Worst flight ever?
Despite the statistics that show how safe flying really is, those who fly often enough will have some stories to tell. The vast majority of us will never experience the trauma of an actual air crash, but we will eventually travel on a flight where we are glad to get out in one piece.
I have experienced aborted take-offs, missed approaches and even a bizarre episode in Detroit where the pilot of a 747 had to turn the plane to face the right way to allow the fierce wind to help start the engines (I don’t get it either; I’d rather he hadn’t told us). One flight however stands out for me, even though it’s now ten years since it took place.
We had spent a week at the Grand Canyon and were flying on to Las Vegas on our way to Salt Lake City. The plane was a little 30 seater, and we had seats in row 1. In the front seats on the other side of the aisle were a middle-aged Japanese couple, who fell asleep within moments of boarding the flight.
We were in trouble soon after we became airborne. We hit our first air pocket early in our ascent. There’s a horrible sensation you get when the plane suddenly rises on a thermal. It’s quite distinct from the normal ascent, and as you know that what comes up must come down, there’s a sharp fall to come. Sure enough, moments after the lift came the drop. Very much like a rollercoaster, we fell for a couple of seconds and then we were heading up again, stomachs in mouths.
And so it continued. Sudden lift, inevitably followed by free falling. An unpleasant cycle that that repeated relentlessly for the hour and a quarter of the flight. Occasionally the flight attendant would smile at us. I grimaced back, all the while thinking “yeah, I know, I’m an wimp. It’s ok for you to smirk. You do this every day”. What made us feel even more inadequate was that in contrast to us feeling sick and hanging on grimly to the seat for the duration of the flight, the adjacent Japanese couple did not stir once. They must have been drugged up to the eyeballs. It’s their only excuse, I thought.
So much for trying to get a glimpse of the Grand Canyon from the air. Landing at Las Vegas I couldn’t wait to get off and smell the fresh air, thankful to have emerged unscathed.
Before collecting our bags we did learn one thing that made us feel a whole lot better. We hadn’t looked round at our fellow passengers throughout the entire flight. If we had, I would have felt far less of a wimp as a result. The flight attendant confided to us once in the baggage hall that the four of us in the front row had been the only ones on the plane not have made use of our air sickness bags (I’m assuming she didn’t include herself and the flight crew). I’m not the best flyer, and will think twice before heading over the Grand Canyon at the time of day where the thermals work wonders for hot air balloons and gliders, but not so much for light aircraft.
Hercules transport aircraft, seven hours, egg sarnies and crisps – a travel and taste sensation.
So many flight nightmares to chose from! Just one? Returning from Jersey the storm was so bad the plane was bouncing on the runway as, still in the small departure lounge, we watched the departure board show clock up cancelled flight after cancelled flight as all the airports in the UK were closing one by one. They finally but suprisingly announced the flight was boarding and we ran across the runway onto the plane and took off in record time. A near vertical take off got us through a gap in the storm. As we approached Heathrow we started to circle as the plane dropped and shuddered in the storm that seem to have followed us. The cabin became very quiet and we circled and circled. I started to think, how much fuel do we have and. given that all the airports in the UK are closed, where do we go if we can’t get down into Heathrow? Then we started our descent, wheels down, lights coming into view and then a massive roar and we pulled up and back into our orbiting around London. Several circuits later we had another try at landing and this time, to huge relief all round, we made it and a a shakey set of passengers were very happy to see the arrivals lounge. So much for short haul flights being easier….
oh mine would have to be, flying on the tiny Fokker – connecting flight from LA, and though it was just a short flight of 40 minutes, the weather was so bad that we kept rising with the air-pockets and then free fall for 5 seconds. then up against the pressure so hard that I thought my head was going to pop. However, having just read your flight experience to LV, I feel like mine was peanuts. thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your stories.
Mark, I would to fly in a Hercules someday (although for 7 hours it would be nice to get more than a crap sarnie and crisps). Mind you, US airline serve less than that cross-country don’t they?
Sue, your journey sounds horrible! It’s a wonder everyone agreed to board the plane… maybe the only flight in the UK where people cheered on landing??
Ciki, sounds familiar. Is there something about the air currents around LAX? Have had the same on an approach there, but it was in a 747 – you would have felt it far worse in a Fokker!
Interesting, Andy. When I stop to think about it, I haven’t had any really horrible flight experiences in the 42 years that I’ve been flying.
I have had some fun moments …like the time we were flying into Belfast in thick fog and 3 times got close enough to the runway to see the lights, only to have our pilot pull back. Ended up in Liverpool and being put on an overnight ferry …all this in the middle of The Troubles back in ’77. Sheesh. The things we do for love.
And then there was a short business flight from Toronto to Ottawa in a snow storm. Only problem was that I had gone drinking with work buddies so I was drunker than a skunk. A snow squall came up and they had us do the bend over and grab your ankles routine as we landed. The thought struck me: if we crash, I’m so out of it I wouldn’t be able to save myself. That was the last time I ever over-indulged when flying!
In ’70 I had a chance to work in a fish camp off Canada’s British Columbia coast. I was flown down to our floating barge in a small Cessna that was so filled with stuff the pilot had slipped a cast iron frying pan into the last couple of inches of space …just behind my head! It was a gorgeous flight, something most people today would pay thousands of dollars to experience. We went past an incredible waterfall and the pilot banked the plane for me to get a better view. I thought I was going to fall right into the Pacific; and I was sure that fry pan was going to bonk me on the head. When we finally landed in our little harbour, I was sure the plane was going to fall into a million pieces from the jolting that happened as we skimmed across the choppy waves. Yikes, I’ve been on many, many washboard roads in my time, but nothing compares to that.
And I can’t count the number of times flights have been delayed, re-routed and otherwise messed up. But those mostly were about being bored out of my skull for endless hours.
I guess I’m a fortunate gal ’cause in a life of a whole lot of flying there aren’t a whole lot of bad experiences.
Gwen McCauley
http://algarveexperiences.com
It’s comical in retrospect, but realising I was on the wrong plane and flying to a remote Great Barrier Reef Island rather than Sydney – on the day I was supposed to start my new job – was terrifying…
My worst flight experiences haven’t so much to do with the plane, but the passengers. All of the worst flights I’ve ever had were the result of disruptive children. I recently spent the duration of a 9-hour flight listening to a whiny child yell and scream and cry, while his mother tried to bargain with him and coddle him. Oy!
i have to side with gwen’s perspective. not too many horrible experiences, but some amusing rides. like coming home from ny with my family after my lil sis’s wedding and we’re flying through a storm, lights shut out, the plane drops suddenly and everyone around us starts screaming, literally. but the only thing i could think of was at least we (my family) all get to go together, morbid i know. or (not sure if this counts) getting stuck overnight in mexico city because my flight was over booked and having to run up and down through the terminal with a mother and her little son and another guy my age, all of whom spoke spanish, unlike myself, but that actually turned out alright because we banded together and the mother took the lead. but like gwen said, nothing really terrible, just some interesting stories.
The worst flight in the U.S. is nothing compared to standard procedure in places like South America. Flying out of Patagonia was insane. Taking off from El Calafate the plane is battered by winds sweeping out from the Andes. The plane wasn’t still for more than 5 seconds the entire first hour of the flight. I personally enjoy turbulence and found this part fun. My compadres didn’t think so. What really bothered me was the hissing of air through the supposedly airlocked doors.
Last year, I flew (without my husband) on a redeye from LA to DC. I had the aisle seat next to a twenty-something couple — the guy sat beside me, the girl by the window — who had a ridiculously high energy level for 11:30 pm at night. As they chattered loudly away next to me, I stuffed in a pair of earplugs, pulled up my fleece blanket and drifted off as best I could.
About two hours later, I awoke fast and wide-eyed…with my seatmate’s hand on my knee and his tongue in my ear! (Or, um, earplug, as the case would be.) Asleep himself by now, he’d obviously mistaken me for his girlfriend, all the way on his other side.
I started bolt upright, knocking him into his girlfriend, who was startled and seeking an explanation; in her dry, safe ear he mumbled his shame and embarrassment.
So, there we were, the three of us: wide awake and terrified to fall back asleep…for the next three hours.
You had a tough time in Argentina Ian – when we flew in and out of Calafate it was calm, sunny and a very smooth ride. Your experience sounds scary!
Melanie, your story is hilarious! You should enter that for a comptetition. I hope the girlfriend didn’t give you dagger looks after that. I bet you can’t fall asleep on a plane now without looking at the guy next to you and wondering if you’re going to get a repeat. Thanks for sharing