I was flying back from Amarillo the day after Christmas. (I dont know if anyone remembers, but Amarillo and Lubbock got slammed with like 8+ feet inches of snow) We were actually the last flight out of AMA that day (the rest following were delayed or canceled), and I could barely see the runway because of all the snow. We take off on our way to Dallas, and as we are approach the Dallas area, we go through some pretty severe turbulance, and Im not talking about air pockets or anything. People start to panic, but not too bad. Then out of nowhere I hear this sonic boom, which I of course thought was an engine exploding. Ok now people are freaking..... It turns out lightning struck the right wing as we swayed and took a huge drop (or at least it seemed). Ive flown quite a bit, so Im used to the bumps and all, but after that I was clenching the arm rests pretty tightly. Needles to say, I was not too eager to jump on my connecting flight to Austin after I got off the plane. Scary stuff..... ------------------ I stole your money and I did your daughter at Texas A&M University
Dang! I've heard of planes getting struck by lightning on the runway, but not in the air. Well, at least everything turned out ok. (nobody hurt) ------------------
I would have to say flying in the back of a DC10 aircraft for 8 hours in a middle seat. From Hawaii to Newark. Seats were so crammed in. Food was nasty. Movies sucked. Nothing like getting hit by lightning though. ------------------
OH man!!! I was once on a plane that got hit my lightning...but it scared the HELL out of me. We were flying into London Gatwick airport, and we were just making our approach to the runway when we got hit. It shook our plane quite a bit, and the same people, well, LOST their cool. But yeah, I was eager to get off as well. The SCARIEST incident I can remember was flying from Frankfurt to Istanbul...we took off from Frankfurt and immediately a noticeably panicked captain got on the radio and informed us that one engine had already blown out and the second could go at any minute, so he was returning to Frankfurt. Frightening stuff. ------------------ Jazzkiller
Yeah it was loud as hell, I thought for sure the engine was gone or something really sh!tty happened to the plane. The worst part was thinking..... Damn, I have to die in Dallas of all places?? ------------------ I stole your money and I did your daughter at Texas A&M University
Yeah, it wouldve been alright, had you died in Houston hehe The worst flight I've ever been in was really just one where I got sick. I NEVER get sick in airplanes, but one time when I was flying (with my 6th grade class) from Oslo to Stavanger, about 30 minutes out of Stavanger I had a cup of coffee. I hadn't ever had a problem with stuff on planes before, but something happened, and I got so horribly sick, I've never felt so badly. I went ghostly white, and got really, really hot. I felt like my head was gonna explode. It took about 2 days before I felt better, but I couldn't walk straight when I got off the plane either. I don't know what the problem was with the coffee, but I won't ever have another drink of it on a plane again. ------------------ CC.net's most courteous driver Oh yeah, and I'm looking for a job right now, so hire me please
We were on a flight from San Diego to Houston. About 10 minutes into the flight we were informed that we were going to land in LA because the hydraulic system was out. We flew over the Pacific to dump fuel. After what seemed like an ungodly amount of time we landed amidst a number of emergency vehicles (firetrucks, police cars and ambulances) on a foamed runway. The pilot used every bit of the runway to brake the plane. We finally got a flight out of LA to Houston late at night. Shortly before landing I heard a loud noise and looked out the window to see flames shooting out of the engine. Apparently it was no big deal as nothing came of it. ------------------
I really, really object to the title of this thread. It gives me vertigo. No, seriously. The thread spooks me. oooh, I just had an uncontrollable Kramer shake.
Come on HP.... learn to express your feelings and maybe all of your fears will subside. The first step is admitting you have a problem, then sharing your problem with the group. This can be very theraputic... ------------------ I stole your money and I did your daughter at Texas A&M University
My greatest fear is probably flying. The irony is that I've been on literally dozens of flights since I was a kid, but planes just FREAK me out. I'm sure it is a combination of my fear of heights mixed with my desire to control things that makes it a terrifying fear. Funny thing is, it just developed around the time I turned 21 or 22. It wasn't there before. My worst flight was coming out of London in a lightning storm. The plane was bouncing all over the place and, at one point, made a radical left turn and nose dive before pitching back up and righting itself. Ugh! I get a shiver just thinking about it. ------------------ Things do not change; we change. - Henry David Thoreau
I can relate, anyone on a plane that suddenly drops due to wind shear, turbulence or something can't get over the sick feeling in their stomach. happened to me coming back from Cancun to Houston in 1996. ------------------ Rarely is the question asked: Guns kill squirrels than REDRUM to fools across the nation?
Jeff- Man I must have caught what you have, because I started getting wigged out on planes when I was around 22 as well. Funny because it never really bothered me when I was a kid, and I have flown dozens and dozens of times. Too many airplane disaster movies perhaps? ------------------ I stole your money and I did your daughter at Texas A&M University
my worst flying experience had the stewardesses grabbing various people from the front of the craft and bringing them to the back for some odd reason. Then the stewardesses started running their hands across each seam on the aircraft.... the seams against the far walls and the seams on each of the luggage compartments. the main stewardess, aka 'biggun' ran up to the midpart of the plane and started communicating via phone w/ the cockpit. then it hit us. the smell of burning plastic. are you guys scared yet? the odor was horrible. all of a sudden, the left engine blew. j/k. all of a sudden one of the random guys that had come to the back of the plane realized that some part had just burnt out. they phoned it into ATL, and rather than having us fly all of the way back, we were going to continue on to Salt Lake. The pilot, in a completely 'uh yeah' sort of voice said that 'we should be okay'. Ummmm... when the fetchin' pilot has the slightest bit of apprehension, you pick it up pretty damn quickly. Anyway, as you can tell, our plane crashed and I didn't make it. Just kidding, did you get it? You see, I'm still alive. Wasn't that funny? Anyway, that day I became enamored with the phone on the back of the seat that lay in front of me. I called my love, and just reminded her of those special things that you want to tell your love when you have that total clarity that precedes death. Next time I have that clarity, btw... perhaps I should look at my Visa bill, I think those phone calls are $8 a minute or something.
Me, my girl and a couple of friends were coming back to Houston from Vegas. There is a HORRIBLE thunder storm and the planes is shaking like crazy. I have sat through some turbulence before, but this stuff was scary as hell. Loud thunder and constant lightning did not help the matter. Conditions were not right for landing. I could see the runway below, but we could not land. The pilot kept on making circles and finally landed after what seemed like an eternity! ------------------
I've never had a fear of flying and have done a ton of it over the years, from military aircraft, to commercial wide bodies, to small private aircraft. My worse flying experiences have been in small planes. The worst was in a 4 place, single engine Cessna in Iowa back in 1984. A friend had borrowed the little Cessna from a friend and was flying us a couple hundred miles. Him, his 10 year old daughter, and me. We took off at one of those rural fields that is hardly a runway, and barely, and I mean barely, cleared a cornfield and got above a power line. The engine sputtered and lost power, which is what put us in peril. He was a Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam, and the look he and I gave each other for a second there is something I will never forget. His daughter was oblivious, but we both knew we had just cheated death, and it showed on our faces. We didn't talk about it until we were at 5000 feet. Then our IFR instruments went out, so we were flying VFR. And then came the bad weather. If you think it sucks flying in bad weather in a commercial jet, you should do it with a screaming kid in a single engine plane, flying blind. It's like driving in a really bad rainstorm, except you can't see anything, lightning is actually around you, and the the plane is pitching violently like you're riding a bull. That was the one and a half hour flight from hell. Still gives me the willies! ------------------ "We're having a pretty good time considering one day we're all going to die." Steve Martin, 1976
Go look at this IF YOU DARE... I've been lucky. Never been a flight with anything other than normal turbulence.
Wow, Kagy, that was both awesome and scary as hell! My worst experience was flying from houston to Imperial Valley in California. (Imperial Valley is south of Death Valley, near the Salton Sea.) This was the last week of July, and we had to change planes at LAX. We went from a comfortable 737 to a twin engine, twelve seat puddle jumper. As we crossed over the mountains, the pilot warned us that heat thermals rising up off the desert floor would make things "a little bumpy". Holy crap! We started bouncing so bad, I hit my head on the ceiling of the plane three times before I could get my seat belt fastened. The guy next to me was bounced over his seat! I look out the window, and I swear I thought the wings were gonna be ripped off. There was no door to the cockpit, and the two pilots were just as calm as could be. Sure, they knew what to expect. I sure was dreading that trip home, but it was a early morning flight and it wasn't as bad. ------------------ Beware the blank post!
Also, no one warned us that the average July temperature in the Imperial Valley was 127 degrees. That was the hottest place I have ever been in. ------------------ Beware the blank post!
On my first trip to Paris my sister, another girl and I went to see U2 and the Velvet Underground in concert the night before we were supposed to leave. Because the concert got out so late and the Metro had closed we didn't get back to our hotel until 6 A.M. (and we had to be up by 7 to leave by 8). We turn on the TV only to discover that Clinton and re-bombed IRAQ in retaliation for some assignation blot against former-president Bush while Bush was in Kuwait. Needless to say I was exhausted and went to the airport un-shaven and very grungy. The airport (Orly) was teeming with security because of fear of terrorists’ reprisals against the bombing. I never saw so many soldiers and machine guns in my life! In addition we had to go through something like three metal detectors before we got on the plane. And to top it off, I got pulled out of line and questioned privately by Israeli (!) security! I guess I looked like terrorist? Fortunately my mom was with me and I guess terrorists don't generally fly with mom so it worked out okay (we actually got through the line quicker as we had already been personally checked). We got on the plane and, I swear, I was SURE it was going to explode because of fears the extra security had put into my head. Nothing happened but I was extremely nervous! ------------------
I DON'T CARE WHAT ANY OF YOU SAY I HAVE BY FAR THE WORST STORY ABOUT FLYING... http://bbs.clutchcity.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/012620.html ------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain - [This message has been edited by DarkHorse (edited June 26, 2001).]
