost hit me.

Drove to CVG, dropped off the rental, got my car from the long term lot and drove home.

I never flew northwest again. Far as I'm concerned, it was criminal the way they lied to passengers about the situation in Detroit continued sending flights there. All to avoid cancelling flights and refunding tickets.

 

[steelslaver]

Let see
Backing the plane up as far as it would go and then chipping holes in the ice in front of the wheels so they would drop down in then and the brakes would hold so the pilot could wind it up as much as possible before we bounced out of the holes, got up tpo speed and clearred the trees.

Having them bring a DC3 over and park it in front of the plane and use its propellers to "push start" ours.

Flying between the fog and the water along Aleutian islands in a 182 with skis

A bunch of guys taking a leak at an airport by the tail before boarding.

Running the pump to fill her up.

But, my most memorable was after going through my Marine Corps schooling and finally arriving at my duty station of Philadelphia, I was sent to Lake Hurst New Jersey to re-qualify with M 14. We would shoot in the morning then just hang out the rest of the day. About 4 of us young and dumb boots noticed the Navvy flying helicopters around the old blimp hangers. We went and asked about a ride. A phone call later we were told to come back the next day. The next day we were loaded in a helicopter by a crew chief after being introduced to an officer who announced he didn't believe it that **** when saluted. The door was left open as we were strapped into net seats. We learned all about auto rotations, bouncing off the run way, hanging in our seats while looking out the open door as we circled on our side. I am sure they had some great laughs. Nobody puked or need new skivvies that I know of, but it was one heck of an introduction to helicopters. I went for quite a few helicopter rides under interesting conditions after that, but none ever approached that one for pure wild flying.

My niece was a crew chief on helicopters in Afghanistan. She said they had a panel she could pop open with a bunch of wires behind it and they liked to fly along and then she would clue the pilot, pop it open and the pilot would drop the helicopter a few 100 ft to give the passengers a thrill.

 

[model70hunter]

In the middle 60's I was flying from the old Washington DC Dulles airport to St. Louis, MO.

We were eating dinner and the pilot announced we were flying over Louisville, Ky at 3x,xxx feet.

In the next moment the plane did a nose dive, food trays, stewardesses and anything loose came flying towards the back of the plane.

It became quiet, I looked around, wanted to see all I could before the end. White faces, white knuckles on hands squeezing the seat arms and grim looks on folks faces.

The plane ever so slowly leveled off. When it did I looked out the window, you could see the folks walking on the sidewalks. No one said a word the rest of the trip. We just sit there wearing our dinners in silence. Many did kiss the ground when we disembarked.

 

[williamlayton]

Ever land up-hill on a mountain in Cambodia ?
Blessings

 

[lrb1200]

Baggage

A number of years ago, walked up to check in, put my two bags down and said I want this bag to go to Chicago, and this bag to go to Denver. The check in person looked at me, and said that was not possible. I paused for a few seconds, and
said, YOU DID IT YESTERDAY!!!

 

[ordy]

1971..Stationed in Keflavik, Iceland doing anti sub patrols in a P-3 Orion. It was winter and we only saw the sun for a few hours a day. We flew a hop over the north sea and landed in Oslo for a three day R&R lay over. We preflighted for our return trip and started our roll down a snow covered runway. We rolled and rolled, and I was thinking..the heck with physics, we ain't getting off the ground today. We did, of course, but when we landed in Iceland, we were picking pine branches out of the wheel wells. The best flight experience was flying out of Bermuda at easter time...but that's a whole other story!

 

[Dave_n]

Back in the late '80s I was calling on Unisys in Blue Bell, PA. Took a Wings flight from Philly to Blue Bell. Cannot remember exactly but had to be a Piper Cub. The pilot, me,and guy behind me, all in a nice "little" row. Hand on the good book....I swear we followed the geese onto the runway.

I like lookin at a goose lined up in my gunsites but not looking at his butt landing on a runway!!!!

Probably a Britten-Norman Islander. I took one up to JFK from the same Wings Field' let's say that the Sparrows were overtaking us. Dave_n

 

[cloud]

Probably a Britten-Norman Islander. I took one up to JFK from the same Wings Field' let's say that the Sparrows were overtaking us. Dave_n

Wings had the islanders(3 ) the tri lander(2) and a twin otter (1).It was a cool little airline .


from phillyfunguide.com
Wings Field is one of the oldest and best-known general aviation airports in the country. Founded in 1930, Wings is located on approximately 217 acres of open space in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County. The Philadelphia Aviation Country Club, also located on the field, was founded in 1934. It's the second oldest aviation club in the country. In 1939, the club became the birthplace for the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association), a 340,000 member organization promoting general aviation

 

[george minze]

Well lets see....1986 Chicago, Dan Ryan Woods, October 18...I ended up in a tree with the following..crushed left arm, split head from rt, eye to top of head. intestines cut in three places, 14 inch laceration from center of rib cage to almost groin, numerous other lacerations and a few small breaks....here and there. Unconscious for four days, reported deceased once.......took one year to get back on the job..to the day...Two days after getting back I had to fly to Florida after a couple of homicide suspects.....interesting take off, talk about pucker power...wow.....Needless to say I'm darned lucky....Chicago cops had me to Christian Hospital NW with in 30 minutes..They had to get me out of a tree....Plane was in pieces. Pilots had gotten out injured through what was left of the front cockpit screen. Just in time a tree then fell and crushed the cabin..My part of the cabin was in a tree. I understand the tail is still in tree..protected park area..Over a thousand stitches and 8 operations, and one of those colostomy bags for 6 months.....I was in and out of consciousness at the scene. Woke up or so they told me 6 days later...Family was all there....Good side was...The Chicago coppers that got me out of the tree. Lt Ken Fryer, and Sgt. Robert Cornfield...Ken is long gone and Cornfield retired as Commander of Detectives South Area a few years back. After waking up the CPD chaplains came to visit me every day. and guys from the district came on a regular bases. They both received Governors commendations...I always felt well deserved...Well it was my hide they saved....I had to go back three times for corrective surgery and I always was helped by CPD officers from that precinct....Pilots weren't critically injured like I was they knew we were crashing I didn't or I don't remember it if I did. As a side note two years later I was in a fugitive class at Glynco FLETC and was doing birdog training and the pilot was a comedian and as we were tracking a suspect vehicle he was close to stall speed he looked over at me and said this don't make you nervous... does it?....What a AH....Of course I told him hell no. I lied of course....I told him NO I love hearing the stall warning going off...It is like music.....He just shook his head...Later one of the instructors that I had known for years told me the pilot told him "That guy has nerves of steel" Sure I did, I liked to have had a cow, but I wasn't going to let him know I was having a cow...So I guess you could say I am an expert in scary plane rides...I have had to fly often since and I am always nervous on take off....RIP Lt. Ken Freyer CPD..One of my Hero's.....And happy retirement Commander Robert Cornfield CPD.......I owe you both just about every thing. I sure owe you the last 26+ years.........Here is another side note...My wife and kids were kept in a small house on the grounds of Christ hospital the whole first 6 weeks of my initial stay . I have been asked even on this site "why do you always take up for the Chicago Cops" Well I would be one ungrateful *** if I didn't wouldn't I......Well there is my scary airplane story...

 

[shouldazagged]

Wow! LVSteve calling an aircraft a "kite", and rojodiablo calling props "screws"--man, that takes me back, and I'm enjoying the trip!

 

[carpriver]

1983 flying out of Elmendorf AFB AK on an Air Force KC-135 to Anderson AFB Guam, We took off no problems, We are flying along and someone says hey look we are being followed by a Soviet Mig. The navigator had the plane off course and we were flying either in or close to Soviet air space. The problem was when the plane landed we had 7 min.s of fuel left. 50 souls and 17000lbs of cargo on that aircraft.

in 1984 On a C141 from Tinker AFB OK to Riyadh Saudi Arabia with an air refueling over the Atlantic Ocean. The air crew was a Air Force Reserve crew with limited air refueling experience. The KC 135 got on station and the C141 drops under and behind the tanker. The pilot of the C141 can't make the connection to the tanker boom. the C141 bucks and rolls for 45 minutes, trying to connect, there 100 men in rear facing seats of which half have gotten sick and puked in the little bags provided. There was no connection and we were forced to land in Germany for fuel and to clean the plane. The return flight was better as there was no in flight refueling. 8months on my return trip we landed in Germany to drop some cargo and passenger. The threw passenger got to taste beer for the first time in months. it was a quite flight back to the states.

 

[feralmerril]

None of us can come close to that event you went through george, and I have been in one crash where I wiped out a tri pacer plus another bad ground loop. Didnt get hurt though. (Except for my feelings and wallet).

 

[george minze]

None of us can come close to that event you went through george, and I have been in one crash where I wiped out a tri pacer plus another bad ground loop. Didnt get hurt though. (Except for my feelings and wallet).

Sometimes the wallet wipe out can be darn painful. I have though about lighter than air or the real small rear engine stuff myself, but when I was giving it some though a buddy broke his back doing a ground loop on landing....He is ok now but he is still flying those over powered kites...So I guess it didn't scare him that much....Take care it isn't the flying that can hurt it is the landing that can be painful...I always thought he words "crash landing was a conflict of words...

 

[WoodSmith]

Bishop, CA to Stockton, CA

This ‘adventure’ took place while doing some work at a tungsten mine in Bishop, CA back in the early 70’s. One of our contractors had recently received his pilots license and suggested we fly to Stockton for dinner after work. He had rented a small 4-seat airplane (cannot recall make or model) so with some trepidation, 3 of us agreed to join him.


The flight over the Sierra Nevada Mountains (directly over Yosemite National Park) was breathtaking. He let me take the controls for a while, which for a young dude, was thrilling.


We approached Stockton just as the sun was setting directly into our eyes which made it very difficult to see the landing zone. Suddenly a red light repeatedly flashed on the dashboard and a warning buzzer sounded – LANDING GEAR WARNING – luckily the wheels were deployed just in time to make a safe landing.


It was dark when we took off from Stockton. Flying over the mountains by moon light was not so enjoyable. We were dodging snowy peaks with only dim moon light to see our way. It was all the plane could do to maintain altitude over the 14,500 ft. mountain peaks.


Made it back safe. Dressed in light jackets/street clothes, I sometimes think back how very badly the return trip could have turned out.

 

[yaktamer]

On the way to basic training. Flying through a severe thunderstorm with LOTS of turbulence, a very loud, very large, very drunk woman across the aisle puking her guts out, wondering what I had done with my life.