Ok, just thought of another corker of a flight. Am going stealhead fishing with my friend Rex, we now call him just plane wrecks, since he has crashed 3 different planes and killed his last passenger, but anyway, this was before i knew him and had better sense, so i meet him at paine field, near Everett, and he says, better get some gas so he taxies over to the fuel truck. gets out, gases up and then gets back in and we get on the long runway at Paine and take off for a flight to Forks. We are about 500 feet off the runway when this god awful racket on his side of the plane occurs, so i'm a little conerned as i watch Rex grlimace and then come to the realization that he left his seatbelt outside the plane and that the buckle is banging against the plane, so he get up a little higher, opens the door and puts the buckle back in.

We then go across the water to Whidby Island and land at a little grass strip and check out the damages. Nothing to worry about so we fly on to Forks, fish for a couple of days and now here is the good part. We're flying along the water's edge, about 1000 ' up and Rex says Charlie do you see that little black spot on the windshield.

"Yeah and what about it", I ask.

"Well, that's a little spot of oil. I've got a little oil leak and I'm not sure if my engine isn't about to blow a rod out the piston walls or what, so what i want you to do, is keep track of the little black dots and if they seem to be coming at a steady slow rate, we are probably OK, but if it increases, we could be having engine problems"

" So Rex" I calmly ask, not being smart enough to know my life might end any moment, "What happens if the rod flys out, you can still dead stick land this somewhere as there are lots of level farmlands and beaches down below can't you old buddy old pal, tell me it's true"

"Well Charlie, that's the problem if the engine blows, then the prop will blow all the oil on the windshield and i won't see too well, except maybe out the side of the plane or if I open the window, very risky business"

So it didn't get worse, but Rex has made it on my "Do not fly with" list.

charlie

My first time flying was the scariest for me, Turbulence freaked me out but the scariest part of the trip was DEN - ATL and the captain gets on the PA and announces the we are not landing, we just have to fly lower because of problems with the cabin pressurization computer. I was think like "Don't tell me that" I am still new to flying even though I am almost 30 but I felt a lot better after researching airplane safety. I got a couple flight this year coming up and I am excited for.

I think the worst one for me was flying Sydney to LA a few years ago. I had been watching Lost a lot recently, which, for those of you who haven't seen it, is based on the survivors of a PLANE CRASH from a flight going... you guessed it, from Sydney to LA. The severe turbulence started a few hours in, and my knuckles were white within minutes from gripping the armrests.

My scariest but also I was the only one on the plane laughing as I also thought it was quite fun was when I flew from London the The Gambia and there was a sand storm on the runway and twice when the pilot tried to land he had to abort.

This meant that when we could of only been around 100 metres from landing he had to pull the plane up and acclerate as fast as he could, it felt like we were going vertically up like a rocket (i know we wasn't). It was kind of being on a rollercoaster.

People we're crying and screaming all over the place.

OOh one of my favorite topics.

I should say right away, I'm not the greatest flyer so I tend to notice everything, particularly how the pilots manage to avoid turbulence until I have a hot cup of tea in my hands.

So It's with that in mind that I tell you about the following flights which I'm sure some of you wouldn't have been bothered by at all.

The first was on the 10th September 2001, the date is significant because the cockpit security was not then what it is today. I was flying back from Munich to Birmingham (UK) and it was a horribly windy day. The first thing I noticed was that after take off rather than banking to head in the planned direction then plane carried on in a dead straight line and as we hit the clouds the pilot increased the power to the engines which continued to scream for the next 23 minutes until we finally broke through the clouds and finally backed off the power and turned through roughly 180 degrees to head back to the UK. It was a relatively short flight so there wasn't much respite until we we're lining up to land in Birmingham at the time the cockpit was separated from the cabin by a pair of curtains so sitting in an isle seat near the front I had almost the pilots view as we lined up around 200 meters to the right of the runway and allowed the side winds to push us across to eventually land perfectly. Scared the hell out of me but gave me enormous respect for the pilots.

That's probably the scariest overall flight but for individual moments in the same year flying from JFK to cincinatti on the way to Washington (;long way round, don't ask) the pilot landing us in Cincinatti was fairly inexperienced and managed the most severe bounced landing I have ever had the displeasure of. Essentially he dropped the plane from 20ft onto one wheel twisting the whole plane sufficiently to open half of the overhead lockers before jumping 50ft back into the air and finally bringing it down and to a stop at the very end of the runway.

And finally...least scary was a failed landing in a thunderstorm in Pisa where everything seemed fine until 10ft off the deck obviously with the wheels down the engines suddenly go to full power and the planes leaps almost vertically away from the tarmac. Apparently just an odd gust of wind generated by the thunderstorm and so quick it was more thrilling than scary but still not your average landing.

Still could have been worse...

I have two scary airplane moments to share (and a train derailment in Malaysia, but that's another story).

San Francisco - our 7E7 was taxiing out towards the runway to fly to Osaka, while another 7E7 was taxiing away from the runway, going to the gate after landing. There was some miscommunication between the two pilots and the air traffic controller, and both planes tried to occupy the same tarmac space at the same time. The wings scraped, and some pieces of wing actually fell off. Once the crew determined that there was no fuel leakage (and no need to evacuate immediately) we had to stay on the plane while dozens of airline staff examined the situation, all with cameras and clipboards. We went back to the airport to wait for a replacement plane and pilot, and by the time we got those, we needed a replacement crew too, because they would have exceeded their maximum work hours by the time we got to Japan. Our young son, who hadn't flown much at that point, took the whole thing in stride. When we were on the next plane, and we finally landed in Osaka, he exclaimed in a loud voice, "this plane didn't even crash, not like the last one did!"

Hong Kong - we had left Hong Kong and were headed to Tokyo, and then the U.S. All of a sudden, we felt a large bump - kind of like hitting a patch of turbulence, but kind of different too. Then we started to see smoke coming in to the cabin, and the fire alarms started going off. The plane was flying just fine the whole time, and we didn't lose altitude or have the oxygen masks come out, but the fire alarms were really disconcerting. They were going off in multiple parts of the plane, and they had flashing lights and a ping-ping sound. The flight attendants were walking around trying to find out where the smoke was coming from, and it was clear that they couldn't figure out what was going on. Several minutes later, the pilot announced that we would make an "unscheduled landing" in Okinawa - not an emergency landing, an unscheduled landing. He said that we would see fire trucks waiting for us, but that we shouldn't be alarmed; this was standard procedure with unscheduled landings. We landed just fine, and eventually they let us get off the plane and wait in the airport while they found a new plane for us. We had hoped we'd get to spend the night in Okinawa, but no such luck. We flew a different plane to Tokyo and spent the night there. The next day, we learned that a ball bearing had come loose in one of the engines and that's what caused the problem. We also discovered that we'd made the newspaper: "747 Makes Emergency Landing!" I was impressed with the professionalism of the pilot and flight crew; their calm demeanor kept the rest of us calm.

Our young son, who hadn't flown much at that point, took the whole thing in stride. When we were on the next plane, and we finally landed in Osaka, he exclaimed in a loud voice, "this plane didn't even crash, not like the last one did!"

That's awesome!

Anyway, sorry to be an ass, but I'm a sufficiently large airplane nut that I wouldn't sleep if I passed on this correction. You couldn't have flown in a 7E7 because the program (now renamed 787) is still in its testing phase, and there are not yet any planes carrying passengers. First deliveries are expected in the fourth quarter of 2010. On SF-Osaka, it would likely be either be a 767 or 747.

Point well taken. Thinking back, they must have been 777s. This flight was in 2002 or thereabouts, and the planes were brand new. I remember thinking that, in addition to the bad publicity that United Airlines would get, it was a real shame that they had just damaged 2 of their newest planes. We were living in Seattle at the time, so we joked that at least it might mean more work for Boeing employees.

Reading this actually makes me feel better. Fire, aborted landings, water sloshing and planes still fly fine. This makes me happy.

Because I'm flying to Turkey in a few days, after 5 flights in the last 2 months. I have the airplane exhaustion. Luckily I also have a new story:

Flight from Mexico City to Seattle. It was Aeromexico. On the way down we hit no turbulance and there was absolutly no issues. Fantastic flight. One of the best I've ever had.

Flight back, not so much.

We taxi down the runway like usual. I'm in generally good spirits because of the professionalism I'd seen on the last flight. Not worried. We pick up speed for takeoff, we take off. And suddenlty the whole airplane starts to shake. People start crossing themselves and saying their Hail Mary's and I'm counting seats (to the emergency exit, I heard it helps if you crash because you can't always see it).

Anyway, as we climb very shakily into the air, the rattling slowly subsides. I try to calm down. Then I find out we're stopping in Cabo (it was supposed to be non stop). Great.

I seriously consider getting off in Cabo and catching another flight. But whatever. I don't. And a wonderful extended Mexican family is busy keeping me calm by being sweet as pie. So then we taxi again, and we go to take off and I'm thinking this problem must have been fixed but NO. It starts shaking again.

Luckily the family was smart enough to sit a 5 year old next to me. I can't help it. If there's a kid (or puppy) around me I feel the need to be strong for the kid. Stupid protective maternal instincts. So 2/3 of the flight I was watching her color, and when we hit turbulance and her face twisted, I'd smile and tell her it was all right.

Then they moved her. And I was a wreck until we touched down. I contacted a pilot friend afterwards and he told me it was most likely just a loose wheel on landing gear. Irritating but not dangerous. Whew.

Ugh. Flying.Allthough my last flight to Paris I researched all the airplanes before I left. None has ever recorded a crash. I remember telling my mom as she was dropping me off at the airport that "if we do crash it would be an extrodinary event, so at least I could put that on my tombstone"

So.. living in laramie I tend to fly in and out of, you guessed it, laramie.

This is not a large airport. It does not take large planes. It doesn't take jets at all. You can fly from here to someplace deeper in wyoming, or down to denver, which is where I go. It snows in Laramie. All year long, it seems. They aren't so good at de-icing runways. Or planes. Or walkways, roads, cars, windows... you get the idea. They also don't usually shut the airport down unless the winds are over 70, weird, or blowing in such a way as to make "both" runways unusable.

Oh, and between here and denver the route seems to go right over the continental divide, so the air is... interesting. Think rollercoaster. In a little commuter jet. A beech 1900, I believe, actually. I really enjoy the ride when it's full of tourists. They like to scream and pray when the plane drops a couple feet. Or 50.

So... bouncing up and down is expected. But one time, flying back from visiting family over thanksgiving, it had been snowing all day, and they'd just re-opened laramie to flights. They aren't so good at plowing, as I already said, but the wind had died down, so they figured it would be good.

And it was, until we landed by gliding, sideways, down the runway. Which I hope never to do again. Mmm, vomit comet. Better than a motorcycle.

Alternately, there was the first time I was in a plane landing at SFO in the fog, from over the bay.

I had a story, until I read this last one. Compared to that one, I had an easy time.

Then there was the time that I was flying shotgun on a piper cub when the plane went down due to a fuel pump problem, hard. The pilot tried to control it, but we barely made it without hitting one of the many trees in our mountanside path. Well, God had to have been my pilot, for I swear, the pilot landed the plane on the treetops of a vast forest canopy with a few bangs and thumps. Well, there we were, hanging by wings between two large trees, the trees were shaking, and we had no way to get down. Still, that was solved for us by the plane shifting, the wings snapping, and our cabin tumbling thorugh the 200 foot branches until we hit a clear spot, luckily falling on a small interloper tree and a series of Llano vines, which suspended us 9 feet from the ground, much roughed up. The pilot was unconscious, blood pouring from his head. I wrapped him up as I good, and managed to make a sling and dropped him down slowly. I then tied the sling to a door post, and climbed down.

Well, what can I say. I survived the hellish walk through the territory of a few cannibal tribes, ran like hell with the pilot still on my back when some drug farm employees took exception to my presence, and found a river, where I made a makeshift raft with nothing but my 6 inch buck-knife.

We floated down the river, barely avoided being killed in a class V rapids, and with the barely conscious pilot still on my back, we stumbled into a town occupied by a whore house, a trading post, and an expat who was hiding from the British government the hard way for a crime he was accused of 27 years ago. He swore he didn't murder his family, he really did. He invited us to his house, nursed the pilot to health, and we swore not to rat him out, meaning every word. The guy had paid his price, we thought, between the bouts of malaria I personally nursed him through, he and his south american native mistress. We were on the way to catch the slow mail boat to the main town down the river, one of those old steam numbers that kept on chugging on wood gotten from the shore, and was just about to get on it, when two natives came running out of the bush with blowguns.The last thing I heard was the phrase in Patois "White meat! White Meat!. This didn't make a lot of sense since I'm actually Hispanic with amber colored skin, but I let it pass,or rather, I passed out.

I am here to tell this story only because God was my pilot, and there really is life after death.

There was a minute there when I thought you were making stuff up, but it passed. Clearly an incredible tale of survival in the most challenging circumstances.

Nothing compared to some of these stories, true or not But once, I was on a plane that stopped to refuel at a military base in New York. Unscheduled and unplanned. Which makes me wonder why no one noticed the plane needed fuel before it left. That one could have been scary. Also, I was boarding a plane leaving Frankfurt, well, almost boarding. There was a line at the gate, they'd just started to check tickets, and then they told us all to sit back down because the plane had a leak in it they needed to fix. Good thing they caught that one.

Libby wrote:Once, while flying into my home airport, the indicator light showed that the landing gear wasn't down. WE had to fly past the tower a few time to get visual confirmation they were down. Nice.

You weren't by chance flying into Phoenix back in May of 2007 (or was it 06 or 08?). That same thing happened on my flight. We landed and stopped quite quickly, while a dozen or so emergency vehicles waited and chased us on the runway.

It's always unsettling when the pilot comes out of the cockpit, face red and sweaty, to lower some sort of parascope below the belly of the plane to try and see the landing gear.

Flying in to Albany New York on an old airliner with brown carpet, and red and yellow plaid upholstery.

About a hundred feet off the runway, the whole plane went dead. Engines coughed, all the lights went dead... for about 3 seconds. Just long enough that folks started to stir, and cheeks started to clench...

I figured they had an issue with the plane that was supposed to fly that route, and pulled one out of mothballs...

Second one happened a few weeks ago in a Cessna 172. Instructor was ancient... decided half way into the landing to abort and pick a different run way. Front passed through a minute later as we looped the runway... Pointed her nose straight at the ground on the way down... pulled up and bounced her twice.

Instructor had a stroke in flight about 3 weeks ago... week or so after I went up with him.