Have you ever been on a scary turbulent flight?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I'm curious what it was like? I've been on quite bumpy flights before, but the flight attendants always looked fine/ bored, so I wasn't worried and just kept watching whatever film. But I'm lucky as have no fear of flying in general, so perhaps easy for me to dismiss it.

Has anyone been on a really frightening flight where you were worried things might deteriorate? Did you get on a plane again after?

A few but I always keep an eye on the cabin crew to see if they look worried. I’ve flown a lot but actually nothing beyond normal turbulence except flying between the Uae and Oman in the wake of a cyclone and the staff rushed to their seats and belted themselves in looking worried. It passed though.

Yes, several times, it’s awful, the sudden drops and shaking, also landed is high cross winds just before Glasgow airport landed once on a small BMI baby flight (or was it Belfast) anyway that was also awful, you land sort of sideways, the landing was later shown on BBC news.

*just before Glasgow airport closed

Yea it was all going so well. Then we hit a really bumpy patch and food was flying off the trays and it was like being on a rollercoaster. Then we noticed there was quite a bit of flapping of the roof tiles - that’s when I stopped going ‘wheeeee this is like a rollercoaster!’. I think I was bothered by pieces of the plane flapping freely than the bumps.

We didn’t plum it through the air or do an emergency landing - it was a smallish place, small airline, arse end of nowhere...

@DrinkFeckArseBrick

"the same family member quite nonchalantly says after watching one of those viral "what happened on the flight" videos - yeah, that's pretty much how planes go down, they probably had a 1 to 5 or 1 in 10 chance of crashing there."

If that was true there would be a crash every other week!

It's about every third week now, so not far off (majority cargo, so not at the front pages).

I've been on a flight which had an emergency landing, there was a smell of burning. it was extremely well managed but a pretty quick descent. When we landing we were surrounded by fire engines. It was a very unpleasant end to a holiday although we got a random night in Athens. The plane had an electrical fault but was repaired and we flew home the next day. Can't fault the airline they were brilliant. My son was not impressed as we spent his birthday travelling in the end but he did get a free bag of Percy pigs!!

I’m usually okay with turbulence as everything carries on as normal apart from the seat belt sign coming on.

However, flying back from New York a few years ago was scary. The plane was bumping around all over the place, the entertainment system went off and the crew belted themselves into their seats. There was absolute silence apart from people gasping when there was a particularly bad jolt.

I flew across the Atlas mountains in a thunderstorm once. It was a short flight - Casablanca to Marrakesh so they went right through the storm. The cabin crew were strapped in. Cutlery and food containers all crashed down onto the floor. Lightning flashing. The lot. It was
full of people who were obviously experienced fliers but everyone was silent and white faced staring straight ahead. We landed into a calm and beautiful night and no-one mentioned it! The pilot just hoped we had a good flight.

I never get comforted by looking at the Cabin Crew. Cabin Crew always look annoyed and stressed - usually about finding the right change or running out of vegetarian options.

yes
a flight from new york to la.
massive thunderstorm near la and the pilot couldn't divert and had to land. even the attendants were ashen faced.

tbh. after seeing how much wings of a large plane (one with 3-5-3 seat rows in cattle class) can move up and down without damage I'm a lot less afraid of flying.

Yep. I thought I was going to die. Other people on the plane also seeming panicked. It went on for a long time. I've flown a couple of times since, short ones, while under the influence of prescribed diazepam, but turned down an incredible opportunity because I couldn't face a 12+ hour flight to get there. It's really made my life difficult and I wish it had never happened. Had flown hundreds of times before and never been nervous at all but I'm struggling to reconcile myself with the idea now.

I've experienced bad turbulence several times but it doesn't bother me too much.
Landing in high wind at Manchester was my worst flight experience. Coming in like a bucking bronco with the wings dipping side to side. We were nearly down when the captain aborted and shot back up to altitude. Circled for ages, until there was a slight improvement in the weather. No one was screaming. In fact, the passengers were spookily silent.

Had a plane abort take off at the kast minute - pilot had spotted something at the end of the runway. Got a cut nose from my glasses pressingvinto me when I whacked my head on the seat in front. Conversation starter with the person next to me though!

Yes and I used to love flying before this happened.

So we were on way home from a holiday and I was 14. I was on holiday with my friend and her parents. It was a night time flight maybe about 10pm so was pitch black outside.

Plane went down the runway as normal for take off and started climbing we were in the air maybe 10-15 seconds I can't remember exactly but we had literally not long left the ground. The plane fell (I don't know how many feet it felt like a lot like it was falling out the sky) enough to make the plane shake, all the lights go out/flicker and everyone was screaming! It made ur tummy go as if u were on a roller coaster. Then a few seconds later it happened again.

It was honestly terrifying I thought the plane was going to crash. I was crying as was my friend and a lot of frightened passengers. Everyone looking around like and saying wtf was that.

When the plane finally levelled off the pilot came on and said we hit turbulence during take off. I now think it was an air pocket although I don't really know a lot about these things.

I was really scared of flying after that. It took me a gd few yrs to not be crying at take off I used to relive that take off every time. I'm a lot better now no crying and I'm pretty chilled but little part of me is like cmon up up up nice and smooth 🤞🏻

Had a few a couple of really dodgy landings with high winds etc which wasn't fun but nothing like that take off.

Coming back from New York we flew into Heathrow then on to Manchester. The crew from the transatlantic flight were passengers on the connecting flight and were in the row in front of me.
On attempting landing at Manchester there was a massive gust of wind that blew the plane sideways and the pilot had to take it up again. It was terrifying but no-one seemed too bothered. Attempted landing again and plane was being seriously buffeted, lockers popping open. The American crew in the row in front started muttering to each other and I heard one of them comment that they wouldn’t even attempt landing in these conditions. We went back up again and had to circle for a while and it was awful, so bumpy and the side winds were bad. The crew were talking about how the plane should divert and one started talking about never having experienced a landing like this. Which obviously worries me as they’re professionals. We landed ok but I still hate flying into Manchester now.

[quote Flugbusters4444]@WhatHaveIFound sedated by the crew? That is a lie dear. They are air crew, they cannot dispense controlled drugs.[/quote]
I assumed it was drugs she was carrying herself as there were lots of goings on between her husband and the crew. She obviously wasn't sedated against her will!

Had many turbulent flights but the scariest experience was when landing gear would not retract. We had to go back to tenerife as were burning too much fuel. Couldn't stop thinking what would have happened if gear would not go down. Got an extra paid night in better hotel so not so bad

On a flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh, attempting to see my mother one more time before she died. Very strong winds and the only time I've heard the captain order flight crew to take their seats. And when I got there I discovered she died before I took off but my dad was too confused and distressed to realise i didn't know. Not exactly a good day!

Several flights from Paris to London have been quite hairy for some reason (I use Eurostar now for that journey ).

The worst one was from Tallin to Helsinki. It's about half an hour but it felt like eternity. I clung on to DH for grim death (which it would have been!). Genuinely thought we were going to die. Told him I loved him and everything!

But I'm a good flier generally and got on the connecting flight to LHR without giving it a second thought.

AChickenCalledDaal

Oh how awful

This thread has got me thinking about how amazing pilots and cabin staff are. Seriously, I've had some very turbulent, scary flights but the crew have all been amazing and the pilots so calm under pressure. Shout out to the pilots

@WhatHaveIFound that sounds much more likely - the way you wrote it originally made it sound like the crew did it to subdue her!

@forinborin I know (from family member who is a very experienced pilot) that they have straight jackets on the flights, but that is for aggressive drunks We don’t have strait jackets on board, we do have handcuffs. They are for passengers who are a danger to the aircraft or passengers, not necessarily aggressive drunks. They are used extremely infrequently as most aggressive passengers calm down when they realise where their actions are going. I’d also like to dispute the statement that aircraft are crashing roughly one every 3 weeks. One jet has crashed in 2021 so far, and one jet had a severe engine failure but landed successfully with no injuries or loss of life.

If it helps, I am also a very experienced pilot. 27 years flying experience, 22 of them flying passengers on jet airliners. I am sure your family member and I would have a lot to talk about!

@saveforthat you wouldn’t need to worry about gear not coming down. On most aircraft a mechanical uplock is released and gravity allows the gear to come down and lock into place. The gear lever can jam but even so there is usually an alternative method of lowering gear. One of my favourite nuggets of pub quiz knowledge is that on the older B737s there is a little window above the gear in the floor of the cabin to check if the gear is down properly in an emergency. It is covered by the carpet and a circular disc of wood - the only wooden bit on the aircraft. The cabin crew never used to believe me, so I used to get them to lie on the floor with their head under a seat when we had no passengers on board. 🤣

On a trip to Paris. Made worse by the fact that we (I) had deathly hangovers. And the woman whose birthday we were celebrating was panicking because her Valium was wearing off. And the cabin crew were looking worried and were strapped in their seats. The sky was lit up by lightning. We were all scared shitless, but when birthday girl looked at us we all went 👍😃.

[quote backinthebox]**@forinborin* I know (from family member who is a very experienced pilot) that they have straight jackets on the flights, but that is for aggressive drunks* We don’t have strait jackets on board, we do have handcuffs. They are for passengers who are a danger to the aircraft or passengers, not necessarily aggressive drunks. They are used extremely infrequently as most aggressive passengers calm down when they realise where their actions are going. I’d also like to dispute the statement that aircraft are crashing roughly one every 3 weeks. One jet has crashed in 2021 so far, and one jet had a severe engine failure but landed successfully with no injuries or loss of life.

If it helps, I am also a very experienced pilot. 27 years flying experience, 22 of them flying passengers on jet airliners. I am sure your family member and I would have a lot to talk about![/quote]
The data is from Aviation Safety Network (5 year average) - 2021 was hardly normal when it comes to air traffic, so not sure whether it is indicative.
Straitjackets and zip ties was what I was told... not handcuffs. Could there maybe be regional differences? He has roughly your tenure too, but his experience is mainly FSU and contracts in Africa.