Redditor Daniel_plays_games was curious to hear the most unsettling things flight attendants, pilots, and passengers ever witnessed on a plane, leading them to ask:
A Reality No One Wants To Witness
"We saw an artillery strike flying over Afghanistan on an overnight on the way LHR to HCMC."
"The missus had the window seat and was looking intently out of the window."
"I asked her what she was looking at and she replied 'lightning'."
"I looked over her shoulder and could see someone getting the good news in the middle distance."
"Nothing else looks like it and it's nothing like films and telly."
"It lasted 6 minutes which was huge in artillery terms."
"I'd seen artillery before at night but never from 10,000 m."- Crew_Doyle_
When the Military Needs To Intervene, That Can't Be Good...
"On a transatlantic flight to Germany in biz class, dead asleep."
"Wake up to announcement asking if there was 'any military or police on the plane? Please come forward!'"
"I was former military, looked to my right and see two guys beating a guy on the ground next to me."
"They needed to know how to use flex cuffs, basically zip ties."
"The guy apparently got drunk and really belligerent, started to rush the cockpit."
"This was post 9/11."
"He spent the next two hours of the flight on the floor of my row."
"Lots of very scary German police came in to take him off when we landed."- redfalresearch
No one checks the emergency door mid flight...
"The creepiest thing that happened to me was having a young, male flight attendant keep coming back to my row to check the emergency door which I was seated next to."
"He did it at least 5 times during the flight and he always managed to get way into my personal space."
"It was a late night flight, the lights were low, and I was the only one in that row."
"Every time I'd try to go to sleep, he'd be there."
"I did report it after the flight."
'Don't know if anything ever happened."- awhq
Why It's Important To Keep Your Seatbelt Securely Fastened
"Two for ya."
"Was flying from San Francisco to Sydney in a rear-facing business seat."
"Somewhere over the middle of the pacific at late night, the seatbelt light goes on and an announcement for flight attendants to take their seats."
"I look out the window and see nothing but black."
"Then I remember we are flying backwards, so I look 'forward' and see a line of thunderstorms as far as I could see."
"Crazy lightning.'
"For the next ~30 minutes we danced between the storms, turning back and forth to plot a careful path through the line."
"Seeing lightning arc above, below, to the sides."
"And never hit a single bump."
"Was totally surreal."
"Another, flying out of Patagonia, Argentina, hit some pretty significant mountain turbulence for the first hour of the flight."
"I have been in some significant turbulence before, but this was something else."
"I was in the far back of a 737, and just watched the airframe torque back and forth."
"The luggage bins were torquing up and down, left up, right down, and vise versa, by at least a foot from my vantage point."- Snoo_48368
Planes Are One Of The Last Places One Wants A False Alarm
"Flying from the Uk to Australia."
"Was over Germany roughly and over the intercom came the automated announcement 'please prepare for a sea landing. Please prepare for a sea landing'."
"There was a few minutes of confusion before they came on again and explained an air stewardess had pressed the wrong button." - funkysiger
When You Determine What's Real And What's Imaginary...
"Deep sleep at flight from JFK to LON."
"Low passengers flight."
"I felt a tap on my shoulders, followed by a whispering: 'wake up, look, look at the front'."
"I 'woke up' and saw they where serving drinks."
"I took a coffee and went back to sleep again."
"It felt like it was for real, but I was still dreaming/sleeping."
"Then a horrible nightmare hit me."
"A collision with an other plane and people who was sitting in front of me got injured by flames/etc."
"They woke me bcs I was yelling HELP!?! over and over again."
"It was just a nightmare, but felt awful real."- youmas
Never Forget... But Maybe Don't Bring It Up On A Flight?
"On a flight from Tokyo to L.A., an American guy started pacing the aisle of the plane and then went on a tangent right next to me about the Japanese children's show 'Anpanman' and 9/11."
"It was so bizarre and I remember it almost word for word."
"He was yelling 'I'm not gonna hurt anyone'."
"But, a 5-year old boy watching Anpanman just told me that 9/11 was an inside job."
"No...9/11 was real, real people died, 9/11 was real."
"'Anpanman' is brainwashing children and is racist'."
"A lot of people on the plane just heard a man yelling '9/11', which is near the top of the list of things you don't want to hear on an airplane."
"The guy was moved to the back of the plane and watched by flight attendants the rest of the flight."
"I remember a pilot going back and explaining to him that the airport police would be waiting for him when we landed."
"He was taken off first and I just remember him being surrounded and questioned by about 8 police officers when I got off the plane."- northwoods31
Unsettling Interference...
"ATC here."
"One time while on clearance delivery in the tower, I just give people the instructions on what sky-roads to take to their destination, nothing more."
"So someone called me up on the air and spoke unintelligibly."
"I know my position and I know what to listen for and so I had no clue what this guy was saying/ asking for."
"None of what I thought I heard added up."
"So I respond 'Last call, be advised you are up [my airport’s] clearance delivery'.”
"After a pause the voice says 'Uhm, what was that?'"
"So I say it again, slower and clearer."
"He goes 'I do not know what you’re saying'.”
"Baffled, I explain the situation to the tower supervisor who seems just as clueless."
"There isn’t really a protocol for this sort of thing."
"So I say it one last time 'Last call, be advised you are currently on [My A/P’s] CLEARANCE DELIVERY. Check your frequency'.”
"He didn’t respond again."
"Yeah not really creepy but certainly unusual."
"I wonder if he figured out his problem or if it was just like a trucker or someone screwing with a HAM radio that stumbled onto my channel."
"He wasn’t using prescribed phraseology so I’m not sure it was even a pilot."- Hotline-Furi
Silence Is Not Always Golden...
"I had a flight from JFK to Frankfurt Germany on Lufthansa."
"Prior to boarding I went to a bar that was near our gate and there was a very strange looking man sitting at the bar."
"Best way I could describe him was that he looked like a mannequin or what you would imagine an android would look like."
"He was older, super thin, perfect hair that looked fake and his skin looked like plastic."
"He sat at the bar with perfect posture and hardly moved at all other than to lift his glass to his mouth."
"It turned out that weirdo guy was also on my flight."
"Everything was going along normal as we prepared for departure and started our taxi out until the pilot announced that we needed to return to the gate."
"After we got to the gate I saw some police officers come on the plane and could see that they were dealing with an issue up in the first class area."
"After about 10 minutes or so I saw the weirdo guy from the bar stand up and leave the plane with the police."
"After we took off and got up to cruise I went to use the restroom and there were a couple of flight attendants talking so I asked what had happened."
"They said that the weirdo guy was not verbally responding to the attendant in first class and she was getting a very creepy vibe from the guy."
"The pilot came to try to ask the guy some questions and he just sat there and stared forward and did not respond."
"This being post 9/11 NYC they were not taking any chances so they had the guy removed from the plane."- tizod
With so many people still uneasy about flying, a flight attendant's primary duty is to ensure all passengers feel safe and comfortable.
When even flight crews can't stay calm and collected, it's a telltale sign something might be wrong...
