July 14, 201510 yr On a Sunday evening back in the 70s I was on a United 727 going to Las Vegas from Denver, with a stop in Grand Junction. Had a window seat as usual. As we were climbing out of Grand Junction in driving rain there was a HUGE BANG and a bright flash of light that lit up the entire cabin! I felt electricity going down my right leg. The captain came on a minute or so later with voice shaking badly---said something about static electricity! Then minutes from LAS he came back on---voice still shaky---said we are going to the end of runway after landing and drop the rear stairs. Said leave the airplane quickly and get away from it. Do not collect your personal belongings!! Said we have had a report of bomb on board!! I'll never forget the look on the face of the lady in front of me as she turned around and looked at me!! Stark terror! The whole airplane let out a collective groan and then dead silence till we got on the ground in LAS. Apparently when we were taking off from GJT the crew got a call from UA operations and were advised that someone in Philadelphia (where the flt originated) called in a bomb threat. Then seconds later we got hit by lightening and the flight crew thought the bomb had gone off! (I saw this on TV and read it in the LAS paper the next day) I seriously considered taking the train back to DEN!
July 19, 201510 yr Author 'What was you're worst 'real-life' flight?' --------------------------------------------------- This thread is now available in paperback :-) ...Thanks again to all contributors. Actually I'd like to expand this topic to include 'unusual vehicle journeys connected with aviation'. For example, my story is set in December 1988. I was driving from England to Scotland for Xmas with my family. It was around 1:30pm and I was happily cruising along the M74 motorway when I spotted what looked like very large pieces of curved corrugated iron scattered in fields to my left; ..and on the other side of the road there was a sight that I'll never forget, even though I only glimpsed it briefly as I drove past....... http://tinyurl.com/pgxbtsk (Note that the opposite side of the road from me was completely covered). And those curved pieces of metal I saw in the field were of course parts of the wreckage that had fallen just hours before..RiP.
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