What Was Your Scariest Experience(s) While in a Aircraft?

[Grunt]

I just posted a video of a large plane falling out of the sky and it got me thinking about a couple of my experiences that scared me while airborne.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...o_large_cargo_plane_crash_in_afghanistan.html

What experiences have you had on aircraft that scared the doo doo out of you? It can be civil aviation, military, experimental or even alien abduction.

Two experiences in my life stand out:

1. I was flying from Indy to Chicago on a prop aircraft, sitting in a window seat over the left wing. As we got to altitude, I noticed the left aileron flapping uncontrollably in airstream. It was the back flap on the wing and I'd estimate it was 8 to 10 feet long. It was flapping rapidly; up-down, up-down. I looked at the right side and everything was fine there.

The aircraft was not reacting to this flapping. I called a stewardess over and pointed out quietly what I was seeing. She said that was normal, that was what they were designed to do. I thought she was blowing smoke, as I asked her to look at the right side. When she saw that, she went up to the cockpit. She never talked to me again.

I never knew what it was. I made no fuss about it and sweated out the remainder of the flight.

For you pilots out there, what would you say happened, and was that normal.

2. Another propeller aircraft flight from Dallas to Wichita Falls, TX. We got to altitude for the short flight (maybe 45 mins) and the service cart started up the aisle. We were flying in light chop (turbulence) when they gave me my drink.

As I reached for my drink and got it, we got into heavy chop as we were flying under a thunderstorm. The aircraft was tossed to and fro. I was still holding the drink (Diet Coke), as we were being tossed around. I couldn't put it down and I couldn't drink it. In hindsight, I should have dropped it.

Us passengers were looking wildly at each other scared witless. It was scary as heck. I never flew that route again, I always rented a car and drove there from the Dallas airport.

 

[jdmack79]

I was on a domestic flight in China a few years ago that landed so hard some of the overhead bins fell down. A few months later the same flight with the same airline landed so hard the wings broke off.

 

[Palarran]

Too many to count. As an instructor, I always say that every student trys to kill you at least once. You never know when it's going to come, so you always need to be on your toes ready to take over.

I've had a few inflight emergencies that were not student induced, but were genuine equipment failures. I follow the procedures that I teach my students as part of their training and get the airplane safely on the ground. I always feel super calm during the situation, but after its over and we're all safe, I find that the adrenaline dump gives me the shakes for about 10-15 minutes.

 

[wolfeden]

My Dad owned 2 single engine planes back in the late 70's into the 80's. One Sunday afternoon we were flying along and he reached down and turned the engine OFF. He turned and looked at me and said "There Ya Go" I had only been in a plane maybe twice before.

We argued for a few minutes, finally he started to tell me what to do. I got everything back in check and got the engine re-fired. Kinda reminds me of the first time you learn how to swim. Anyway, everything was ironed out and we headed back to the airport and he landed the plane. I was pissed. When we got out of the plane, I asked him, why did you do that?? He said the look on my face was priceless. But his main point was how much time we really did have to recover.

He said the 1 and 10 rule applied here. 1 foot drop for 10 foot forward. We could have glided for miles. He also said that a commercial airliner was the opposite.
He also said we were lined up for the airport anyway. I just didn't notice.

 

[indykid]

Grunt, the flapping aileron very possibly came loose from it's control cable, which allowed it to flap in the airstream. As you found out the plane will fly ok with just one working as long as the other isn't jammed in an up or down position. Guessing the flight crew didn't want to alarm the passengers that the flapping control surface could eventually take the wing off.

My favorite time was in a 737-800, coming into Indy during a rain storm at night. I was seated right along side the engine inlet and it looked like someone had a firehose directed into the engine. My daughter had the nerve to say "wouldn't it be cool if we were hit by lightning?" About five seconds after she said that she got her wish, a very bright blue flash accompanied by a loud pop. The lights in the plane flickered for a second, but all continued ok as planes these days are designed to just shrug off most lightning strikes, but I bet all the static wicks on the wings needed to be replaced!

 

[maddawg138]

when i was in the Army and actually landing while in a C-130 or C-17.....i preferred to jump out of them instead

 

[netsecurity]

I was trapped in a plane that seemed to stall out about every two minutes...

While on a flight half way to Vegas, the pilot informed us that there were engine problems with the plane, and that we'd be heading back to Indy for repairs. I was on a business trip, so I was flying alone, and I was sitting in the very back row, which was the worst place to be because I could clearly hear (and feel) the engine noise better than anyone.

The entire flight back--a good hour and a half--I felt the engines cutting out, the tail of the plane dropping weightlessly, then the engines coming back on full thrust. And so it continued the whole time, meanwhile I was praying and flush with fear. I looked into other passenger's eyes, and could sense they had the same concerns, but not a one was speaking it out loud. I was forced to fully accept that I was going to die and be at peace with that, otherwise I'd be freaking having a meltdown.

We landed without incident thankfully. We all knew the problem was serious though. We spent the night sleeping at the airport waiting for a plane that was acceptable to the paranoid pilots. Two planes were rejected during preflight inspection, as we waited to board!

I made it to Vegas the next day, having not slept. All the airline gave me for my trouble was a free round trip ticket.

 

[jbombelli]

The scariest moment for me was the few seconds before my first jump out of a Twin Otter at 13,000 feet.

 

[Stschil]

1. Some members of my platoon and I had been training with German MPs (Feldjaegers) back in the 80's. We'd been out for two weeks and luckily caught a hop in a CH47 from Baumholder to Nellingen, Germany instead of driving the M151's back. The Pilot was a sadistic SOB and decided to 'take us for a ride' in a low fly zone without warning us. All could see was hydraulic leaks and tree tops. In retrospect, it was fun but at the time, I was shaking in my boots.

2. Sitting at a window seat just forward of the wing on a commercial L1011 while flying over the Atlantic, I saw lightening strike the engine cowling. It did no damage, and the aircraft wasnt effected at all, but I nearly 'd my pants.

 

[VUPDblue]

The first time I flew with my helo pilot friend and he "educated" me on auto-gyration. That was a bit nerve wracking....

 

[Stschil]

The first time I flew with my helo pilot friend and he "educated" me on auto-gyration. That was a bit nerve wracking....

I'm guessing this is not the same 'auto-gyration' as those girls with the fake cans demonstrate out in Pendleton Pike.......

 

[kickbacked]

I use to fly a lot as a kid back and fourth to Florida. I honestly don't remember having any issues. One time we had to fly around a storm which took two hours. That sucked, i felt like the plan was never going to land.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Three years ago landing in Atlanta from Jamaica. We got to a few hundred feet on the glide path and then all of a sudden full throttle and steep ascent. Circled once and landed. I was thrown down into my seat and jerked back. Worse than any turbulence I've been in. Never a word was said about what happened. I'm guessing we and another plane were about to have occupied the same runway.

 

[Dirty Steve]

I went on a fly in drop camp caribou hunt years ago in northern Quebec. Pilot told us when we left Schefferville that we were going about as far as the float plane could make it without stopping to refuel. He said they had fuel barrels at several lakes we could stop at if we needed them so it was not really an issue.

I was in the front seat and noticed the fuel light on indicating tank one was empty. Looked over at the gauge and that was indeed the case. Later I noticed the fuel light on on tank two. I asked the pilot if we had enough fuel to make it. He said, I believe so, but the wind is killing us. We eventually ran out of fuel as we were making our approach to the lake we landed on. We glided in with no power, wrong approach, rough landing.

When we flew out at the end of the week, we were totally over weight hauling us plus gear plus caribou racks and meat. Both pontoons were under water as we sat waiting to take-off. I asked if that was an issue and the pilot told me "if it will float it will fly". It took 5 attempts to take-off and the pilot had to bounce the plane up and down hard off of the water to get enough air to take off. The bouncing darn near put my head into the dash. On the 5th attempt we got enough air under the wings to pull the pontoons out of the water and get airborne but came within inches of clipping the trees on the far end of the lake with the pontoons. The pilot never said a word until a few minutes later, then said, "that was close, we almost ate it, should have shed some weight". Scared the snot out of me.

Dirty Steve

 

[avboiler11]

Nearly 5000 hours flying professionally for a decade now, and I guess I've never experienced anything really "scary". Or perhaps, familarity means I don't get scared as easy?

Worst I can remember was flying the night before the Tuscaloosa tornadoes, trying to pick my way through the line and land in Shreveport. Departed on a 30 minute flight with a nice big gap (50nm) in the weather, but convective activity was growing faster than our XM datalink radar (and even onboard ship radar) could see it. Never had my ass kicked so much, and somehow managed to avoid a lightening strike.

Had an engine that attempted to tear itself apart at 45,000ft, had a single engine piston burble a few times in climb or cruise, had a failing generator grinding away for over an hour, had a 0 PSI oil pressure indication on 2 mile final in a single engine piston once.

...just another day at the office...

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Saab 340 from St. Louis to Austin. Lightning strike. Almost saw a lot more of Arkansas than I expected but pilot pulled nose up.

 

[Sfrandolph]

Commercial flight from Pittsburgh to Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Twin engine jet. Scranton airport is on top of a small mountain. They cut the top of the mountain off to make the level airport. Only one runway to land a jet on at the time. Cross wind caught the tail and turned the plane about 90 degrees to the runway. I looked out my side window and was looking straight down the runway. The pilot was great. He yawed the plane right around and came in pretty hot so as to not give the cross wind a chance to turn us again. There was an elderly man in the first seat of economy that evidently was scared pretty bad. He had a heart attack and passed away on the plane. We had to wait until the EMT's attended to him before we count deplane.

 

[buford t justice]

The stuffed pepper meal

 

[jontheturboguy]

Flew 18+ hours to Japan years ago only to have the plane hit by lightning about 2500 ft off deck lined up at Tokyo. The ENTIRE plane shut off for a second. Yoi could hear all sorts of little relays start clicking making the sound of falling dominos and walah power was restored and we landed safely.

Another time I flew on a plane that only had a couch for a seat.....

 

[cwillour]

Once when I was about 10-12 on a commercial flight that got caught in a storm in a storm coming back from Denver (the bumps were bad enough, but the St Elmo's fire gave me nightmares for a week or so.)

The worst was on my 2nd or 3rd solo flight in a glider after transitioning from a SGS 2-33 (a 2-seat, high-wing trainer) to a 1-26 (a low-performance, aerobatic glider) a couple months after my 14th birthday. I had gotten off tow at 1000' AGL and had just worked my way up to a little over 4500' AGL when the sky went from nice white poppers all around to almost black just west of me and dark grey all around.

The call came from the ground of an un-forecasted thunderstorm and for everyone to get down ASAP. I was almost on top of the field, so I started a sharp bank, extended the spoilers, and brought up the speed. The lift was strong enough that I was barely descending (3-500FPM indicated) with the meter sitting at nearly 4.5G (about as much as I was willing to pull and far more uncomfortable than the 2-2.5G of a tight thermal) and the speed increasing to 90+ knots.

A quick call to my instructor on the ground let me know that I was on the bottom of the cloud and brought me the suggestion to do series of short spins until only the roof of the Walmart was visible (which was a visual reference indicating roughly 1500-2000' AGL when over the airfield) so I shallowed the bank, went full rudder, and stalled her out. A few spins and a minute or two latter and I was ready to start an abbreviated approach.

Since we had so many coming in at once, I was told to land long (touching down in front of the hanger) on the mid-strip to leave room for 2-3 gliders to come in behind me. The worst part was this lined me up with the gas pumps for the tail-draggers if I overshoot by 100-200' extra.

Well, I made it with a solid 50-100' to spare and everybody got in safely, although we did pick up damage on a couple of birds due to a wing clipping on roll-out. I do not remember much of the rest of the day, but I am pretty certain I was still shaking well into the evening.