Ever scared on an airplane?

faceman · 25-01-2012 04:29PM #1

Was reading about a flight today from Heathrow to Chicago that was diverted to Shannon because of smoke in the cabin and it got me thinking about "scares in the air". Was I was young and first starting flying, I was terrified. Then I grew to love it but as I grew older i grew to fear it again. Its only in the last 2 years Ive really learned to sit back and enjoy it.

Fortunately i never had anything beyond bad turbulence happen to me, but as most of you know it can be scary as hell when it does.

Some years ago on a work social trip about 50 of us were flying home from Barcelona with Aer Lingus. Sitting beside my mate was great because he had no fear of flying period. As the plane took off it flew into a thunderstorm during the ascent which caused probably the scariest turbulence I have ever encountered. The plane felt like it was going in every direction - except up!

I could feel the terror grow in me and started to hear people praying and crying. Friends from work were in tears, people were screaming. Just when I was about to physically lose it (in the dignified safety of knowing everyone else was terrified anyway!), I turned to me mate who was at the window to say "nice knowing you" but he was sitting there reading the newspaper as if he was at home on his sofa. Not a bother on him. I was too embarrassed to say anything to him so i sat there in fear for the 5 minutes of the hell. Tears in my eyes.

tl:dr? What are your scary/funny stories from the air?

Babybuff · 25-01-2012 04:35PM

I had similar experience flying back fro Barcelona too, hit storms practically on take off and it was a bumpy ride. To add to the trauma of the turbulence my kidneys decided to shut down and I was in agony the entire flight and ended up going directly to hospital when we landed and was there for a week. Haven't really flown since. (oh yeah and everyone was clapping when the plane landed and I was telling people to get the f**k out of my way and they just thought I was an inconsiderate cow, I was literally dying and desperately just wanted to get off the plane)

jonnyfingers · 25-01-2012 04:39PM

I take the Aer Arann flights from the UK to Waterford a few times a year, and coming home for Christmas 2010 we landed on Ice which was nerve wracking. Christmas 2011 we landed while seemingly travelling sideways the wind was so strong! Only time I really felt nervous in a plane.

Also I was on a plane that landed in a thunder storm in Atlanta many years ago. We got down safely but a few seconds after leaving the place a lightning strike hit the tail! That gave me a bit of a jump too.

cocoshovel · 25-01-2012 04:41PM

None really, I love flying and have flown planes myself several times and go up with a friend in light aircraft occasionaly. Aviation is one of my hobbies.
I have been in very heavy turbulence once but it didnt make me nervous or anything. I find turbulance to be great fun altogether.

I think alot of peoples fears are just ignorance and over exaggerations. I cringe ever time I hear the usual comment "the plane fell about a thousand feet outta the sky!" or when people comment on how the plane nearly crashed on landing when in reality it was just a crosswind landing with a slight bounce.
The tabloid media are the WORST for fear mongering and completely bullshítting about flying. They make up the most unbelievable crap and lie every single time any "incident":rolleyes: happens with a plane just to make a quick buck. Well, I suppose most media sources do that with every story.

number10a · 25-01-2012 04:42PM

Babybuff wrote: »

everyone was clapping when the plane landed

HATE it when that happens!! It's supposed to fùcking land! :mad:

I've flown hundreds of times, and never remember being actually scared. But I have noticed I get more and more nervous every time I fly Ryanair as we're coming into land. Their landings are so rough that I hold on to the seat in front so I don't get thrown forward (as we all know seat belts on a plane are useless for this), I look straight ahead because I'm afraid if I look sideways out the window the landing could break my neck (exaggeration I know, but still don't want a strain or anything), and I keep my teeth firmly shut so I can't bite my tongue off. The last bit is something I can actually see happening during a Ryanair landing sometime. 80 million passengers a year with landings like that?? Someone's gotta lose a tongue, or at least a chunk of it.

Superbus · 25-01-2012 04:42PM

Babybuff wrote: »

I was literally dying

RIP

Captain_Generic · 25-01-2012 04:43PM

There was some serious turbulence going over the Himalayas on my way back from Australia before, the flight attendants were literally shouting at people to put their seatbelts on.
I didn't see, hear or feel any of this as I took some pretty heavy sedatives to sleep through the flight. And no one put my belt on. Cúnts

Pherekydes · 25-01-2012 04:43PM

First flight after 911 was nerve-wracking. My first (and only) chopper flip was stomach-churning. Coming home from East Midlands in a CN235 was a white-knuckle ride due to turbulence. And I had a rough landing in Madrid after an engine failure on the way home from my honeymoon. The pilot executed a sharp turn immediately before plonking the A/C on the runway.

A few nervous experiences, but justified, I think.

deirdre_dub · 25-01-2012 04:44PM

Have been scared on a plane once or twice, but the one that sticks in my mind was actually one of the milder experiences.

Coming in to land in Dublin, lots of wind and bad weather, plane careening all over the sky. Hit the tarmac with a THUD. Pilot hits the brakes hard, we slow down, and start the taxi to the terminal. Everyone clapping.

We arrive at the terminal, the doors are being opened, everyone is just about getting out of their seat, and an "EXIT" sign in the middle of the plane falls off the ceiling and hits the floor. Everyone just ROFLs.

quietriot · 25-01-2012 04:44PM

More frightened on the roads in Ireland every day.

I've never had an issue with flying. Turbulence doesn't take planes out of the air so it's nothing to worry about really. They're the most tested and maintained transport machines in existence, are flown by extremely highly trained people and checked/maintained by extremely highly trained people.

I've been through some terrible turbulence, crazy cross winds when landing, the usual. Last flight even had to divert to shannon because they found a problem with one of the engines, just as we were about to start crossing the atlantic. It was grand though, these things happen and properly maintained machines breaking is an exception, not a rule.

It's terrible when something does go wrong on a plane that costs lives, but having something come from 30,000 feet in the air with 200 people on it is always going to end terribly. Thankfully it rarely happens due to the above maintenance and training. I'm much more concerned getting on the roads every day with cars of questionable quality with little or no maintenance driven by morons who either bought their license years ago, scraped by the test after a number of tests or aren't even qualified in the first place.

Duggy747 · 25-01-2012 04:45PM

Was sitting beside a, presumably, Muslim guy.

His eyes had that nervous edge as he looked all around the plane, beads of sweat running down his face as he constantly held his breath. He looked like he wanted to jump up and run down the aisle but we had our belts on since we were taking off.

I couldn't help it, my farts were rank and the poor guy was clearly suffocating :pac:

As for being scared on a plane, I hate that initial drop the plane does to level itself after taking off. My stomach feels bizzare like when you drive over a steep road quickly. I always think "The engines have falling off!!! for about a split second. :P

simit · 25-01-2012 04:45PM

Flying from Berlin back to Dublin, I was sitting beside a really fat chick and I was terrified she could smell the boiled sweets in my pocket.

Underdraft · 25-01-2012 04:46PM

Not really. One time I was flying to Wellington NZ. Apparently it can get really windy around that city and right upon preparing to land our plane started getting that turbulance effect (only much more pronounced). Add to this we were in a small twin engine plane and somehow the effect seemed to be multiplied. I guessed things weren't all plain flying when we overshot the runway.

Anyway, I'd read somewhere that if you want to know if a flight is going to end badly then you're never going to get the truth from the captains mouth. Instead just look at the body language of the flight attendants. Well even though the plane was banging around fairly violently they seems calm enough, so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride!

staker · 25-01-2012 04:48PM

Captain_Generic wrote: »

There was some serious turbulence going over the Himalayas on my way back from Australia before, the flight attendants were literally shouting at people to put their seatbelts on.
I didn't see, hear or feel any of this as I took some pretty heavy sedatives to sleep through the flight. And no one put my belt on. Cúnts

a username like that begs the question, was she on autopilot or did you give no.2 a go?

The Jammy dodger · 25-01-2012 04:49PM

My first time ever flying on a plane was when I was 19. I was going to Denmark. About Half hour before reaching Denmark the pilot told us one of the engines just knocked out on the right wing. Where was I seated? Right on the right wing. Got there safely though. :eek::D

Batsy · 25-01-2012 05:02PM

The only time I've ever flown was in 2004 when I flew to Italy. I haven't been abroad that much because I hate abroad. It's full of foreigners. Anyway, on the way there I went by train the short distance from Bolton to Manchester Airport, I got on the plane from Manchester to Munich and then another from Munich to Ancona, then I travelled by car from Ancona to Perugia, where I stayed for a couple of months. On the way back I went by car from Perugia to Ancona, flew from Ancona to one of the London airports (I can't remember which) and then got on a train from London to Manchester and another from Manchester to Bolton.

I remember fealling quite nervous just before I boarded a plane for the first time ever at Manchester Airport. The worst bit once when it took off. I sat there whilst we were going up with my head in my hands and I get thinking: "What if it can't get all the way up and we start falling back to Earth again?" But once we were up it wasn't too bad. It did take me a while to pluck up the courge to open the little blind that covers the window, and when I did I was so struck with terror at how high we were that I quickly closed it again.

On the journey back, I remember queuing at Ancona Airport. The queue was so long that it snaked out through the main doors of the terminus and into the car park. When me and the Italian girl I was with were on the outside part of the queue she said to me: "Look, it's Matt Bellamy from Muse." I looked to where she was pointing and there was a guy sitting between two old ladies on a bench near the main terminus doors. I think he knew we were looking at him and he kept his head bowed down. I said: "It's not him. It's just somebody who looks like him. " But she was adamant it was him. Anyway, when I boarded the plane and sat down I saw this guy in front of me further down the aisle. I realised that it WAS Matt Bellamy from Muse and he was on my plane! I saw him put his luggage in the luggage compartment and he was kind enough to help a few passengers to put theirs in too. I didn't get his autograph, though.

Fart · 25-01-2012 05:03PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

I couldn't help it, my farts were rank and the poor guy was clearly suffocating :pac:

Sorry about that, I forgot to shower that day.

Fart · 25-01-2012 05:06PM

Batsy wrote: »

I realised that it WAS Matt Bellamy from Muse and he was on my plane! I saw him put his luggage in the luggage compartment and he was kind enough to help a few passengers to put theirs in too. I didn't get his autograph, though.

Jahsus, thay sounds like a terrifying flying experience.

Underdraft · 25-01-2012 05:07PM

Fart wrote: »

Jahsus, thay sounds like a terrifying flying experience.

Maybe he meant Craig Bellamy from Liverpool. Now that's one no-neck feck I wouldn't want to be stuck on a plane with.

dilallio · 25-01-2012 05:07PM

We were on a flight from JFK to Orlando in June 2002.
About 50 mins from Orlando, there was a loud bang and flash outside the right hand side of the aircraft. The aircraft went into a sudden steep dive which lasted for well over a minute.

We were in row 4 and the air hostess who had been collecting rubbish was stuck to the ceiling for the duration of this time. We had our seatbelts on. At the beginning, everybody was screaming but then it got quiet. I was holding onto my daughter praying for it to be ok.

Eventually, the pilot pulled it out of the dive and levelled out. The hostess at the front was ok but one of the hostesses at the back had multiple fractures in her leg.

The pilot came on and announced that they had lost an engine. The landing involved the pilot making a sharp right turn. I was looking out the window then, and all I could see were loads of fire trucks and ambulances waiting at the end of the runway.

I can not overstate the relief when we landed and finally stopped.

mconigol · 25-01-2012 05:09PM

The Jammy dodger wrote: »

My first time ever flying on a plane was when I was 19. I was going to Denmark. About Half hour before reaching Denmark the pilot told us one of the engines just knocked out on the right wing. Where was I seated? Right on the right wing. Got there safely though. :eek::D

I don't think it really matters what side you're on in that situation.

Namlub · 25-01-2012 05:11PM

I used to love it when I was small but I'm gradually becoming more afraid, which is a bit backward. Flew on my own for the first time this summer and the runway was next to the sea, so when I looked out the plane seemed to be about to plunge into the ocean. It was not fun

Fart · 25-01-2012 05:13PM

dilallio wrote: »

We were in row 4 and the air hostess who had been collecting rubbish was stuck to the ceiling for the duration of this time. We had our seatbelts on. At the beginning, everybody was screaming but then it got quiet. I was holding onto my daughter praying for it to be ok.

Hahahaha, is this for real? Has me in stitches lauging.

Stiffler2 · 25-01-2012 05:14PM

I used to have no problem with flying, taking off or landing at all ever.
been on a plane loadza times without issue.

about 5 yrs ago I fell asleep but was woken up as the plane landed.
It was a really bad landing so I woke up to what I thought was the plane crashing.

I now have a fear of landing, not taking off just landing. scares the $hit out of me right it does.

Underdraft · 25-01-2012 05:17PM

Fart wrote: »

Hahahaha, is this for real? Has me in stitches lauging.

It looked something like this I imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQDXs75Ulo

Bannasidhe · 25-01-2012 05:18PM

Was pretty concerned (:cool:) while on a plane that was taking off from Tokyo airport in the middle of a typhoon - I think it was the way the Palm (?) trees I could see out the tiny window were almost lying flat ... then when we got airborne one of the Japanese stewardesses who was sitting directly across from me blessed herself. :eek:
Mind you, this was on the 9/11 so I'm glad I took the via Tokyo route -even with the typhoon - back from Brisbane rather then the via LA/NY option I was going to take...:)

Ray Palmer · 25-01-2012 05:24PM

I remember being on a plane at it hit the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. People were screaming and crying and then "Don't Fear the Reaper" came on my mp3 player. All I could think was "more cowbell" and started laughing quite loud while people were still screaming.

It was actually quite fun

The woman beside me wasn't too impressed when things seatled down as I upset her panic.