First airline horror story

[MossRoad]

Flight in back seat of a 'push/pull' ?Cessna?, twin engine, one in front, one in rear. San Angelo, tx to Washington D.C. Pilot was a captain, co-pilot a brand new lieutenant. Captain let him fly. Came into Little Rock for refuel. Terrible cross wind. Touched down hard, bounced about 20' in air and the copilot let go of everything. Captain grabed controls and landed. Almost had to change shorts.

That's a Cessna suck and blow.... Skymaster in civilian form, military is this...
Warbird Alley: Cessna O-2 Super Skymaster

 

[/pine]

Ron White Flying With Engine Problems - YouTube

 

[pmsmechanic]

One time flew into Port O Prince Haiti on AA. It's just one runway with no taxi lanes. The plane lands and slows down, pulls over to the side of the runway and does a u-turn to go back to the terminal. New one for me!

Go through customs and get onto the small commuter plane to go onto Cap Haitien. Before we leave the mechanics come out to the plane with a small house hold style air compressor and pump up one of the main tires. Not exactly confidence inspiring! We just clear the mountain range between the two airports and start descending to land. It's only an hour long flight but they pumped up that tire! We landed ok.

I was told that only a few years earlier the incoming pilots planning to land at Cap had to buzz the runway once before landing to chase the cows of the runway so it was safe to land.

 

[lpigott]

I used to fly a lot, now down to 5 or 6 trips a year. The usual stories about lost luggage, mechanical delays, and especially weather delays. I try to leave as early as possible because problems can stack up as the day progresses, if you're onboard early you stand a chance of getting "there" sometime that day, but as airlines get more fully booked it gets harder to get onto a later flight to your destination if there's no seats.
Flying into Vegas for a connection, the plane is landing normally and is maybe 5 feet off the ground when the 737 goes full throttle, pulls upward as fast as the diminished airspeed allows, and veers to the left. We come around again in a few minutes and land OK. I just about need an underwear change, most passengers notice nothing. While disembarking I ask the old stewardess what happened, she replies "There was another plane on our runway. I've been flying 37 years and never had that happen before."

Thank you pilots for saving our lives, and I sure hope some air traffic controller got fired.

I have been through 3 aborted landings before. One due to weather on a 737 on short final during a horrendous rain storm at night. One due to a bad autopilot landing on an A330 after it made a bounce on touchdown on a short runway in Africa that did not leave enough room to safely stop on. The third one was in a 747 in SFO due to another aircraft too close on the crossing runway. That one also occurred on the same runway as the terrible Asiana short landing crash happened on.

 

[MossRoad]

I've pulled numerous small planes off the runway where the pilot forgot to put down the landing gear. I've pulled several off the runway that ran out of fuel upon landing and couldn't taxi in. One had a flight instructor in it. I've witnessed an airplane forget to put down their landing gear, smack the prop on the pavement and still manage to keep it in the air and do a go around and a good landing (the engine is toast after they smack the prop, as it usually bends the crankshaft and always destroys the prop). Many run off the side of the runway. A couple off the end. Beech 18 tail draggers that couldn't get their tails off the ground due to miss-loading of cargo. A couple DC3's too. Engine failures. A plane came in of a foggy night with pine branches jammed into the wing because they tried to land at an airport in the fog with no instrument landing system. Tail draggers tipped on their nose.

I've had 5 acquaintances die in small plane crashes. Two were together in the fog flying low across lake michigan and put it in the drink. They found the plane several days later.... on the bottom. The door was open and the life jackets were gone. They survived the crash, but died of exposure. Washed up on the beach days and weeks later. Two more together. Not their fault. Instruments on the ground were not calibrated correctly and they basically followed the line right into the side of a mountain in the clouds. Last one caught a wing tip of a float plane in the water and cartwheeled.

And that was in only about 6 years of working at the airport.

 

[Sigarms]

Well, my wifes "horror story" has me beat.

I was supposed to pick her up Weds night when she flew back from Boston.

I ended up picking her up yesterday afternoon.

Long story short, Weds night she had to stay at a hotel in Queens in a not so nice hotel located next to a subway railroad.

I've never ever flew into JFK or LaGuardia, but apparently LaGuardia isn't the nicest place in the world to fly into a 10:30 at night when they're closing up.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Well, my wifes "horror story" has me beat.

I was supposed to pick her up Weds night when she flew back from Boston.

I ended up picking her up yesterday afternoon.

Long story short, Weds night she had to stay at a hotel in Queens in a not so nice hotel located next to a subway railroad.

I've never ever flew into JFK or LaGuardia, but apparently LaGuardia isn't the nicest place in the world to fly into a 10:30 at night when they're closing up.

I flew in and out of LA back in the 70's and 80's a couple of times; got lost on the way to the airport in a creepy area, had to stop and ask for directions. Was told later, that I was in Watts.

 

[Bird]

I've flown into LA once and LaGuardia twice, but it was so long ago that I don't remember anything unusual at either.:laughing: The weirdest experience I ever had with an airline was in March, 1992. I was working in Anchorage and my wife flew to Dallas, then on to a family reunion in West Virginia. She was due back in Anchorage early one afternoon, but one of my brothers said the airline called to say the flight had been delayed. Now my wife and I did not have cell phones in those days, so I wondered what had happened. But later I got a phone call from the airline that she would be in after 11 p.m. that night. I thought that was weird, but I went to the airport, found it almost deserted, and no indications or signs or anything about the flight number she was supposed to be on, and no one there had any information, except a gate number that plane was supposed to come to. Sure enough, about 11:30 p.m., my wife arrived. She was the ONLY passenger on the flight.

It seems the plane had a mechanical problem in Seattle, so the airline was going to put up the passengers in a hotel for the night. But as they were getting into a bus outside the terminal, a stewardess came running to tell them that the problem was fixed, and that the plane had to go on to Anchorage because it would be needed there for another flight. So they left it up to the passengers as to whether they wanted to go on to Anchorage, or spend the night in Seattle and go on another flight the next day. My wife was the only one who wasn't afraid to fly on a "broken" airplane.:laughing: So she was the only passenger with 2 pilots and I don't remember how many stewardesses. She said they told her they had about 50 meals prepared so she could sit anywhere and have all she wanted to eat.:laughing: The stewardesses sat and visited with her on the flight.

 

[two_bit_score]

I flew in and out of LA back in the 70's and 80's a couple of times; got lost on the way to the airport in a creepy area, had to stop and ask for directions. Was told later, that I was in Watts.

Never liked LAX much after running into Al Sharpton there one day.

Burbank is much easier to get into and out of for me. Think the name has changed recently but it will always be Bob Hope Airport to me.


TBS.

 

[MossRoad]

I've flown into LA once and LaGuardia twice, but it was so long ago that I don't remember anything unusual at either.:laughing: The weirdest experience I ever had with an airline was in March, 1992. I was working in Anchorage and my wife flew to Dallas, then on to a family reunion in West Virginia. She was due back in Anchorage early one afternoon, but one of my brothers said the airline called to say the flight had been delayed. Now my wife and I did not have cell phones in those days, so I wondered what had happened. But later I got a phone call from the airline that she would be in after 11 p.m. that night. I thought that was weird, but I went to the airport, found it almost deserted, and no indications or signs or anything about the flight number she was supposed to be on, and no one there had any information, except a gate number that plane was supposed to come to. Sure enough, about 11:30 p.m., my wife arrived. She was the ONLY passenger on the flight.

It seems the plane had a mechanical problem in Seattle, so the airline was going to put up the passengers in a hotel for the night. But as they were getting into a bus outside the terminal, a stewardess came running to tell them that the problem was fixed, and that the plane had to go on to Anchorage because it would be needed there for another flight. So they left it up to the passengers as to whether they wanted to go on to Anchorage, or spend the night in Seattle and go on another flight the next day. My wife was the only one who wasn't afraid to fly on a "broken" airplane.:laughing: So she was the only passenger with 2 pilots and I don't remember how many stewardesses. She said they told her they had about 50 meals prepared so she could sit anywhere and have all she wanted to eat.:laughing: The stewardesses sat and visited with her on the flight.

We've been on many flights back in the 80's that were well lower than 1/4 empty, but never the only ones. You do get great service when the plane isn't full, that's for sure.