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View Full Version : What's the worst flight you ever had?


Sooner24
6/20/2006, 09:17 PM
After reading this I got to thinking I have never really had a bad flight. I only fly two or three times a years but every flight has been a non-event.

American Airlines Statement Regarding Flight 1740



Flight 1740, an American Airlines MD-80 aircraft en route from Los Angeles to Chicago, was involved in a safe emergency landing this morning at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. There were no injuries among the 131 passengers and 5 crew members.

At approximately 6:15 a.m., pilots from Flight 1740 indicated a mechanical issue involving the nose gear of the aircraft. After a fly-by by the air traffic control tower, the pilots confirmed the nose gear was not lowered and locked.

The pilots and crew followed American Airlines emergency procedures and executed a flawless landing without use of the nose gear. The aircraft came to a safe stop on runway 14 Right. The 131 passengers and 5 crew members deplaned the rear exit stairs. There appears to be no damage to the runway and minimal damage to the aircraft.

American Airlines officials are in direct contact with representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board. American is cooperating fully with federal, state and local authorities.

As information becomes available, American will be posting and updating the latest information within our Press Releases section on AA.com. In addition, company representatives will be available to respond to media inquiries.
GottaHavePride
6/20/2006, 09:35 PM
Heh. I've had two extremely bumpy ones, but nothing like that.
slickdawg
6/20/2006, 09:40 PM
No doubt. June, 1994, I was flying a crop duster from Memphis to Jackson, MS.

There were thunderstorms all around, but the pilot didn't care, we took off.

Turbulence doesn't begin to describe what happened for the 1 hour flight.

We'd hit pockets of up/downdrafts and bump up/down seemingly 50 feet.
Nobody unbuckled the whole flight, including the stewardess.

During one of those 50 foot drops, a kid in the seat in front of me pukes.
It looks like he's eaten an Orange push-up pop. As the plane is going down,
the puke is going up and splats on the cieling.

We level out, then gravity sends the puke back down on the kid and his mom.

The stewardess cooly gets a bottle of water and a towel from behind her without unbuckling, and passes it back to the kid. That stuff STUNK TO HELL.

I haven't eaten an orange push up since.
trwxxa
6/20/2006, 09:43 PM
Not a flight, but aborted takeoff. Fully loaded Continental 747 (back when they had them). Aborted about halfway down the runway and we managed to stop before we ran out of pavement. After a four hour delay, to replace brakes and tires, we were in the air, minus about 20% of the original passengers.

This was in 1991 when planes had a smoking section. People were lighting up as soon as the wheels were in the air.
OUinFLA
6/20/2006, 09:45 PM
When I was 8 years old and about 12 feet up in the oak tree in the neighbors front yard, He said if I flapped my arms fast enough I could maybe fly like a bird.
I guess I didnt flap them fast enough.
That was my worst flight.
Oh, and my last attempt.
scaldeddawg
6/20/2006, 09:58 PM
I've flown twice in my life. Both were the succ.

Therefore, I do not fly. Cars are great.
Sooner24
6/20/2006, 09:59 PM
When I was 8 years old and about 12 feet up in the oak tree in the neighbors front yard, He said if I flapped my arms fast enough I could maybe fly like a bird.
I guess I didnt flap them fast enough.
That was my worst flight.
Oh, and my last attempt.


Quitter! :P
olevetonahill
6/20/2006, 10:07 PM
Worst = that flight that took me to Nam :eek:
Best = The Freedom Bird ;)
Tiptonsooner
6/20/2006, 10:44 PM
I flew to Vegas on an MD-80 a coupla weeks ago, it was the roughest damn flight I've ever been on. That was until the ride home, we flew over a huge storm and it was worse than the original flight. Those MD-80's are little planes to begin with, the front gear wheel looked to only be about 12in. tall.
Mongo
6/20/2006, 10:57 PM
My team just got done playin an SEC team. The team loaded up on the plane around 11:00 PM. The plane had mechanical problems so we had to stay an extra night in Tuscaloosa. The next morning, we loaded up on the plane again and began to taxi. The flight attendants' call buttons began to "bong" faster and faster. I was passed out at that time, hungover from the hotel bar, then woke up to the whole effing cabin filled with smoke. Some of the players began to panic "Airplane" style. 8 hours later, the plane was ready. I have flown many times, but on that flight home, I think I crapped myself at least 4 times.
Kels
6/20/2006, 11:19 PM
I had a flight in Cambodia where we landed on the left wheel only. Zowie.

Last year on a flight to LA, a woman behind me OD'd on pills after giving a suicide note to her husband. He didn't speak English. They rushed us in LAX and the paramedics came and got her off the plane.
SicEmBaylor
6/21/2006, 01:02 AM
Flight from London to JFK. Horrific. It's a long story, but I got stuck at Heathrow Airport for two days with no sleep, no food, and no shower. On the way home I hoped to catch a bit of sleep on the plane, but I got stuck behind this couple with twin babies who cried THE WHOLE FREAKING TRIP.

I was exhausted when I finally made it back to Tulsa but my hunger outweighed my exhaustion and I pulled myself into Coney Islander and ate about 10 dogs.
PhxSooner
6/21/2006, 01:07 AM
Went to SE Asia in 1990. The Northwest flight from Seoul to Bangkok apparently went over some mountains in China. The turbulence got so bad that trays were flying and people were falling out of their seats. The problem for me was that the flight attendants were only speaking in Korean, so I don't know if they were saying "Please fasten your seatbelt" or "Please be ready to meet your Maker".
SicEmBaylor
6/21/2006, 01:14 AM
Went to SE Asia in 1990. The Northwest flight from Seoul to Bangkok apparently went over some mountains in China. The turbulence got so bad that trays were flying and people were falling out of their seats. The problem for me was that the flight attendants were only speaking in Korean, so I don't know if they were saying "Please fasten your seatbelt" or "Please be ready to meet your Maker".

Could have been worse. The Chinese Air Force could have decided to play "chicken" with your airliner and then blame any accident on your aircraft's inability to dart out the way of a nimble fighter.

Just to throw a far-fetched hypothetical out there...
PhxSooner
6/21/2006, 01:16 AM
Could have been worse. The Chinese Air Force could have decided to play "chicken" with your airliner and then blame any accident on your aircraft's ability to dart out the way of a nimble fighter.

Just to throw a far-fetched hypothetical out there...
Pfft. I had just graduated from high school. I was invincible. If that happened now, I would be having a heart attack.:O
ouflak
6/21/2006, 04:15 AM
Roughest flight for me was one where I was actually piloting. It was over 90 degrees of there's-a-storm-brewing weather outside, gusting like crazy and I was training on a tiny Cessna 151. We would simply drop or jump something that felt like a 100 ft in any given second. If I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt, I'm sure I would simply have been tossed out of the plane. That was the only time in my life where I have experienced any kind of motion sickness (Fortunately just nausea, no puking).
Pricetag
6/21/2006, 08:33 AM
Turbulence doesn't begin to describe what happened for the 1 hour flight.

We'd hit pockets of up/downdrafts and bump up/down seemingly 50 feet.
Nobody unbuckled the whole flight, including the stewardess.

My brother and I were lucky enough to be on a flight like this from Chicago to St. Louis.

Compounding things was that it was the day after St. Patrick's Day, and we had both drank a ton of Old Style the night before. When the phone rang for our wake up call that morning, it was as if we were awakening from death. I'm sure we were quite a sight that day.
mdklatt
6/21/2006, 09:01 AM
I had a flight in Cambodia where we landed on the left wheel only.

What happened to the right wheel?
jk the sooner fan
6/21/2006, 09:03 AM
C130 from Panama to Honduras.....a hydrolics line burst open during flight, spraying hydraulic fluid all over one of the passengers

they had to circle the airfield while they handcranked down the landing gear

i've only seen the look of panic of the flight crews face one other time, and that was on a NW flight from San Antonio to Memphis during really bad storms
picasso
6/21/2006, 09:07 AM
C130 from Panama to Honduras.....a hydrolics line burst open during flight, spraying hydraulic fluid all over one of the passengers

they had to circle the airfield while they handcranked down the landing gear

i've only seen the look of panic of the flight crews face one other time, and that was on a NW flight from San Antonio to Memphis during really bad storms
whoa!

all I know is never unbuckle your seatbelt.
mdklatt
6/21/2006, 09:10 AM
As far as pucker factor, the worst flight I had was when I was taking off from David J. Perry (Goldsby) and the flap handle slipped out of my hands; instead of taking off one notch of flaps they retracted altogether. With the sudden loss of lift I started sinking towards the trees off the end of the runway.

Turbulence-wise, it was a flight to Lawton and then Wichita Falls. It was extremley windy, so I was getting knocked from side to side for the whole flight. The Ft. Still air traffic controller asked if I had a problem when he noticed that my groundspeed was only 60 knots (a 45 knot headwind). When landing at Lawton I flew into wind shear and basically dropped the last few feet to the runway. Ouch.
12
6/21/2006, 09:14 AM
Waiting on the tarmac in St. Louis for three hours. Seems Al Gore was due to fly out and they needed clear air space. I'm guessing he was late for his flight.
sooneron
6/21/2006, 09:15 AM
Newark to OKC on continental's direct flight a couple of years ago. We must have had an hour and a half of turbulence. I thought the missus was goona hurl the whole time. What a trooper.
XingTheRubicon
6/21/2006, 09:18 AM
American Eagle is like a lethargic paint mixer
BeetDigger
6/21/2006, 09:29 AM
At LaGuardia a couple of years ago, after a choppy approach that had many people throwing up, we had to do a aircraft carrier touch and go. LGA has a very short landing strip (heh) and if you don't get the plane down fast, you run out of runway fast. So, we got to experience not only the touch and go, but the bumpy approach twice. I didn't throw up, but a lot of folks around us did.
Kels
6/21/2006, 09:49 AM
What happened to the right wheel?

The pilot, who was flying an old Russian airplane BTW, somehow did a Duke's of Hazzard thing on the left wheel until we slowed down enough to crash down on the right side.
mdklatt
6/21/2006, 09:51 AM
The pilot, who was flying an old Russian airplane BTW, somehow did a Duke's of Hazzard thing on the left wheel until we slowed down enough to crash down on the right side.

Sounds like a normal crosswind landing.
Stanley1
6/21/2006, 09:58 AM
I can't complain too much. I flew from Tulsa to Dallas on a little prop plane a couple of days before OU played for the NC in January 2001. Was very icy out, flew through a storm, and experienced alot of turbulence (which is terrible in a small plane).
hurricane'bone
6/21/2006, 10:05 AM
Worst flight I had was from Houston to Phoenix, turbulence for almost teh entire trip, and when we weren't in turbulence there was a little kid running up and down the aisle.
1stTimeCaller
6/21/2006, 10:05 AM
My first time to fly commercially was when I was about 10 flying from OKC to ATL on an L-1011 it was nasty the entire time. We were in the back row of the plane. The flight attendants never got out of their seats either. When we were getting off and the pilot and copilot were standing there thanking people and apologizing one of them looked at my hat and said I know you enjoyed the ride. I had on an Air Force Academy hat. Hell I thought that's what riding on a big plane was supposed to be like.
Octavian
6/21/2006, 10:17 AM
American Airlines Statement Regarding Flight 1740

Flight 1740, an American Airlines MD-80 aircraft en route from Los Angeles to Chicago, was involved in a safe emergency landing this morning at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

I flew out of DCA yesterday.

At about 9 AM ET I woke up and saw that plane skidding across the runway on my tv. I thought for sure it would back up the whole flight schedule across the midwest and/or east coast.

I was lucky I was traveling through St. Louis and not OHare or I'd have probably spent all day yesterday inside airports and not in the air.
Octavian
6/21/2006, 10:21 AM
as for my worst flight....either Dallas to Honolulu or Newark to London.

they should offer sleeping gas.
IB4OU2
6/21/2006, 10:44 AM
1. Any Continental Flight connecting through Houston International...........

2. I flew Braniff out to Bakersfield Ca. back in the 80's and they went belly up while I was out there so I had to beg any airline to accept my return tickets. United finally accepted them but I had to fly standby and it took me close to 18 hours just to get back to Tulsa.....:mad: