Missed landings and other flight stories

[cherrypiepie]

I was on a flight at the weekend that touched for half a second down then took off again straight away, it was pretty scary, and very confusing, shocking.

Cue me gripping the armrests and a hushed silence and prayers of 'god will save us' from the back row. A few oxygen masks came down. It had been pretty rough but not horrendously turbulent and I it was very cloudy with very low cloud and torrential rain so bad you couldn't even see if it was rain. I was observing BA the aircraft on the grounds in a weird little pen when we touched down once (normal expect a couple of thunks) then immediately engines roared and we were soon climbing again. We circled for about 15 Minutes then the captain explained it was a gust of wind just as we touch down that made it unsafe. About 30 minutes later we landed safely.

A Google search tells me this is a go around or a misled landing and is normal not an emergency.

I can't get over how odd and weird this was!

Any other weird flight stories?

On landing at the airport on a night flight, the plane went past the apron and carried on taxiing round the airport before coming to a stop a fair distance from the airport itself, to be met with a sea of blue flashing lights coming towards us.
I asked my DH who is ATC what was going on. He said nothing and to stop worrying.
There had been a bomb threat made and the pilot was informed that the bomb was underneath the seats where we were sat.
I'm not ashamed to admit that once we were allowed off the plane, quite some time after the other passengers had disembarked, I wept.

Oh, and the plane from AMS to DUB that went tech as we flew over London - turned around and went back to Schipol. My boss and I were on our way home from Brussels, no seats on the BRU to DUB flights so we had got the train to Schipol to catch a plane there, and this was now 11pm at night. Luckily, we were on a KLM flight and the crew still had time, so we landed, were put on a bus and driven to the next plane parked alongside us (literally - but had to be bussed for safety), crew jumped in and turned on lights etc, we all re-embarked, doors slammed and away we went again. When we finally landed at about 1.30am (as there was also a time difference), boss approved me getting a taxi home rather than waiting 45 minutes for the next aircoach....

@BiddyPop

I've done a lot of flying over the past 20 years as an adult. Short and long haul, in planes as small as a turboprop 6 seater and as large as Airbus A380 or Boeing 787.

There's been plenty of turbulence, and hitting air pockets where we have suddenly dropped a bit. Thunderstorms both on the ground and in the air. Very heavy winds while sitting on the ground, shaking the plane so we wondered if we would actually be allowed to go.

Travelling to Paris once on the red-eye morning flight (6.30am departure), but Paris had fog, so we pulled away from the terminal and sat in the cargo area for almost 4 hours (the 9.30am flight was also lined up beside us at that stage). Paris airspace cleared, but our plane went "tech" when they started the engines again - so the later flight departed and we were towed back to the terminal where we were disembarked as a fire crew examined the plane. We were about to board the plane beside our original plane, when that also had a problem, so after another 2 hour delay (where we finally got a voucher to get a sandwich and cold drink - no hot ones as we were about to board again!!), we reboarded our ORIGINAL plane at 1.30pm and left shortly before 2pm (minus a few passengers who had missed their connections or would be too late for meetings so decided not to travel). I was just glad we got there in the end (and that this was a weekend in Paris trip, not like the one 3 months later on the same 6.30am flight where we were among those connecting to a long haul flight in CDG).

I've had plenty of hard landings, and also a good few go-arounds. The wind coming off Lake Geneva can often be gusty and they only have 1 runway so landings are often aborted there - and the fun part is that you then have to go out through the mountains again and fly right around to the pass through the mountains to make another try as there isn't enough room to do that inside the mountain range (sometimes you come in straight on to the runway through 1 gap and make the turn left as you take off to go out the other gap - but they occasionally go the opposite so you turn right to land and take off going straight ahead). I've had at least 5 or 6 journeys with go arounds there, 1 had 2 attempts before we actually landed on attempt 3 (the pilot did say afterwards that we would have gone elsewhere if it wasn't 3rd time lucky).

We've also been diverted to Shannon to get back to Dublin by bus, once.

And I've seen some other planes quite close up some days/nights.

Although the scariest for me was the time I flew with a connection through LHR on 5th November, and there were fireworks going off all over the place and seemed quite close to the planes when we were low for descending in (and it seemed like a particularly sharp takeoff angle that day - and I've done some sharp takeoffs!!).

Oh god… I’m a nervous flier AND am flying into London tomorrow (5th November) night

I used to travel quite a bit to Tenerife and apparently it happens quite a lot at the airport at the base of the volcano. Sometimes a freak gust travels down the volcano and perpendicular to the runway, which makes landing difficult, to the plane has to go round and try again.

The first time it happened to me I'd said a mental goodbye to all my family. Was convinced it meant my imminent death as we would continue to fly around, unable to land, until we ran out of fuel and crashed into the water. Wish they'd just told us it was normal!

I've had a couple of go-arounds. It's the fact that they don't tell you why until a lot later that is weird - I know why they don't, clearly, but still nerve-wracking. Once it was another plane wandering on to the runway apparently.

I had a crash on takeoff in Nepal - one of those wheeled stair truck things drove out in front of the plane as we were speeding up for take off. Plane skidded and tipped up, but the wing didn't touch the ground. Lots of screaming, which was the scariest bit. They took us off via stairs, so it can't have been an emergency really. Massive hole in the undercarriage of the plane, suitcases everywhere.

I was watching Flightradar on the day of the storm in Feb 2020 (just before lock down). One plane coming from Sao Paolo did 4 go-arounds into Heathrow, then flew off again... and landed eventually in Barcelona! I mean, 9 hour flight from Brazil, scary go-arounds, then another hour and a half of flying. Mad.

On the same day there were various bits of footage of people screaming at turbulence on flights into Heathrow - lots were ending up elsewhere. A Hanover to Heathrow flight ended up back in Germany - in Frankfurt.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

I've had a couple of go-arounds. It's the fact that they don't tell you why until a lot later that is weird - I know why they don't

Because “they” up front are busy flying the aircraft and initially the cabin crew don’t know anymore about what has gone on than the passengers.

The pilots’ priority is above all else to fly the go-around - climb up, retract gear, then flaps as appropriate and also make sure they are complying with the published go-around procedure, followed by talking to air traffic, assessing what to do next (divert or have another go), check in with the cabin crew.

After all that, then, and only then will they consider what to tell the passengers..and in some companies if the flight deck workload is high (and it can get very high in some situations) that PA gets delegated to the Cabin crew chief, and you may only get a very basic announcement.

@gelatodipistacchio

Oh! And once I was in a flight that got hit by lightning. It felt like a big metallic thunk, then we were diverted to Rome and it took ages to get home.

Yes I've been in a plane hit by lightning too - coming into Copenhagen in my case but we just landed as normal. Crew were very relaxed about it, I guess it happens all the time.

I used to travel quite a bit to Tenerife and apparently it happens quite a lot at the airport at the base of the volcano. Sometimes a freak gust travels down the volcano and perpendicular to the runway, which makes landing difficult, to the plane has to go round and try again

is that the old airport in the north? I know they used to have bad fog there, which was why they had that terrible accident in the 70s where two planes collided and I think over 500 people died. I've only been to the "new" Reina Sofia airport.

I don't think I'd want to fly into St Helena with the cross-winds. Still it has been open a few years now with no accidents so maybe it's ok.

I had go-arounds both times I've flown into Cork - it was windy and the airport is on top of a hill!

Taking off and landing in Nice was fun as its a short runway so serious banking once the wheels are off the ground.

That's quite similar as you come in low across the Mersey before the runway starts! That really freaked me out

Same in Jersey too, you fly over the sea - the runway starts a few hundred metres from the coast. Sometimes you take off that way as well. Trying to think of others like that - Edinburgh maybe as you seem to do a big loop out over the sea and then fly along the Forth. Southampton airport is close to the coast too but you usually fly up to Winchester and turn round to approach the runway so over land.

@blobby10

I had go-arounds both times I've flown into Cork - it was windy and the airport is on top of a hill!

Taking off and landing in Nice was fun as its a short runway so serious banking once the wheels are off the ground.

I wasn’t a Nice regular in my working days but the runway isn’t that short….as I understood it the main reason for the maneuvering into/out of Nice was to avoid the terrain and also very much for noise abatement…(don’t annoy the rich and famous…)

Basically it is done to keep you out over the sea as long as possible on arrival/get you out over the sea as quickly as possible on a departure.

Not a missed landing but a flight story.

Flying back from Vancouver after our honeymoon, there was some commotion a few rows in front of us. A man, clearly drunk, was escorted by the crew to the back of the plane. An announcement was made asking for any police or military personnel to make themselves known to the crew. Another man had a chat with the crew, went to the back, and a short while later everyone returned to their seats.

Maybe an hour or so later, more commotion from Drunk Man. He was escorted to the galley again, and Military Man went too. Then the crew came down the aisles and said to my husband (among others) "sir, you look strong and able bodied, would you mind joining us at the back of the plane?". 3 or 4 men went back with the crew, and I was left in my seat wondering what was going on.

A while later the crew told me that my husband was helping to restrain Drunk Man, and that pilot was deciding whether to continue the flight or turn the plane around. Eventually the flight was turned around and we landed in northernmost Canada, greeted by all 3 kinds of emergency vehicles with lights flashing all along the runway. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police boarded the plane, escorted the man away in handcuffs, and my tired and sweaty husband was returned to me. We refuelled and the rest of the flight was uneventful.

It turns out that Drunk Man had first got upset that the crew refused to serve him any more alcohol. Then they confiscated his duty free vodka which he'd been slipping into his coke. He kicked off, smashed some stuff in the galley, and that's when about 4 men basically sat on him for a couple of hours while they diverted and landed the plane. He was thrashing and spitting the whole time; they speculated he was on drugs too.

It was enough of a story to have made the local news where we landed. The man was prosecuted and fined; he could have been banned from flying. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/u-k-flight-diverted-to-iqaluit-due-to-allegedly-drunk-man-1.1306710

Husband got a bottle of rum (the irony!) and a $500 discount voucher for another flight for his troubles.

I don't think I'd want to fly into St Helena with the cross-winds. Still it has been open a few years now with no accidents so maybe it's ok.

I would love to visit St Helena, one of my friends lived there for nearly a decade and it looks amazing, almost other worldly. However the airport gives me the chills, even though I'm not a nervous flyer. The plane absolutely HAS to land there, there is nowhere else for it to go because it's so far from any other land. The airport was opened after my friend and her family left, so all of their travelling was the long way by boat, and I don't fancy that all that much either.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar

However the airport gives me the chills, even though I'm not a nervous flyer. The plane absolutely HAS to land there, there is nowhere else for it to go..

If I could belatedly try and reduced the chills…it’s not unknown to have to land at the airport you are headed for..That might perhaps due to it’s remoteness (not just islands, it was the case for some flights into Perth Australia for many years), it maybe due to other circumstances…for example even in Europe it would be fairly rare for example to divert from airport A, go to airport B and still have enough fuel to divert again to airport C….

As a result procedures to cater for the above are built into the operation of all flights, with some extras added on top for operations to remote airfields.

Hope you give it a go and get to enjoy a trip there.

Had a go round just a couple of weeks ago, into Edinburgh. We were nearly down when the pilot suddenly pulled the nose up steeply. The chief flight attendant was straight on the intercom to say it was not unusual, and for "operational reasons". Once we were up and going round again, the pilot came on to say that a plane on the runway had aborted take off, and we had to go round as there wasn't room for us to land. We landed smoothly a few minutes later. I felt in safe hands and wouldn't worry about flying again.