Your Scariest aviation experience ?
Discussion
I personally, thankfully have never had anything other than a bit or turbulence and the odd bouncy landing, as generally aviation is hugely safe due to the attitude, skill and professionalism of those involved in it, however, interested to hear what experiences others have had ?
Actually, scariest for me, though I wasn't involved was seeing the smoke over Manchester Airport whilst doing my paper round one morning in summer 1985.
Actually, scariest for me, though I wasn't involved was seeing the smoke over Manchester Airport whilst doing my paper round one morning in summer 1985.
Edited by J4CKO on Monday 29th February 13:07
Epic turbulence,
the pilot said on the way to TFS it was bad, but not as bad we were having on the way back
luggage lockers were springing open, crew were back in their seats, nobody could get out of their seat, even the poor bloke covered in scolding coffee, alarms were sounding drinks trollies were bashing around despite being locked back in position.
good fun, i laughed my head off, and so did Sam.
Woman in front was crying, kid covered in sick who was a pain all of the flight, so much so she had to get a change of clothes from somewhere.
Twenty minutes later it was fine.
All good fun, pretty much threw it on the floor when we landed, that was a bit disconcerting i must say.
the pilot said on the way to TFS it was bad, but not as bad we were having on the way back
luggage lockers were springing open, crew were back in their seats, nobody could get out of their seat, even the poor bloke covered in scolding coffee, alarms were sounding drinks trollies were bashing around despite being locked back in position.
good fun, i laughed my head off, and so did Sam.
Woman in front was crying, kid covered in sick who was a pain all of the flight, so much so she had to get a change of clothes from somewhere.
Twenty minutes later it was fine.
All good fun, pretty much threw it on the floor when we landed, that was a bit disconcerting i must say.
Landing at Derry Airport in the dark in a snowstorm. Derry Airport is always a bit spicier than most as most approaches are from over the sea and only at the last second do you see any land before the wheels touch.
We circled for ages (we reckoned the pilots were tossing a coin to see who wouldn't do the landing), then we were bucking about on final approach, massive thump and bounce, then 2nd touchdown the plane skidded and all I could see out of the window was the grass, as opposed to any runway. I was sat at the overwing exit and I was reaching for the release handle.
We circled for ages (we reckoned the pilots were tossing a coin to see who wouldn't do the landing), then we were bucking about on final approach, massive thump and bounce, then 2nd touchdown the plane skidded and all I could see out of the window was the grass, as opposed to any runway. I was sat at the overwing exit and I was reaching for the release handle.
My limited first hand flying hours all went well, I'm happy to say.
My scariest experience therefore was by proxy but my wife and I watched the mid air collision at Flying Legends 2011. We'd already watched the Fokker DR1 groundloop/nose-over and the Belgian Skyraider have a near-miss with a landing Spitfire on the Sunday.
The main reason for the fright on my part was that following lots of Air Training Corps induction videos about abandoning Chipmunks and an ejection seat training video before a Tucano flight I was fairly sure that an unflyable aircraft at the sort of height the Skyraider/Mustang collision occurred at would be fatal. Happily it wasn't. My wife decided at that point that any future private flying would be with an emergency parachute regardless of the height I intended to be pootling around at. Rob Davies proved the point.
My scariest experience therefore was by proxy but my wife and I watched the mid air collision at Flying Legends 2011. We'd already watched the Fokker DR1 groundloop/nose-over and the Belgian Skyraider have a near-miss with a landing Spitfire on the Sunday.
The main reason for the fright on my part was that following lots of Air Training Corps induction videos about abandoning Chipmunks and an ejection seat training video before a Tucano flight I was fairly sure that an unflyable aircraft at the sort of height the Skyraider/Mustang collision occurred at would be fatal. Happily it wasn't. My wife decided at that point that any future private flying would be with an emergency parachute regardless of the height I intended to be pootling around at. Rob Davies proved the point.
Just coming back from a local flight in my PA28 a few years ago, and seeing this happen in the distance:
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/8-2010-g-eyes-and-...
Nothing else quite comes close after that.
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/8-2010-g-eyes-and-...
Nothing else quite comes close after that.
Munter said:
Hearing what I recall were the following noises from the cockpit:
"woop woop" "Terrain terrain" "pull up pull up"
I think I have watched too many "Air Crash investigation" type programmes so know all the Whoop Whoop Noises with the attendant "Terrain" "PULL UP" etc so was on the way to Vegas on a Virgin 747 and something made a very similar noise and my blood ran cold, then thought, hang on am sat like 40 rows back from the flight deck, which is higher up anyway, at which point a stewardess nipped into the galley to my right and pressed something that stopped the alarm ! why they make the Microwave sound like the Terrain proximity warning I dont know."woop woop" "Terrain terrain" "pull up pull up"
Same flight was very, very bumpy, my wife had been dug in the ribs by some tattooed, big watched, provincial town, steroidal "Player" poseur type and his mate, anyway, the horrendous bumpinenss and rapid dropping and rising due to the heat off the desert (had been mad hot even by Vegas standards) caused her to divest herself of her dinner into a bag, very cheesy aroma so she got her own back, the landing was weird, felt like the plane was landing at a weird angle but hard to tell from where I was sat, would have loved to see an external view, lots of screaming, stuff falling out of the overhead bins and a proper hard slam down followed by a lot of cheering.
Its funny, with planes, it is difficult to equate what it feels like inside to what it looks like outside.
We hit clear air turbulence in a 747 over the Rockies. A few bumps then all of a sudden my daughter was floating above the bassinet, the food trolleys became airborne and all the cabin crew dropped to the floor in the aisles and braced themselves across the gangway.
Even a plane the size of a 747 felt like it was just being tossed around
Even a plane the size of a 747 felt like it was just being tossed around
"Soup ready, soup ready, take out, take out"Whilst not scary as such this was a reminder that low level flying has its dangers!
Warning animals were hurt in the following image:
I think that was one of 4/5 bird strikes whilst low level flying in chinooks that I experienced first hand. The smell is not pleasant that's for sure.
I think my scariest experience was one of my last flights in a chinook when the aircraft decided to keep pitching the nose down rather rapidly, it was like being on a roller coaster, normally manouveres like that were fun but when you knew it was uncontrolled it suddenly made things slightly worrying. Fortunately after 5 minutes it sorted itself out.
Warning animals were hurt in the following image:
I think that was one of 4/5 bird strikes whilst low level flying in chinooks that I experienced first hand. The smell is not pleasant that's for sure.
I think my scariest experience was one of my last flights in a chinook when the aircraft decided to keep pitching the nose down rather rapidly, it was like being on a roller coaster, normally manouveres like that were fun but when you knew it was uncontrolled it suddenly made things slightly worrying. Fortunately after 5 minutes it sorted itself out.
Very late aborted approach into stansted. All seemed fine until engines went full power and we went into a very steep climb. Overheard lockers pinging open and bags falling out. People screaming. Not fun. Second approach was rather tense as you can imagine, but went without a problem.
Word was, a light aircraft crossed under us. No idea if that was the real reason. I just wanted to go home and forget about it.
Word was, a light aircraft crossed under us. No idea if that was the real reason. I just wanted to go home and forget about it.
I was on an AirAsia flight from Penang to Lankawi in Malaysia - a very quick skip between the two islands. The pilot warned us of turbulence but it wasn't too bad until we came in to land and on final approach the plane suddenly took a pretty strong lurch to the side (where in the not too far distance were rocky hills/mountains).
It wouldn't have been particularly memorable were it not for the fact that people started screaming and the woman next to me grabbed my arm! All quite disconcerting.
This was soon after the AirAsia crash and not long after the two Malaysia Airlines planes had been lost so perhaps people were particularly nervous but it was certainly an eye opener and I can't imagine how terrifying it'd be on a plane that hit real difficulties
It wouldn't have been particularly memorable were it not for the fact that people started screaming and the woman next to me grabbed my arm! All quite disconcerting.
This was soon after the AirAsia crash and not long after the two Malaysia Airlines planes had been lost so perhaps people were particularly nervous but it was certainly an eye opener and I can't imagine how terrifying it'd be on a plane that hit real difficulties
Edited by rpguk on Monday 29th February 16:03
Squeezyjet Berlin to Gatwick (SCF to LGW) sitting in 1D. Lots of shuffling about going on in th galley area and whispered voices. I look up to see 2 flight attendants talking to 2 other people, 1 had 3 stripes and the other had 4. f
k, the silly sods have locked them selves out of the flight deck!
It turned out to be the actual FO and a Captain dead heading back home.
k, the silly sods have locked them selves out of the flight deck!It turned out to be the actual FO and a Captain dead heading back home.
J4CKO said:
I think I have watched too many "Air Crash investigation" type programmes so know all the Whoop Whoop Noises with the attendant "Terrain" "PULL UP" etc so was on the way to Vegas on a Virgin 747 and something made a very similar noise and my blood ran cold, then thought, hang on am sat like 40 rows back from the flight deck, which is higher up anyway, at which point a stewardess nipped into the galley to my right and pressed something that stopped the alarm ! why they make the Microwave sound like the Terrain proximity warning I dont know.
The real cockpit alarms are different, they use the alarms sounds of microwaves and wotnot for the telly programs so the passengers can't tell what's up in the cockpit.... probably.Me, probably the crazy Ivans clonking their mig 29's into each other at fairford that year, or maybe my mrs bringing an out-of-date passport for one of our flights to oz.
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