Whats the scariest thing that has happened to you in the air?

Question

for me its when one engine stopped working and we had to return to the airport

Answer 1

250 miles off the coast of Bangor, Maine, I was flying a missle profile on a Canadian Frigate.  As I passed through 5,000 ft and approaching 480 KIAS, the nose of my jet came apart with a loud explosive sound.  As I pulled back on the stick and attempted to convert airspeed for altitude both of my motors EGT gauges spiked to 900 degs.  I realized that debris from the nose had gone down my intakes.  Of course, I considered ejecting but I am way out to sea in the North Atlantic at the beginning of May.  That water just looked cold and I was brilliant enough to be flying without a drysuit.  As I turned toward Bangor, my closest divert, I began to assess my situation.  I pulled the power back to max endurance and left it there so I would not have to touch it until my approach.  I looked out to my left wing and saw a one foot gaping hole on the leading edge.  The RADAR horn had been torn off and had penetrated the leading edge and was later found in the fuel cell.  Thank goodness for self sealing tanks.  I only had small fuel leak.....boy that water looked cold.  As I flew back I reviewed the ejection checklist over and over. I also planned to take an arrested landing at NAS Bangor so I dropped the hook right away.  There is no drag penalty and I just did not want to forget. Felt a little relief when I finally saw the coast but when I heard that ATIS reported that I was going to have a max crosswind at the field I just wondered who I had pissed off that day.  Crippled aircraft making an arrested landing with a max crosswind.  Beauty.  Honestly, the landing was uneventful but I can tell you that I was happy to be  on  the ground.  Pulled a lot of NOMEX out of the sphincter that night!!

Answer 2

The scariest thing in GA for me was when I got caught in some bad 20kt low level shear winds. Took two attempts to land and both times I was thrown into a 50 degree bank  on my turn to final that made me loose about 100 or so feet altitude within seconds. The third attempt to land wind gusts just lifted me about some 50 feet off the runway when I flared, I added power so I wouldnt fall like a rock, but I still hit the tarmac pretty ugly and off centreline. I was glad to be back on the ground.

Answer 3

when the plane was non-stop shaking

Answer 4

As a student pilot in a C152.  I was landing at a short-narrow runway,  high elevation and hot,  with a cross wind.   I made a touch and go with carb heat and full flaps. . Yes I now know there was no need for carb heat or that much flaps. And things got worst. Due to inexperience and the mental fog of being in over my head, I pressed on with my attempt. The wind blew me out in the sage brush at the side of the runway. To make a long story short, I got away with it, but managed to drag the tail and landing gear through sage brush for an extended period. I was so far behind the power curve and low that I couldn't let the nose down for speed nor pull back to climb. Thurst finally overcame drag. My complements to Mr Cessna for making a great trainer for young fools.

Answer 5

i got caught over thunder storm and stuck in bad turbulance and we dropped 15,000 ft

Answer 6

I was on final the other day using a slip to land. I had full rudder deflection and was still not tracking the center line. Mind you this was my second attempt; I had initiated a go-around because of the wind. I went ahead and touched down on only my left main and almost took out the lights on the side of the runway before I got her straight. That was my scariest moment ever in a GA aircraft. My passenger thought it was awesome once we finished the taxi, but I was still shaking.

Answer 7

--Low fuel at night, over an area I was unfamiliar with, and without appropriate charts.  --Summer haze and overcast, so there wasn't moonlight or starlight for seeing the ground.  --No working microphone for turning on airport lighting.

Answer 8

When I discovered it is possible to get carburetor ice on takeoff when the OAT gauge reads 90degs!  

When we were terrain flying in a huey near a mountain crest and another bird came up the wrong side of the route.  We both turned in the wrong direction (Thank goodness!).  We were so close that I called the other aircraft to tell him that one of his bolts for his skids was missing!

Answer 9

Forty years as a pilot and the only scary times were flying helicopters in Vietnam. You guys should be careful if this is what you call scary stuff. That's all just flying.

Answer 10

When en route from Orange County CA to Sacramento, the cabin filled with smoke.  It stayed like that for a few seconds.  Then the pilot came on the P.A. and said they were burning rice fields on the ground and we just flew right into the plume.

Answer 11

I haven't had any thing scary happening to me in the air but I was worried when my flight was delayed because of the engine not working.

Answer 12

when i took the tinfoil off my main course and a cockroach jumped out.

Answer 13

you saw that video a few weeks ago of that plane landing in germany? that happened in Ontario, CA. captain warned us of turbulence but he didn't mention that we would be tipping left and right violently on the way down. and then we can in HOT! (faster than normal to i guess not get too affected by the winds). onto the landing and came in somewhat sideways and when the front tire hit, the plane straighten out.

you know it's bad when the flight attendant goes onto the mic and says "WE'RE ALIVE!". after we got our bags..we realized how windy it was outside. probably 40-45mph winds.

never flying out of there again.

oh and then getting hit by lightning on a plane is never fun.

Answer 14

when i was leaving los angeles one morning. it was taking off when the palne was shaking and in an instance it felt like thr plane was falling really fast evrybody onboard just screamed.

if it did fall we would of crashed in the ocean  =(

there you go a nice story for you!

True Story!

Answer 15

I was on a flight into Orlando and there was a big storm that the planes couldn't land  in so the plane circled for a while landed elsewhere because we were low on fuel, refueled and took off again to Orlando.  The storm had moved farther south and the plane came in for a landing hit hard and skiided, people on the plane (200+) had their heads between their legs and I heard a prayer in spanish.  The plane came to a halt the captain said that we had a rough landing and hoped we would never have another landing like that and thanked us for flying with the company, people started to clap

Answer 16

They ran out of rum.

Answer 17

En route from Miami to Colorado with my sister last year, flew right into a hail storm that no one knew was ahead. All the lights went out suddenly, and the emergency lights came on, but it was still dark. No one had a clue what was going on, and the hostesses didn't know either. Baring in mind there was only 7 of us in First Class, so we could only speculate as to what was going on. My sister was convinced we were going to crash lol. Found out after we landed that we got hit by lightning and one of the engines lost power for a few minutes. Scary stuff at the time!