what's the scariest moment you've had flying?

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
My friend is training pilots in China and he was stationed essentially in the gobi desert. He said the planes would stall a lot from the sand and would have to just power down the engine and dive fast enough and power back up to get going again. He also gets terrified when some of the students fly, because they only know how to fly by the book. Throw things at them they haven't read about and they have zero intuition as to what you need to try.

Sounds like every programmer from that region that I've worked with.

 

[UILanMan]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Flying from London to Malaga, Spain and we hit an "air pocket", and apparently when you hit an air pocket the plane just starts to drop out of the sky. Well that is what happened to us, for about 5 seconds straight (felt like an hour) we plummeted straight down. My stomach was on the roof of the cabin by the time it was over.

Scariest moment of my life.

KT

Totally agree - same thing happened to me, those were the longest seconds of my life, and definitely the scariest thing I've ever felt.

 

[Lothar1974]

Back in 93' going from Minneapolis to Atlanta for boot camp. We hit a big storm front with really bad turbulance and lighting. It was my first time flying, nothing like seeing lightning almost hit the wings ever couple seconds as well as the plane bouncing up and down.

 

[shopbruin]

hitting an air pocket from taipei to thailand. it was that sick dropping in your stomach feeling for a few seconds and everyone going "whoa" on the plane at once. when we landed, everyone on the plane applauded.

anytime you hear the captain go "please make sure your seat belts are securely fastened" is enough to make my heart beat a little faster.

 

[destrekor]

turbulence excites me for some reason. I don't want to always experience it, but it added a little thrill to flights. :laugh:
i sometimes have a deathwish, so you can safely ignore me... sometimes.

scariest time on a plane though, was when we were nearing Detroit, already rapidly descending as we approached the runway. Me and my family are situated at the back of the plane, behind a wall where the snacks and stuff were stored (was a 737 or 747 iirc), and were on the left side of the plane. I see some lady stand up on the right side and point and yell something. Yells again and I hear 'help'. I'm like, shit what's going down? Turns out my younger cousin (my aunt and uncle and their kids were on the flight too, along with other relatives. we were coming back from a cruise) was having a seizure again. I'm both relieved it wasn't something to do with the plane, but nervous for my cousin now. I do know most seizures aren't threatening so I was able to calm down. He was tested with an EKG after we touched down... he was escorted off the plane immediately. He had had one like the first or second night of the cruise too. Hasn't had them since, or had them beforehand either. Doctors suggest it could have just been the kid was so overwhelmed by the whole experience, kind of like his body was just overworked from stress... what kind of stress a 9 year old can suffer, well hell if I know.

 

[markgm]

Back in the Air Force days I flew with training pilots. Nothing that happens in a commercial plane will ever scare me!

 

[WolverineGator]

Turbulence FTW!

Originally posted by: weirdichi
And one row in front of me there were two kids, laughing and having fun because the plane was shaking so bad.

Originally posted by: Descartes
I'm so used to it now, that any heavy turbulence actually makes me laugh a little.

Turbulence (gut wrenching, zero-g, ...) is great and I try to muffle my laughter since other passengers are terrorized.

 

[m1ldslide1]

The worst was spotting my seat upon boarding, realizing that it was between two very large women who were glaring at me as I came down the isle. They were already spilling into most of the middle seat, and I'm 6'4", so none of us were too thrilled. I was up against warm squishy on both sides, and to make things worse, they became best friends and talked over the top of me the whole 4 hours.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: WolverineGator
Turbulence FTW!

Originally posted by: weirdichi
And one row in front of me there were two kids, laughing and having fun because the plane was shaking so bad.

Originally posted by: Descartes
I'm so used to it now, that any heavy turbulence actually makes me laugh a little.

Turbulence (gut wrenching, zero-g, ...) is great and I try to muffle my laughter since other passengers are terrorized.

i'm the same way. It's like a giant rollercoaster, only one thats hurtling through the sky with no track. Which makes it even more fun!
I crack a smile during turbulence. I wouldn't laugh over it, as I don't really laugh on rollercoasters. I just sit back and enjoy. Adrenaline just makes me feel oh so right inside. It's a soothing yet exciting little chemical wonder. I'd probably abuse it if it were a street drug.

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: glenn beck

Originally posted by: weirdichi
I was at the back of the plane flying from the west coast to the midwest. There was tons of turbulence. It really felt like an earthquake. And one row in front of me there were two kids, laughing and having fun because the plane was shaking so bad. I just closed my eyes and prayed that we landed soon.

yeah what's up with that, I've seen little kids that could care less about all the rocking and shaking going on.

I forgot to mention that they actually thought the shaking was cool and fun. That's why they were laughing and having so much fun.