Flying - anyone had any bad experiences?

First time flying back to Ringway after moving to Canada was 7 1/2hrs of living hell.
I spent 3 weeks shitting myself about the 8 hours back to Canada.
I told my parents that I wasn't going back and was staying in Newton Heath with my Gran.
I probably spent the next 30 years not being able to fly unless I was pissed drunk.
 
Two stand out. Both coming into Edinburgh where the approach banks over the Firth of Forth. First, the forecast had been for a storm to hit Edinburgh about 6 in the evening. Our flight left out of Liondon City about 4pm. Was pretty bumpy all the way up but nothing I hadn't experienced before. The pilot came on the intercom about 30 mins in and said that the storm had accelerated and strengthened and that Edinburgh had advised it might close with a diversion to Newcastle but he would do his damndest to get to Edinburgh before it shut. Well, coming in over the Forth, all hell broke loose, violent turbulence with the plane shearing from side to side and the pilot unable to keep it on a level flightpath. Bags were falling out of lockers and a few people were screaming. 50 feet from the ground I couldn't see any way we were going to land safely as the wing tips were moving up and down 30 feet or more and I felt certain one of them would hit the runway before the tyres. Then the last few feet, a calmness, silence and bang we were down landing at a speed I've never experienced. Breaks screeching, more bags flying about, more screaming and then spontaneous applause. First time I have ever seen flight attendants visibly terrified. I asked one as I left if they had experienced conditions like it and they hadn't. Had a few pints that night! Turns out we were the last in before the airport closed and the local papers reported the next day that Edinburgh had been hit by a Hurricane, the worst in living memory. Second time was nowhere near as bad. Plane got hit by wind shear just as we were about to land. Landing aborted, engines roared and as steep a climb as I have ever experienced. Three minutes later, BA pilot comes on with that voice that they do, ' well ladies and gentlemen, you might have noticed we didn't land and you may have experienced a little more acceleration than normal. As we landed, we were hit by wind shear and I didn't want to put us down on the grass. Well just go round again, nothing to concern yourselves with'. Cool as fuck he was!
 
Barcon said:
First time flying back to Ringway after moving to Canada was 7 1/2hrs of living hell.
I spent 3 weeks shitting myself about the 8 hours back to Canada.
I told my parents that I wasn't going back and was staying in Newton Heath with my Gran.
I probably spent the next 30 years not being able to fly unless I was pissed drunk.
Click to expand...
And you're a pilot aren't you
 
On a trip back from watching Celtic in Lyon the flight to Brussels was a nightmare. The drinks trolley fell over. People screaming. Mostly me there. But others too. I also look at the flight attendants for a guide to how bad it is. They looked fucking terrified. I was travelling with my two younger brothers and remained externally calm to try and reassure it would be OK.

Inwardly I was bricking it too. When we got off a few said they would get the train back to Glasgow. I talked them around, it wasn't easy. Terrible experience.

Never stopped us travelling abroad with the team though.
 
Quite a few scary rides, a couple that stand out were circling over Anchorage hoping they'd get the airport de iced and not having a real alternate landing strip for the size aircraft we were in. Descending through the fog and seeing the frozen ocean about a hundred feet below us and the rocks right in front of the landing strip. Flying back to London from Miami, one of our engines went down so we got diverted to JFK for an emergency landing. Some yahoo sitting next to me started screaming that the motor was on fire, half the plane ran over to that side of the aircraft, the stewards trying to relax people and get them back to their seats when it was just the wing light
 
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