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

JohnCU

Banned
Dec 9, 2000
16,530
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i've only flown a couple of times so i'm still not used to all the sounds and bumps that everyone else seems to ignore but no bad turbulence yet. i think i'll probably puke or piss if that day ever comes with the really bad turbulence.
 

Farang

Lifer
Jul 7, 2003
10,914
3
0
Scariest moment was a crazy white guy on a flight in Thailand who was hiding in the bathroom and front kitchen from the flight attendants, standing in the front of the plane the entire flight and doing all sorts of weird shit. Oh and he had a knife that he flashed for a second and a bag full of plastic handcuffs.
 

glenn beck

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2004
2,381
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Flew over a hurricane(or pretty close to it), think it was about 3 years ago or so, very bad turbulence going to Florida
 

RKS

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,824
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there was this time with a tiny piece of paper my buddy told me to leave on my tongue...
 

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,709
8
81
Thankfully no incidents besides minor turbulance

landing though is always the scariest part for me
 
Feb 6, 2007
16,432
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81
Turbulence is always a little unsettling, and I've had some rough, rough flights. I remember reading Airframe on the flight back from Hawaii, which is all about a plane crash, and being keenly aware that if we crashed at sea, there would be virtually no chance of rescue... That was a fun flight.

Oh, and my last night in Ecuador I made the mistake of brushing my teeth with the water. Well, turns out it doesn't take much to get La Turista. 20 hours of flying the next day, and I was fairly certain I was going to die. The pain was so intense that, were it to occur now, I would immediately go to the ER (and I never see doctors for anything). That was a scary flight cause I was only 13 and I was worried that I had killed myself by brushing my teeth.
 

Starbuck1975

Lifer
Jan 6, 2005
14,698
1,909
126
Flying into Sarajevo airport under low visibility conditions and heavy turbulence in a small 6 seater military jet.

For those not familiar with the city:
1. Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains, so the approach to the airport is essentially a dive, not something you want to do in a thick fog.
2. The airport was run by French peacekeepers at the time.

 

SSSnail

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
17,461
82
86
I walked to my seat and saw a sweating behemoth in a colorful moomoo seating in the middle seat, I had isle. Upon checking my ticket again, my seat was one row up. Pheeewwww... :shocked:
 

Ctrackstar126

Senior member
Jul 14, 2005
988
0
76
second flight I was ever on we had to get on a small plane to finish off the flight. I experienced turbulence on the other flights but nothing more then a little rumbling. This damn plane I swear was taking 100-200 foot dips. The stewardess was trying to act calm but you could see in her face she was like this is fucked. It was actually the scariest moment of my life. I dont really get scared of stuff but F that shit no more small planes for me. My friend said he never saw that look on my face ever.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
Originally posted by: RKS
there was this time with a tiny piece of paper my buddy told me to leave on my tongue...

AHAHHAHAHA

Yeah, I imagine that would suck balls in coach. In First though...not that bad!
 

SSSnail

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
17,461
82
86
Originally posted by: Ns1
Originally posted by: RKS
there was this time with a tiny piece of paper my buddy told me to leave on my tongue...

AHAHHAHAHA

Yeah, I imagine that would suck balls in coach. In First though...not that bad!

Hmmm... I don't think you two are talking about the same type of "flying"....
 

Duddy

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2002
4,675
9
81
THERE'S SOMEONE ON THE WING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
Originally posted by: SSSnail
Originally posted by: Ns1
Originally posted by: RKS
there was this time with a tiny piece of paper my buddy told me to leave on my tongue...

AHAHHAHAHA

Yeah, I imagine that would suck balls in coach. In First though...not that bad!

Hmmm... I don't think you two are talking about the same type of "flying"....

No, I'm pretty sure we are ;)
 

weirdichi

Diamond Member
Sep 19, 2001
4,712
2
76
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.
 

rivan

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2003
9,677
3
81
We took a tiny, 12-or-so-seater on the last leg of our flights to go on safari in South Africa. The plane vibrated in a way I was certain was unhealthy, and we had a LOT of heavy turbulence. At one point, we felt like we were free falling for about 10 seconds - very light in the seats, and it turns out the plane had hit a front or some such and had almost completely lost lift.

Never been so happy to see a dirt runway.
 

marvdmartian

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2002
5,548
19
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Worst weather I've flown through was a few years ago, what's normally a 45 minute puddle jumper (turboprop limited to 9000 ft elevation) ride turned into 2 hours through a nasty storm system. They determined that if we flew straight to our destination airport, we'd be landing right as the storms hit there. Instead of cancelling the flight (last one of the night, I think), they decided to take off, fly through a "gentle" part of the storm front, then follow the line of storms in, and land after they'd gone through the area. Yeah.......
The lady sitting next to me was flying in for the weekend from Wisconsin to see her son, who was going to school here, and it was her first time in Texas. She was white knuckled, eyes jammed shut pretty much the whole flight, trying hard not to lose her dinner. Once we arrived, after 2 hours of what most theme parks wish they could make a roller coaster do plane ride, I patted her hand and said, "Welcome to Texas, ma'am!" :laugh:

While that was bad, possibly the worst I ever got scared was flying Continental into Hawaii (Honolulu international). We're following the glide path down, down, down......getting lower, lower, lower......I can see land ahead of us, but wasn't able to see a runway (since I'm not in the cockpit) ahead of us. Suddenly, and without warning, seemingly just over the water, the pilot banks a hard left turn, and lands us on a runway that was perpendicular to the direction we'd just been coming in at! I swear, I looked out the windows on one side of the plane, and saw nothing but sky, and looked out the other side and saw nothing but water!!! :shocked:

Needless to say, as they're standing by the exit, saying goodbye to everyone, I told the flight crew that that was an "interesting" way to bring us in! LOL
 

glenn beck

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2004
2,381
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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.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
Originally posted by: Dacalo
When I opened the foil when they were serving dinner.

Any seasoned traveler knows to bring a full lunch with him on the plane.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,297
2,000
126
I sat down, buckled my seatbelt and heard over the PA "welcome to Southwest Airlines..."


I almost screamed.
 
Aug 25, 2004
11,166
1
81
1. In a small plane run by Ethiopian Airlines, flying over the Himalayas. The flight was so bad, I was certain the plane was held together by duct tape, and that I was going to die.

2. On a transatlantic flight, there was a medical emergency. The guy almost didn't make it.

3. Flight takes off, five minutes later we hear odd mechanical noises that don't belong. Then the pilot announces we are returning to the airport due to "minor mechanical difficulties" and proceeds to make a huge circle and land on the same runway we took off from. Later I found out that one of the engines had caught fire.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
I've flown a few hundred times over the years, and the worst was always flying into Cleveland, OH. On more than a few occasions there was complete ground cover, so you didn't know you were landing until you hit the ground. This was particularly worrisome when there were heavy winds, because you would land almost sideways as well. On more than a few occasions I actually thought we were going to crash.

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

AliasX

Senior member
Jan 29, 2006
508
0
0
One time I was on a short flight, so the plane was pretty small, and the turbulence was awful.

Another time which was more unsettling was when there is an announcement and the stewardess asks "Is anyone on board a doctor? A crewemember requires assistance of a doctor. This is urgent. Please report to the main cabin."
Thankfully nothing happened. I don't even know who got sick.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
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116
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