I'm interested in hearing about peoples' worst (or challenging) real-life flights, either as a passenger or a pilot.

 

Mine was as a passenger on a return flight from Corfu to Glasgow, Scotland.  It was 1982 and I was flying with a friend in an old-looking DC10 that we both felt would probably break-up in mid air.  My friend suffered agony during the flight due to pressure build up in his ears. He actually yelled out loudly in pain a few times it was that bad ..but nearly every other passenger including myself was unaffected by the pressure or else got over it quickly   

Next came very bad turbulence crossing the Alps, but the DC10's wings thankfully stayed glued on ;-)  

Then later, as we came in to land at Glasgow airport on a dark rainy windy night, the pilot made a hard landing, so severe that I felt the frame of the seat strike the base of my spine.  Meanwhile all the oxygen masks dropped down due to the hard impact, and many people screamed out in shock.   A few minutes later though we were all leaving the plane smiling and happy, just glad to be back on terra firma, even if it meant braving the Scottish rain and wind and cold ;-)   

 

I swore I'd never fly again after that flight but did so many times, including 10 hour flights to Washington DC etc (smooth as anything in 747s).   

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What was you're worst 'real-life' flight?.........................

Thinking I was getting a bargain on Easy Jet, and then being told it was forty quid (per case!!) for my luggage!

TWO: on a Delta L1011 ATL-LAX in 1989 when smoking was still allowed. seated in back ('cause me and D.J. were packing - on an extradition for Sheriff's Office) and AC packs wouldn't keep up, extrememly bad air quality all flight.

 

second: ferrying PA29-140 from Sanford, FL to Statesboro, Ga : Gas got very low, then encountered thunderstorm over TBR on approach. Got her down after a bit of tension, put in nearly the full 50 gals as I recall.

Flying a light twin in IMC, with all the airports in the region being marginal at best. Noticed a significant electrical draw on the system at the same moment I smelled something burning. Long story short, gear hydraulic pump ate itself up and caught fire, starting to fill the cabin with smoke. Needed to vent the cabin, and an emergency gear extension while in IMC with no autopilot.

 

Biggest lesson learned (when looking back): When communicating with ATC when they asked me what I wanted, I told them the airport which was closest to me (actually I was directly overhead it), which I knew had an ILS. Since I was at altitude I should have opted for the busy Class C which was about 5 miles further away. The field I landed was a small, uncontrolled field while the Class C field had fire/rescue on the field (didn't ask the question until I was on the ground: "Did that pump fire cause any other damage I don't know about?"). So, in retrospect, should have taken into account field services when selecting where I want to go (since it wouldn't have taken any additional time to get to the bigger airport).

Wow Dan scary stuff! .

 

As a student pilot on a cross country NAV I landed in Canberra airport in a Tobago, refueled but didn't hang around long enough for any water to settle and the drain was clear fuel, took off and 3000ft the engine failed so set to glide speed and went through checks while looking for a decent field...at about 700 feet the engine came back to life so had to choose between a precautionary landing in a nice field or a risky ride back to Canberra , I went back to Canberra. The flight school engineer flew out from Bankstown and turns out there was a lot of water contamination

I was doing a night flight and flew to a place outside of St. Louis for dinner. I had an ex-gf with me in a Cessna 152, and it was about a 200 nm one way flight. We landed fine, ate our food, and then we went back to the airport to fuel up and go home.

 

I had done my flight planning and knew what my planned fuel burn was. It was dark, even with a flashlight, and the 152 fuel gauges are known not to be accurate at all. But for whatever reason, I did not top off the tanks but only refueled with the amount of gas I thought I'd burn. I'm not sure why I did that instead of topping off, but I had thought I would have a lot of fuel for the home trip, especially with a westerly tailwind, according to my calculations. I was very wrong.

 

I didn't run out of gas, but I was damn close. We landed, and I topped off the tanks. It turned out the amount of gas I put was about a full-tank minus two gallons. I landed with only two gallons of fuel left. I was horrified. I almost put myself and another person in a very dangerous situation had I run out of fuel mid-flight at night. Turns out that 152 was burning a heck of a lot more fuel than I had planned. The lesson I learned was: Always ensure you have enough gas! If you don't know for sure how much you got for sure, then top off!

A stupid fast landing in Orlando Florida that left my ears hurting for days.

From KDTW to KJFK. I'll try to keep it short.

 

12 hour delay in a small American Eagle ERJ for a 1 hour flight a couple years back (2008-ish). I was on a return flight from the Philippines. The plane smelled like salami that's been sitting out in the sun for hours. A man was cursing in Russian. At first, we had multiple delays for bad weather in Pennsylvania. Then, we were on the runway ready to take off when there was, "an issue with the flaps." After having them "fixed," we were ready to go again when, according to our pilot, ALL THE COMPUTER SYSTEMS BROKE. I have on clue what he meant specifically, but it took about 4 hours to have everything fixed. We also had an issue with one of the tires (?). As you can tell, the pilot was not very specific and everybody was annoyed. 12 hours later at 10 PM, we were finally able to takeoff. There wasn't even food on the aircraft because it was supposed to be a short flight!

My worst by far,

 

One late September evening (I think 2005) I was flying home alone (KIJD-KEEN) in a rented Warrior. Took off into the night and turned to 360 and at about 1500ft the engine began to surge. Idle - max rpm, idle - max rpm...meanwhile I'm turning back towards the airport looking for runway 18, although that one is not lit. Gulp. Grab the flashlight and start the checklist...aha! Fuel selector lever is half way between tanks. Problem solved and of course I had inadvertently bumped it when closing the air vent, which I had opened for the flight down. WHEW! Back on course...but I'm not home yet. 

 

Forecast had called for fog developing "after midnight" so I planned to be home by 10:00pm local. 20 miles out the ATIS was saying 20 miles vis...two minutes later it's 10...two after that, 3. I'm getting a bit concerned but have practice shot the ILS/VOR approaches to runway 02 many times with an IFR safety pilot (I am NOT IFR certificated) and was confident I could get down safely. 7 miles out I have the LOC/GS nailed and triggered the mic to turn on the lights. Nothing happens. Try again, nothing. Three clicks, five clicks, nothing would turn them on...or was it fogged in? I continued down to 900ft, I think, and then went around trying to see the runway and if the lights were there or not. That confirmed it: no lights. The heck with this, am heading to Orange (KORE) which is only 20 miles south. Figured those lights would work. Nope. I could not trigger those on either and therefore realized I had a radio transmitting problem: great.

 

Next up, I needed to get to an airport with a tower and lights. MHT was the closest so headed for there. After fumbling in the dark with sweating hands and remembering to 'fly the airplane first' I found Manchester approach frequency on the sectional and began to call in. After 3 or 4 attempts the controller (bless him!) made a statement that he was hearing someone but very weakly and could not decipher. It was then that my dimmly lit bulb (in my brain) went bright: I took my headphone plugs and swapped them over to the right side jacks: BINGO! Communications

again! I continued on and landed on runway 17 with those big, beautiful runway lights. Stayed the night at Wiggins, slept in a chair, and life has been sweet ever since. What a night!

 

Next morning I peeked under the dash and found taped wires coming from the mic jack: I secured them best I could and after testing and confimuing they worked made an uneventful flight home... after the fog burned off.

 

Then there's the night I hit a deer doing touch and go's...another story, another time.

 

Messages taken...I gave up flying!!

 

Thanks for listening,

 

Greg

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Thanks for all these stories guys. I  enjoyed reading them all.

 

What was you're worst 'real-life' flight?.........................

Thinking I was getting a bargain on Easy Jet, and then being told it was forty quid (per case!!) for my luggage!

 

 

Good one 

 

12 hour delay in a small American Eagle ERJ for a 1 hour flight a couple years back (2008-ish). I was on a return flight from the Philippines.

 

That reminds me of a trip I made to Rome in 1990.  As we were hammering down the runway at Heathrow, one of the Alitalia stewards brought a large birthday cake up the aisle to one of our party members and proceeded to carve it up with a large knife as we took off.  Totally not company policy but very Italian and fun.  

 

Anyway, it's a few weeks later and our return flight from Rome airport is delayed due to fog, so one bright spark in our group of twenty suggested we should gather all our tickets together and hand them in at the Aliitalia desk to save time and enable us to sit together on the flight. 

 

Hours passed and the fog persisted, meanwhile a drunk Mexican guy kept coming up to me and calling me a 'Gringo' while at the same time jabbing his stubby finger in my chest.  Very weird.  Anyway, the fog lifted and we all proceeded to board the plane, only to be told that Alitalia had somehow 'lost' several of our group's tickets, and that those people would therefore have to pay the full return fare again!   Expensive mistake.

Thanks for sharing stories everyone!

 

My worst flight was also my very first flight in a general aviation aircraft. The plane was a Cessna 182, and at 3300 feet I and two others would jump out of a flying plane with a parachute for the first time. Before you jump, the pilot navigates the airplane to the right position, while you sit with your back against the right side instrument panel with your instructor sitting in front of you. Sitting there, waiting for the instructor to open the door is not a very pleasant situation. The very obvious fear of the situation is very intense, but the fact that you do not know when the door will be opened adds a lot tension.

 

For the first three or so jumps, the flight is not at all enjoyable, but after that it starts getting fun! 

I have never had a truly "awful" flight, but did have some interesting ones!

 

The first was quite some time ago, flying a turbo prop puddle jumper from Denver (the old airport, Stapleton, not the new one) down to Colorado Springs. It had just come in from Vail and it stank like vomit - you could not escape the smell. Apparently it was very turbulent on the flight into Denver and half the passengers ended up ralphing. Anyway, we take off, and boy oh boy, is it ever turbulent. I don't remember how it happened, but I ended up with a gin and tonic in my hand that I had to rapidly move up and down to keep the contents in the glass.

 

Fortunately, after flying many years as a child (my Dad was a pilot for TWA), I was no longer susceptible to motion sickness. Others in the cabin were not so fortunate.

 

Anyhow, we get close to Colorado Springs and the weather is brutal. Turbulent, poor visibility, thunder bumpers left and right, and we ended up going around twice. The pilot (this is before cockpit doors were closed all the time) hollered that we could only do one more attempt, and it would be hairball. But not to worry, he was a helo pilot in 'Nam and was confident he could do. The alternative was to go back to Denver. An informal poll yielded a "go for it" vote, and in we went. Super steep dive through a hole in the clouds and we popped out to see the lights of the airport right in front of us. Pilot got an ovation for that one.

 

Second memorable flight was returning from JFK, via Stapleton again, on United. Dead of winter, very cold, and unbeknownst to the passengers, we popped several tires on the landing in Denver. A 45 minute layover turned into a 3 hour layover. Fortunately, this was when airlines had a little more leeway in how they could respond to delays and they opened the bar. No worries! 

 

Like I said, not truly awful but memorable. One of the nicest flights I had was returning from the East Coast on a brand spanking new 767, and I was one of five passengers. Talk about service!!! It has always been a mutually adored relationship between me and flight attendants, and I had a grand time.

Uzbekistan Airways back in 1995. Made us wait in Tashkent Airport for 12 hours with little to no food, all duty free shops were locked or closed ....NO in flight entertainment on the plane whatsoever, running old Russian TU154's and sitting at the back was not a pleasant experience.

I have never had a truly "awful" flight, but did have some interesting ones!

 

John. Now you've got us all wondering! ;-)

Not all that awful, but I do recall a commercial flight in the 1970s that made several stops going from San Diego to Oakland California, most likely a 737 on Hughes Air West.  On one takeoff, as the plane rotated, there was a frightening, extended rumbling noise.  Sent a shiver up my spine.

 

It turned out a passenger up front had placed a bag of marble-size macadamia nuts on the floor.  When the nose came up the bag tipped over and all the nuts went rolling down the length of the aircraft.  My first  taste of macadamia nuts.  The flight attendants referred to this passenger as "Mr. Macadamia" for the rest of the flight.

 

I also recall a charter flight on a DC-8 in 1982 from Orly to JFK.  The flight attendant (male), instead of the usual euphemistic approach to emergency information, kept saying things like, "Get your stuff out of the aisle so I won't trip over it when I'm trying to escape."   Didn't really inspire confidence.

 

Mike