Flight stories

LenaClaire · 09-01-2011 08:01PM

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Emergency take off abort on runway in singapore. 747 was in full thrust about 5 seconds from being airborne & the captain decides to not take off. Those things can stop in a hurry if they want to. Freaky incident. Some sort of technical problem that obviously showed up at the last second.

I had the same thing happen on a flight to Tokyo. We were going down the runway at full throttle and then pilot hit the brakes and we turned off the runway really fast. He said there was some computer error. They re-booted the plane and tried it again and that time we took off no problem but I was a little nervous.

Herb Powell · 09-01-2011 08:49PM

When I was about 13, I was flyin on my own from Belfast to Cork, and the cabin crew and pilots were sound as could be. I was asked if I wanted to buy a drink, and I told them I only had pounds, so they just gave me the drink for free.
Later on, I asked a hostess if I could see the cockpit after landing (was very interested in aviation). She said no problem, but came back a few mins later to tell me the pilots said I could sit in the jumpseat for the landing. That was a great flight to be fair.
Another memorable moment on a plane was on the way over to London for a school day trip to the National Gallery. There was a woman behind us with 2 children, and they were speaking in heavy, rough, London accents. This was kind of amusing in itself, because they were arguing for the whole flight. Then things got intense when we landed. The mother gave out to her daughter, and the daughter screamed back in the London accent "OH FACK OFF, YEW CAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!"
We were in stitches. Tried not to make eye contact with the woman though.

Almaviva · 09-01-2011 08:49PM

Plug wrote: »

I could see the runway we were probably about 4 meters from the runway when all of a sudden the plane roared full throttle and it pulled back up.

Was on one of these also once on a very very windy day and the plane had really been tossed around on approach. Some of us enjoyed the miscued over casual explanation from the pilot, though it panicked further rather than reassured the nervous flyers on board. He said 'there were a few alarms flashing here, so we're going to come around and try that again'. Said with such great nonchalance that suggested if you had been able to ask him 'what do the alarms mean?' he would have answered - 'search me', or asked 'are we likely to land safely?' - 'who knows'.

On an aborted take-off also when an engined failed. Some jolt when the plane moved from acceleration to deceleration. Admit my heart jumped on that one as we screeched to a halt at the end of the runway. Had to wait 12 hours for a replacement plane....
Though better than in the carpark at the end of the runway I suppose...

One other one which I never encountered anything near it in many hundreds of flights: sudden very sharp and very steep decending turn about 5 miutes from landing. I dont think I was every on another plane that would have turned at anything even near to the radius. Squashed into your seat for a very long feeling maybe 20 seconds, with the sensation that if you had wanted to stand up you wouldnt have been able to. Felt like a late evasion - or maybe pilot dozing and was going to miss his approach line for the runway. No explanation given by the pilot.

mle1324 · 09-01-2011 08:54PM

themandan6611 wrote: »

Flew from Rio to London a week after the Air France plance went down 18 mths ago, on the same route (rio to paris) - quiet nervous and there was an awful lot of turblence, one of my worst flights (along with returning to this kip of a country).

Did manage to sky-dive - that was a cool flight

Uncle's brother in law was meant to be on that flight that crashed but only that his child was too sick to travel they went a couple of days later.

Cakes. · 09-01-2011 09:09PM

I was coming back from Tenerife with AerLingus and the hostesses crashed trolleys, I said ''ha, mid air collision'' and the hostess threw me the dirtiest look ever :pac:

cocoshovel · 09-01-2011 09:26PM

I love flying, but I'm really interested in Aviation.

Worst flight I ever had was with that pile of crap charter airline Futura (now out of business) Flying from Dublin to Gran Canaria. Flight was delayed 2 hours at Dublin, when we boarded we sat on the tarmac for another hour due to technical difficulties. Took off and flew through some really bad weather, the plane was rocking all over the place and a lot of people were very scared. I found it fun though. We weren't able to get up for the whole flight and at one stage this guy had to stand up to get a bottle out of his bag for his crying child and the flight attendant roared at him over the intercom to SIT DOWN NOW!!!. About 3 hours into the flight we were told we had to land at Seville to refuel, so that was another hour on the ground.
Took off again and still had to stay seated due to bad turbulence, my 7 year old brother at the time really needed to use the toilet so my mother brought him up regardless of the seatbelt sign, she went up and pulled the curtain back to see 4 flight attendants drinking Baileys and eating chocolates while laughing and joking. I think the flight was about 7-8 hours in total, jaysus it was head wrecking. They received a very large complaint from us anyway.

mojopolo · 09-01-2011 10:27PM

I've had a couple of experiences on flights that stay with me.

I used to travel to London quite often with work. This time I was flying back home to Belfast from London City. I didn't realise at the time of booking but the flight makes a quick stop at the Isle of Man. Anyway it was a fairly routine flight. However, coming into land at IOM we were just about to touch down but the pilot suddenly pulled out of the landing (we were just a couple of metres above the runway) and back up into the air. Apparently the runway is quite short at the Isle of Man and the pilot had misjudged it. I kept my eyes closed for the second attempt at landing and might even have said a prayer or two. After that I stuck to the Heathrow and Gatwick flights.

Another time I was holidaying in the Dominican Republic the summer after 9/11 when security was especially tight. We had booked an excursion to the 'bounty ad' beach at the south of the island which involved a short flight on what was probably a 12 seater plane (the plane was made by Shorts Bombadier by the way). The airport was very small and not very many people about. However the security staff made a big song and dance about people removing cigarette lighters from all their luggage. This annoyed a number of the smokers and it took some time getting boarded, because of the security searches. Once all the passengers were on board, the pilot got on looking peeved. (He looked more like a beach bum than a pilot with straggley fair hair, wearing sunnies and shorts). As he walks down the plane to take his seat he complains bitterly, saying 'they wont let you bring cigarette lighters on board but they have no problem with this' at which stage he held up a hand gun :eek:

AnonoBoy · 09-01-2011 10:33PM

I just flew in from London this afternoon.....

.....wait for it........

......Boy are my arms tired!

chicken fingers · 09-01-2011 10:34PM

I was in a helo (mi-17/8) that was shot down 5 years ago. Its not exactly as glamorous as it sounds, it happens fairly frequently actually. Bullets hit a hydraulic line and the helo had to "crash land" about 15-20 miles away from where we were shot at. Pretty fooking scary, but we were in convoy and were picked up within about 5 minutes of touching down by another helicopter. The copilot broke his legs, the flight engineer broke his ankle afaik and one of the other passangers broke his arm. I was grand because I was squashed in beside a cargo net and a box of soft cargo.

I was also on a commercial flight (777) when a guy started having a fit or something about 5 rows behind me. The pilot repeatedly came on the intercom asking if a doctor was on board to come immediately to help. There was a couple across the aisle from me and the woman kept telling her husband to go to help, but he wouldn´t go! The guy apparently died on the flight but the plane wasn´t diverted or anything. We were fairly close to the destination anyways.

Carroller16 · 10-01-2011 03:57PM

Herb Powell wrote: »

When I was about 13, I was flyin on my own from Belfast to Cork, and the cabin crew and pilots were sound as could be. I was asked if I wanted to buy a drink, and I told them I only had pounds, so they just gave me the drink for free.

Anyone else read this line as a poem/song

blaze1 · 10-01-2011 04:02PM

i went to the states when i was 15 with a search & rescue crowd, on the way back we had to wear full dress uniform on the flight homw....

So picture 4 15 year old lads getting on to a virgin atlantic flight with very fit flight stewardess's joking with each other that "how men in unifoms turn then on".

All i did for that entire flight was keep pressing the assistance button but they never showed

pickarooney · 10-01-2011 04:03PM

bluewolf wrote: »

I don't have any flying stories actually

lucky so far and I travel at least once a month, touch wood

Neil Prendergast?

Irish-trucker · 10-01-2011 04:09PM

On a Flight from Toronto to Dublin , Plane had taxied onto the runway about to take off, I was sitting beside my ma,and next thing we could smell burning .
Plane sat there for a few minutes and then taxied back in .

Some technical problem, we were left sitting on the plane for 4 hours , but i was delighted he did'nt bloody take off all the same ! Never said what it was other than a technical prob.

ADDON · 10-01-2011 04:25PM

Flying to Malaga once with Ryanair, after about an hour or so in the air, the elderly woman beside me turned to me and said "I can't wait to get to Alicante, my daughter is bringing my new grandson to meet me". I congratulated her and said, "by the way, you mean Malaga, don't you?"

No, she insisted, it's Alicante. Now I got worried, because unless I had it wrong, this flight was for Malaga. Anyway, I rang the bell for trolley-dolly and asked where we were going. She confirmed Malaga and then I told her about old lady who was booked for Alicante. Quick discussion between cabin crew and pilots, then woman was told not to worry, they would fly her to Alicante from Malaga.

After 10 or 15 minutes, she was then told Ryanair would pay for road travel between Malaga and Alicante.

Finally, just before we were to land in Malaga, woman was told she was not to disembark and that she would have to return to Dublin to get next available flight to Alicante.

Security and passport checks / boarding card inspections my ar*e!!! :eek:

pickarooney · 10-01-2011 04:26PM

Sink The Banana wrote: »

I was on a flight about 15 years ago and there was a hissing noise coming from the door at the front of the cabin where we were sitting.The flight attendant got a wet towel and put it at the bottom of the door where the hissing was and the noise stopped.I asked a few people about this when I got back and I was told "bollocks ,there's no way that can happen" ,if pressure was escaping the door would have been ripped off".Something was fcuking escaping and she threw a towel to stop it.

There were snakes! on that plane!

Mint Sauce · 10-01-2011 04:43PM

Not sure of the techical or avaition term for it but plane dropped though two air pockets on same flight. First of which I was in the toilet for, probably the best place to be as I nearly sh!t my pants. On exiting, looking a little worse for wear the stewardess apolagised for not realising anyone was in there. Returned to my seat, my Mum was also on the flight, gripping the armrest, knuckles almost white, I tried to brush of the incident as one of these things that happen occasionally, when the plane dropped again. Queue my mum grab my hand, nearly cutting the circulation to my fingers, trying to reassure here, but a little fearfull inside my self.

Another flight, turbulance so bad, everyone ordered by the captain to their seats including the crew.

Early/mid nineties. Flying from belfast to luton. Fog so bad flight delayed about 4 hours. Even up in the air pilot unsure weather would land at luton or fly on to gatwick, eventully experienced one of the most bumpy landings ever at luton one of the first time I heard appluse for the captain.

Circling over Knock airport.

Landing at Sligo airport, never a great experience.

thebigbiffo · 10-01-2011 04:52PM

Here are some of my most memorable in-flight moments!

First time I flew to south east asia was in april 2003. Anyone will tell you the plane flies directly over Iraq when going that direction – practically straight over Baghdad as shown on the map at the front of the cabin. So we get to the hotel in Bangkok, turn on the news and it tells us that 7 hours previously the first bombs were dropped by the US on Baghdad. Basically, we were directly over iraq – and US warplanes – when the first bombs were dropped! Cool…ish.

On the way back 5 weeks later it was the SARS crisis and 80% of people were boarding the plane in masks and the like. Out of pure devilment while waiting in the que to board I started a real hacking, deep cough and managed to keep it up until the plane was about a half hour in the air. People were f’ucking bricking it around me and the people in front of and behind us asked the hostess could they move – they were told the plane was full. My lady friend was mortified. Great stuff.

I was in a Cessna 172 that broke a fuel line in the engine resulting in avgas spewing out onto the windscreen and into the cabin. We had to make an emergency landing.

And finally: my dad owned a twin engine 8 seater aeroplane (cant remember the name) with 4 other guys. They’d arranged a trip to England with their wives and were due to fly over but my old man and mother had to pull out because my granddad took a turn for the worse with his cancer. This was in about ’83. So the 3 guys and their wives went ahead and flew the plane into a mountain in Wales resulting in all their deaths. My dad still has the black box at home which he was given after the investigation. They should have been on that plane. Mad.

I’ve too many light aircraft crash/death stories as my dads an accomplished private pilot – but I wont get into them here…

dilallio · 10-01-2011 05:00PM

Sink The Banana wrote: »

I was on a flight about 15 years ago and there was a hissing noise coming from the door at the front of the cabin where we were sitting.The flight attendant got a wet towel and put it at the bottom of the door where the hissing was and the noise stopped.I asked a few people about this when I got back and I was told "bollocks ,there's no way that can happen" ,if pressure was escaping the door would have been ripped off".Something was fcuking escaping and she threw a towel to stop it.

Was Samuel L. Jackson on that flight by any chance?

dilallio · 10-01-2011 05:10PM

It was around 1989 or 1990. Had to take an Aeroflot flight from Shannon to Miami. There were only about 70 people on the flight and we were all seated towards the front of the plane which was divided from the rear by a curtain.

About an hour into the flight, I needed to go to the toilet. There was a queue of people for the toilets in the front so I asked the hostess if I could use the ones at the back. She said "Yes, but please mind your step on the way back"

I went around the curtain and halfway down the aisle I was greeted by an Aeroflot mechanic who was passing a large spanner to his colleague who was working on some pipes below - they had the carpet up and the floor panels removed. Literally frightened the crap out of me.

That was the last Aeroflot flight for me.

jimmycrackcorm · 10-01-2011 05:49PM

Once picked up a guy and asked about his flight. He was a bit shaken. It was a Shorts propellor commuter plane (30 seats) and the weather was extremely windy. As the passengers were about to board they saw the wind tip the plane over on its side. The ground crew simply tipped it back and had a quick look around before boarding the passengers.

Rawhead · 10-01-2011 05:53PM

My mother was on a charter flight back from south africa to knock. They had to land in some **** hole african country to refuel or something. The pilot announces just as they land that war has broken out. She said the runway was lined with tanks as they landed. Ten year old boys with AK-47's eye balling all the old white folks. Local commander announces that all the luggage will have to unloaded and that a new "tax" of ten dollars per passenger will be imposed (bit like DAA). Eventually took off and she said they were all expecting to be shot down but nay a spear chucked at them. Paul Claffey had some explaining to do.

bnt · 10-01-2011 06:19PM

Sink The Banana wrote: »

I was on a flight about 15 years ago and there was a hissing noise coming from the door at the front of the cabin where we were sitting.The flight attendant got a wet towel and put it at the bottom of the door where the hissing was and the noise stopped.I asked a few people about this when I got back and I was told "bollocks ,there's no way that can happen" ,if pressure was escaping the door would have been ripped off".Something was fcuking escaping and she threw a towel to stop it.

Those other people were wrong - that's a reasonable scenario. It's like the legend about the little Dutch boy and the dyke: he stopped the leak when it was small, preventing it from getting any bigger. That was water eroding soil, much more dangerous than air on metal: as long as the structural integrity is unchanged, there's no reason for anything to fall apart.

It helps to remember that a plane is not a sealed, airtight container: it's continually pressurized with fresh air through various vents, and used air leaks out a hole in the back. Another little hole isn't going to make much difference. The flight attendant could have left it, but it was clearly upsetting the passengers: the plane wasn't in danger.

I don't have any interesting flight stories: the drama tends to happen on the ground - like the time Heathrow security freaked out over a musical instrument I was carrying (a Chapman Stick). It was in a narrow case that looked a bit like a gun case: they'd x-rayed it and thought the truss rod (stiffening the neck) was a gun barrel ... :eek:

jester77 · 10-01-2011 06:53PM

Flying for years, and the nearest thing to a horror story is being told that the inbound flight drank them out of beer

ToxicPaddy · 10-01-2011 07:08PM

dilallio wrote: »

...That was the last Aeroflot flight for me.

I've heard 2 stories about Aeroflot flights from friends and neither were good.. frightened the sh*te out of me.. so will never fly with them..

Flight Stories:

1. Was in the Canary Islands during 9/11 and due to fly home a few days later, got to the airport expecting chaos and sure enough when we got there, the airport was over flowing with people.. no one knew where our plan was, none of the airline staff had a clue and eventually it turned up 5 hours later, empty, no staff apart from 2 pilots and no food/drink on board.

Found out from a friend who works for an airline, it had been chartered to fly to Tel Aviv but by some other airline as it was a charter flight to help with the backlog of passengers in London and they apparently left it sitting on a runway miles away from the airport buildings while they searched every inch of the plane and every other one that landed before letting them take off again..

2. Flying back from one of the Greek islands, the incoming flight was delayed, so when we took off the airport was actually closing, no refueling there.. so we had to land in Italy to refuel.. anyway, taking off we fly straight into a thunder storm, the plane was bouncing all over the place, air hostesses strapped in, no one allowed go anywhere.. eventually start the landing in Italy and sure enough, we come down through another storm.. eventually we land, refuel and are taxiing back out to take off, suddenly a woman jumps up and starts screaming hysterically that the pilot is going to kill us all and we have to stop him etc etc etc..

The plane taxi's back in, police come on board, lots of shouting and screaming in Italian, she is handcuffed and about to be taken off with her 2 kids crying in tow, words were had and she was eventually left back on the plane, delaying a late night flight by about 2 hours.. :mad:

3. Flying in Kenya from Nairobi to Masai Mara, we get to the airport and I was told the plane is going to be a small plane, being a bit nervous, I'm like ok.. so there is this plane about the size of an Aer Arann plane there.. not too bad I think.. but then it pulls away and a smaller one pulls up, ok.. not great but ok.. then that pulls away.. then this little crate is the only was I can describe it gets towed up by a tractor.. holy sh*t!! :eek:

Anyway, we get on, the seats are the ones where the back folds down when not in use, no door on the cockpit, the pilots come on and check the ticket, ok, you're getting off at the 4th stop.. "ehhh excuse me??? 4th stop???

So we take off, flying for about half an hour and then time to land, we come in head first as in the only thing I can see out the cockpit window is the ground coming fast.. we land on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere.. people get off, more get on and we are off again.. 3 more to go.. I kissed the ground when I got off that plane I tell ya..

DEFTLEFTHAND · 10-01-2011 07:27PM

Was on a plane attempting to land during a storm in Brussels. We had three aborted landings before finally getting down on the 4th attempt. Quite a scary experience , you could feel the wind dragging the plane from side to side as we'd make our approach. It makes you realize how vulnerable you are up there.

kincsem · 10-01-2011 07:44PM

In Africa in the late 1970s three of us flew in a five seater to work one Monday morning. No plane on Friday due to bad weather. The plane crashed that morning killing the pilot who flew us on the Monday.

pipelaser · 10-01-2011 08:09PM

Took a flight home over Christmas (while recovering from a terrible cold) and thought my head was going TO EXPLODE when we began to decend for landing! Really thought that some blood vessels were going to pop or something until it was explained to me that my sinuses were just airlocked and that it would be ok when we landed.

It was ok in the end....
Never experienced such pain though!

This this ever happen to anyone else!?

Sticky_Fingers · 10-01-2011 08:22PM

Was on a flight that missed its approach a few years ago, we came within 20 feet of the runway and were all set to touchdown when the pilot put on full power and pulls up. I was bemused by the reactions of a load of people who were freaking out and even heard whispers of "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die". We eventually circled the airport and came in for an uneventful landing 20 minutes later but people were still pretty shaken up and there were mutterings about the pilot little realising that he must have had a good reason for his actions and was cautious enough to go around again than risk putting the plane down the first time.

chicken fingers wrote: »

I was also on a commercial flight (777) when a guy started having a fit or something about 5 rows behind me. The pilot repeatedly came on the intercom asking if a doctor was on board to come immediately to help. There was a couple across the aisle from me and the woman kept telling her husband to go to help, but he wouldn´t go! The guy apparently died on the flight but the plane wasn´t diverted or anything. We were fairly close to the destination anyways.

If I'm honest (and a doctor) I won't have gone to help the guy either, if he dies while under your care in the aircraft his family could sue the arse off of you for malpractice and would probably win. The greed and opportunism of some people to make a quick buck by exploiting another persons wish to do right has made many afraid to lend a helping hand, it's a sad state of affairs when people who try to help are held accountable for a situation that was not of their doing.

Regarding aviation safety, stories and questions there is an excellent thread over at the 2+2 poker forum started by an airline pilot that has some really interesting information on flight and the air travel, well worth a read.

2+2 forum: Ask me about being an airline pilot or flying in general

Up-n-atom! · 10-01-2011 08:29PM

This this ever happen to anyone else!?

Never happened to me but read in the paper at the weekend that you should never fly with a bad cold because it can burst your eardrum :eek:

Had a freaky flight last year to Bangkok - got off to a good start, met the wife of the ambassador to Malaysia on the first leg to London, who had her handluggage filled with rashers and pudding:D. When I got to Heathrow I was told I had no seat on my next flight because I hadn't checked in online beforehand - I freaked out a bit but it was ok in the end, they got a seat for me after a couple of hours. Anyhew I ended up sitting beside a total freak - he kept going on about how he worked for a 'rat' (turned out he worked in catering for Disney! The 'rat' was Mickey Mouse!) while knocking back the alcohol. He was entertaining but I was also a little scared - esp when the lights went down and he seemed to be trying to play footsie with me as I was attempting to sleep! I was afraid to sleep then coz I kept expecting a rogue hand under my blanket! Once the lights were back up he kept insisting that I come with him and let his driver give me a lift to wherever I was staying - I'm sure I would've been ok but there was no way I was going to take any chances, he was freaking me out big time...plus he was on his way straight to Pattaya, do not want to even think about what he was going to get up to there!

ellieswellies · 10-01-2011 09:10PM

my worst flying experience is definitely the time I flew ryanair dublin to paris, it was a late flight out of dublin and we're about 25 minutes in and not getting very high, and they keep turning on and off the lights. Something's up and my suspicions are confirmed when the pilot gets on and says that there's a desparate stink of fumes up front, and we've to make an emergency landing in London. Cue 20,000 feet of prophylactic hail marys and we finally land to the sight of a quintet of fire trucks. The whole way down I was wondering what to say to the people next to me if we were going to die, who were a grumpy french boy playing on his phone the whole time and a fat chick with a journal, who seemed fairly dull. Luckily the whole thing was obviously a false alarm and I didn't have to even hold their hands.

So after about an hour or 2 sitting in sweltering heat on the tarmac in london, we're finally airborne again and back en route to paris. However 40 minutes later they get back on the intercom and say that they've more bad news....my heart skips a beat...but it's nothing life threatening. The airport in paris is SHUT and they've to fly us to lille...basically belgium. So we get diverted along, and have to sit around at lille airport at 3am for several hours waiting for a bus to drive us to paris. we reach paris at about 5 or 6 am the next day. A load of boll!x of a trip.

Also the time I was stuck on a plane between connecting flights in the US and the toilets broke...the smell was unreal....

Flight stories

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