Flight Crews And Frequent Flyers Describe The Creepiest Experiences They've Ever Had On A Flight
There are many unpleasant things flight attendants, or any airline employees, have to put up with during a flight.
Turbulence, unpleasant or unruly passengers, rambunctious children, and other annoyances are sadly just part of the job.
However, every now and then, flight crew and passengers might witness and experience something in the air that no amount of training or experience can prepare them for.
Experiences left these pilots and passengers scared and confused, possibly permanently impairing their ability to sleep soundly at night.
From the unimaginable to the genuinely inexplicable.
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...
The convenience of flight comes with a few expected inconveniences. First, your seat is never going to feel like it's big enough for you. Second, the person either in front of or behind you is going to put their feet up or lean their seat too far back. And, third, you have to roll the dice with the TSA checkpoints.
They scan you, check your baggage, send you on your way. Installed as a form of protection, they do their jobs before you even arrive at the airport, keeping very obvious weapons and dangerous minded individuals from boarding your flight.
Most of the time.
Reddit user, False_Philosophy_412, asked:
"What’s the weirdest reason you were stopped by TSA?"
Most of the time, the agents are doing their best job to figure out what's on your body with a machine that may not be accurate 100% of the time.
It Already Has A Name
"Crotch anomaly".
"I was wearing normal joggers, nothing in my pockets."
"The lady behind me loudly said 'yeah it's called a penis'"- wot_in_ternation
Packing A Different Kind Of Heat
"TSA agent asked to search me with the back of his hand and I said 'okay sure'.”
"The back of his hand hit my unit and he said 'what’s that?' to which my only response was 'That’d be my penis.'”
"The TSA woman next to him started laughing at him and his face went pale before he said 'you’re clear, move along.'"- DarkSlayerKi
the leftovers no GIFGiphyKeyword: "Random"
"I have maintained a decent beard and have a darker skin complexion for a white dude."
"I am 'randomly' selected for a search or shoe swab every single time I fly."= batkevn
You can assume a lot of these are simple misunderstandings, agents doing their best to make sure everyone gets on the plane safely.
Still, it's got to feel bad to open up a loved one's ashes in a public setting.
Mad Respect For Your Wardrobe
"Not in the USA but in France, I got stopped on the way through customs by an agent who said something fast and aggressive-sounding in French."
"My French isn't great, so I just looked puzzled and said I didn't understand."
"The guy quickly beckoned another guy over and explained to him in rapid-fire French what was going on."
"The second guy turned to me and said 'He says your T-shirt is really cool and can you tell him where you got it?'"
" It was a Star Wars T-shirt that I got as a birthday present, so I couldn't even tell him where it came from."
"Luckily, he didn't arrest me."- 99thLuftballon
GiphySinister Teddy
"My niece has a teddy bear."
"She has had this teddy bear essentially since she was born."
"The doggo has bitten a hole into its belly, so we sew onto it like a lion head sticker, to keep its guts inside."
"One time we were on holiday visiting family, and she left it there, luckily I was staying a bit longer so I could grab it on my way back."
"An adult man with a teddy bear that had its guts torn open and fixed with a lion bandaid apparently looks pretty suspicious, so they shoved the poor guy into x-ray 3-4 times."
"She is still in ownership of the teddy bear and it is still in decent shape."- Gacsam
It's A Weapon For A Certain Type Of Person...
"I had a nutcracker in my carry-on."
"Like a legit, festive Christmas soldier nutcracker."
"It was a gift for my mom's birthday, she collects them."
"I was only flying in for 2 days for my grandmas funeral so didn't check any luggage."
"They stopped me and questioned me for 30 minutes."
"Kept insinuating I was going to use it as a weapon."= Pamplem0usse__
desperate housewives nutcracker GIF by HULUGiphySpider Truck. Spider Truck. Does Whatever A...
"When the Andrew Garfield Spiderman's first came out they did some amazing merch for them."
"My Stepdad is a HUGE Spidey fan, so I picked him up the corniest Spiderman film merch when in the US, one of those being like a whirling cement truck thing?"
"It was a big tonka sized thing and the only bag it would fit in was my carry-on."
"They stopped me and said 'Is that a spiderman toy?' and I took it out and showed them."
"They said it was the best thing they'd seen all day."- CharacterSuccotash5
No Smuggling Of Animals
"Glass jellyfish"
"Like those blown glass ones that are super cool at art galleries."
"I got pulled aside into a small room because they thought I was smuggling sea life. Was an interesting time."- Aelsar
When Things Look Like Other Things
"One time my dad had a few rocks of petrified wood in a bag, and had his phone charger right next to it."
"They almost went DEFCON 1 and did radio people to show up and act if it went down."
"But they opened the bag and saw it was rocks and a charger."
"They told him that it looked absolutely identical to what they had been taught a bomb looked like."- AudiieVerbum
Phone Charging GIFGiphyOne Last Look For Ol' Mom
"My mom passed away unexpectedly in California."
"I flew out to pick up her ashes and there was a terror alert at LAX."
"It was unreal; the military was in the airport with what looked like machine guns."
"I was out of my mind with grief and drugged to the gills."
"I was dealing with a bad back, and had to fly from California to a small town in Virginia for the memorial service."
"Security was heightened and everyone was being searched."
"I only had a small carry on and my mom’s ashes."
"When I got to the TSA, the agent wanted me to open my mother’s box of ashes! "
"I refused and insisted they x ray the box instead."
"It showed nothing inside ( duh- ashes) which convinced the TSA agent that it had some sort of cloaking device and was hiding a bomb."
"Again he insisted that I open the box that held my mom’s ashes."
"I was beginning to lose my sh-t."
"I called my husband who works in nuclear power and explained what was going on."
"He told me to tell the TSA agent to place a coin under the box and send it through the X-ray again."
"He did and thank goodness he saw the coin."
"Otherwise I would have been arrested for assaulting a stupid TSA agent."- Due_Judgment_9518
Agents Put Up With All Sort Of Sh*t...
"Previous TSA Agent here - not a passenger."
"This happened on like my 2nd day of training in baggage."
"A bag went off & I had to clear it."
"The owner, a gay gentleman, stood directly across from me, glaring thru my soul."
"I opened the bag & the very first thing in it was a plastic 'laundry bag' from a hotel."
"So I squished that bag, as we were supposed to do, and looked over at my trainer with this look on my face."
"He was confused & I just kinda shook my head like 'please don't make me do this'."
"The passenger had a smirk on his face at this point."
"Of course, I HAD to take it out of the bag."
"It was a dildo COVERED IN sh*it & they'd JUST used it before heading to the airport & didn't bother to clean it off!"
"I whipped it out so everyone saw, my trainer was hiding behind the x-ray ROLLING laughing, & I had to swab it to test it for explosives."
"Of course it cleared, so I put it back in the bag & the guy's boyfriend was standing by him at this point."
"Passenger says to me (all pissy) 'Happy now? Did you see what you wanted to?'"
"The bf is also rolling at this point."
"I just put the bag on the floor, scanned it thru the x-ray again & dropped it on the conveyor to go downstairs to cargo."
"My trainer was like OMFGGGGG...I SWEAR that NOTHING like that has ever happened before!"
"Of course the story spread quickly to everyone else & for a while, til people knew me/my name better, I was "THAT girl"- HalloweenFreak260
You Never Know When You'll Have The Craving...
"Not me, but my friend went on a family vacation."
'Her dad’s carry on gets flagged and TSA starts freaking out calling back up, and ask him to come over to them."
"As he walks by my friend he just says 'oh no, it’s the jerky'."
'This man brought 14 PACKS of jerky in his carry on for each day of the trip and TSA thought it was sticks of dynamite, and then had a good laugh at the suitcase full of beef jerky."- raccoonslikecheese
Beef Jerky Texfest GIF by H-E-BGiphyDon't Be Fooled By Their Sweetness
"M&M’s"
"They thought I was smuggling drugs."- hchristian13
Double Check What Counts As A Liquid...
"Not necessarily weird but Peanut Butter."
"We were going to Disney and we brought groceries to make sandwiches and they took it away."
"I wouldn't have considered peanut butter a liquid but I guess so."- PrincessLuma
Double The Trouble
"I have two stories."
"We were flying to the Caribbean for my aunt’s wedding and everyone got through alright except my uncle."
"He kept setting the machine off no matter what he did."
"He had taken out all of the change in his pockets, his belt off, his jewelry etc., and it still went off."
"I want to point out this was not long after 9/11 so security was a bit different to what it was when he last had flown."
"So when the metal handle thingy scanned him and it went off on his hip the TSA asked 'are you made of mental sir?'"
"In a surprised voice then my uncle just responded 'oh sh*t sorry mate, I didn’t know it would detect my metal hip joint!'"
"They had a laugh about it to each other and he was let through."
"Second story."
"I was coming back from Germany and the day before somehow I have come down with a severe throat infection."
" I lost my voice and could barely speak."
"The TSA were asking me all these questions and honestly it was pretty awkward because they couldn’t hear me despite how hard I tried, they took it well and asked if I was okay."- After-Land1179
sore throat GIF by Sign with RobertGiphyLet's Not Forget, They Do Have A Job To Do...
"I had injured my ankle so had it wrapped in some of that adhesive wrap tape, with a sock and shoe over it."
"Bomb dog alerted on the bandage."
"The TSA agents were extremely nice, got me a chair I could sit in since I was limping and we had a great talk about books while they were doing the routine check of my bags etc."
"They were extremely baffled and couldn't figure out why the dog alerted, so brought it back over to see exactly where it alerted."
"Once they figured it out we all had a good laugh and they made sure I made it safely to my gate."- WanderingWordsmith19
Talk About Bad Hair Day
"My hair."
"Every time I fly out of Logan in Boston."
"They pull me aside and pat down my hair."
"I finally got a black lady that told me that it's the thread in weaves and wigs."
"Sometimes they use something similar to thin monofilament wire."
"It doesn't always show up so they check to make sure it's just a weave that doesn't double as a bomb I guess?"- bballpixie
Ever been stopped by the TSA for something silly? Tell us about it in the comments.
Many people are afraid of flying. Thankfully, airline accidents are especially rare.
According to The International Air Transport Association, there was just one major aviation crash for every 5.4 million flights in 2018. The odds of dying in a plane accident are super low: The odds are 1 in 9,821.
That doesn't mean that accidents don't happen, obviously, but you can sleep at night. But of course there have been accidents and other scary experiences so both pilots and passengers have stories to tell.
We heard a few of them after Redditor miercole_ asked the online community:
"Pilots, what’s the scariest stuff you’ve seen while flying?"
"It was later in the evening..."
"My dad told me a story from a few years ago that happened while flying a 737 somewhere in Nevada I think on the way back to Toronto."
"It was later in the evening, so you couldn't see too much, but all of a sudden to the left of the plane my dad saw a really bright ball of light I guess you could say, moving really fast across the sky. My dad and his co-pilot had no clue what it was, and they could hear other pilots nearby calling it in over the radio and asking what it was."
"Eventually it flew pass and disappeared into the distance. A few days later my dad found out that what he saw was a missile launched by a USN submarine."
I wonder how many passengers thought they saw a UFO."
Nabbot737
Considering that the government recently admitted that UFOs are definitely a thing... it's likely.
"Thankfully it was when I landed..."
"Smoke in the cockpit when I landed. Thankfully it was when I landed... Had to push the airplane (small Cessna) off the runway."
chrisbe2e9
You see, I wouldn't be a good pilot because this would have me panicking.
"One due to a new pilot..."
"Almost had two mid air collisions. One due to a new pilot not being where he should be, another due to control telling me an aircraft was at me 11:00 when really it was at me 2:00."
chrisbe2e9
Terrifying.
Thankfully nothing happened.
"The coolest..."
"The coolest was a meteor that burned up directly infront of me. Same altitude, straight ahead. I have no idea how far away it was, but it was bright, and so pretty. Went through a spectrum of colors as it burned."
chrisbe2e9
That's pretty awesome.
Must have been a beautiful sight.
"Power lines..."
"Power lines directly in front of me at night that weren't charted and were exactly at helicopter grabbing altitude."
helodriver
Ummm, no thank you!
Thankfully you were not electrocuted.
"He once told me..."
"Not a pilot, but my dad is a former one. He once told me about how he almost crashed his Cessna because he hit some geese. He was actually preparing for a landing approach when he hit geese flying in a patch of fog. Windshield was completely shattered and he and his passenger were covered in blood and feathers."
"They landed safely, but my dad was pretty scarred from that! He didn’t quit flying because of that, but bird strikes remained a constant fear of his. Geese are large birds and they did significant damage to that little plane!"
robodragon
Geese are mean creatures on the ground... and I see they have it out for humans in the air, too.
"Everyone sat down..."
"Not a pilot but I was in the bathroom when the pilot came over the radio with a quick announcement that we were about to have turbulence and to buckle up."
"Everyone sat down, including the stewardesses and buckled up. Everyone but me who was in the process of taking a massive s**t. The kind of s**t you don't want to have during turbulence."
"Now I've been in turbulence. It's rough. This was something else. I somehow, by all the was mighty, finished my s**t and completed the post s**t paperwork,.and flushed (didn't wanna chance it) when the turbulence hit."
"To say I hit everything is an understatement. I bounced off the ceiling, hit the floor, back up, face to the toilet. It was hell and I just kept my face covered and I protected my head as best I could."
"After a bit of luck, I managed to get myself wedged UNDER the toilet and I stayed there till the bumpy ride ended."
"I left the bathroom to some laughter, and a lot of concern. See for them in their seats it was fine, until they heard screaming in the bathroom, and loud crashing noises followed by dread silence."
"They all thought I died... haha."
"Forgot to mention that I didn't get to pull my pants up ether. I did the whole ride with my pants around my ankles..."
BubbleDisaster
At least you can laugh at things now!
"This actually happened..."
"This actually happened on my first time flying with no instructor onboard, just doing a couple laps around the traffic pattern. Took off, laps #1 and #2 went just fine, nailed a couple radio calls, got that awesome feeling of "Yeah, I got this."
"But, lap #3 was fine until I was setting up my final approach to land, and the GTN750 (basically a fancy navigation/radio/pseudo-radar system) warned me about a Cessna 1 mile out at the same altitude. Ignored it, since I already had the plane in sight and verified with the control tower that he was landing on the runway parallel to mine."
"Lo and behold, this dude zips under me by about 200-300 feet, which sounds like a good amount of room, but is actually butt-clenchingly close in a busy airspace like this. I should've applied full throttle and circled back around to try again, but the other plane was clear of me before the startle factor even wore off."
"This was made especially dangerous by the fact that the plane I was flying was low-wing (can't see under me) and the other plane was high-wing (he couldn't see above him). So, neither of us could see each other and the tower yelled at the guy to get out of my way, and I landed safely."
furry_anus
You see, after an incident like that, I don't think I'd want to fly ever again.
"Needless to say..."
"My airfield where I did my pilot training had a waterway at the approach end of the runway, and oftentimes there were sailboats heading out to sea as you were coming in to land. Usually came in a little high, since the runway was plenty long enough."
"One day, not long after I had completed my 1st solo, I was doing my run-up, waiting for one of the regular pilots to land his low-winged sport airplane. He obviously, didn't see the mast of the sailboat crossing, and he hit it. The plane cart-wheeled down the runway and broke into pieces."
"I took my plane back to the tie-downs to clear the area, and then went to help him out of the plane before it caught on fire (which it didn't amazingly enough)."
"The pilot broke both of his hands at the wrists, and fractured a whole bunch of stuff. Unfortunately, he was a surgeon. Not sure if he was able to work again."
"Needless to say, I was always very careful on approach after that."
mrbrad595
Wow.
This is the stuff of nightmares.
That poor man.
It's worth pointing out that the major airlines all have excellent safety records. So take note, chill out and happy flying!
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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The twentieth century brought us the most technologically advanced way to travel en masse yet--airplanes.
Airplanes are nothing short of a miracle. By rising above the clouds, we get from point A to point B more quickly than we ever have in the past. But like most things, there are moments when this doesn't work as well as we want.
Sometimes it gets outright scary. Planes are very sensitive, and if even one thing goes wrong, it can really change a trip from quick and painless to frightening.
u/jm1ce asked:
Flight attendants, pilots, or other airline crew: Has there ever been a time on a flight where you were genuinely scared or nervous about the flight, and if so, what happened/what did you do?
Here were some of those answers.
Ice Ice Baby
My mom was a flight attendant for U.S. Air before I was born, and I know her scary story.
She was exhausted at the tail end of a shift that had run longer than it should have because they got paused in Philly for nasty winter weather conditions. They were finally finished getting de-iced and about to start taxiing when one of the passengers called her over and told her that he'd been watching carefully and he didn't think they'd de-iced both wings of the plane, just one side. She sort of reassured him that she would go check but he was probably mistaken, and then even though she was really tempted to wave it off as just a jumpy passenger, she went to the pilot just to check.
Welp! Passenger was correct and the plane was only half de-iced when they were getting ready to leave. If they'd taken off like that, it probably would have been disastrous. Mom told me that even though it didn't happen in mid-air, it was her all-time scariest moment during her tenure as a flight attendant because she knows how close they came to a very dangerous situation and she knows that she almost didn't stop it from happening even when warned.
No Air
One time we were stuck between a thunderstorm and the Iranian border ended up having to fly through the thunderstorm. Another time we had a fire on board and a lot of the crew left their oxygen regulators on full blast while we were dealing with it. After about 45 minutes I realized we are almost completely out of liquid oxygen and had another 2 hours left to get home.
Something Old
I was an aircraft electrician for the Army for a number of years. One of the first systems you learn about after getting to your unit is the APR-39. It's a radar/laser detection system that is integrated with other systems to tell crew if they are being tracked, when they have been "locked", and what direction incoming is actually coming from. All of this is related through a (archaic) display and the worst synthetic voice you have ever heard. Spent many days troubleshooting this system and never thought much of it, until I deployed for the first time. I volunteered to fly back-wall security for the MEDIVAC unit that I repaired birds for. MY FIRST FLIGHT we were on pick up from Kandahar to South of Pasab and passing through the mountains and I can hear that damn voice in my headset. Thought about nothing of it, even wondered why the crew chief was hanging out of his window looking aft of the bird. I didn't dawn on me till after we hit a very steep left dive, aaaaand the chaff and flares firing from our the right that we had just been locked and fired at.... Genuinely scared the crap out of me.
Sudden Twists And Turns
My dad is a captain at American Airlines. Won't tell me his worst flight because he doesn't want to freak me out. Fair.
As someone who has flown since before I can even remember, my worst was flying to Indianapolis from Orlando. It was July so basically that entire corridor was poppin with thunderstorms. We got put in a holding pattern over Indy for 2 hours then diverted to Louisville for fuel. Normal enough.
What's not normal is that in the half hour it takes to fly to Lville from Indy, a line of thunderstorms had popped up over Lville. We're coming in for approach and I can see the way the clouds look outside the plane. I'm a meteorology nerd and knew they meant wind shear in the area was starting to form.
As we came in to land, a gust of wind hit our plane almost knocking us sideways. Pilot pulled the throttle back so hard for a missed approach. So cool now we were back up in the thunderstorm filled sky. We are hitting severe turbulence at this point and people are praying, holding hands and crying.
The Captain brings us back around and absolutely plows it into the ground and basically said "eff your wind shear". I've never been so happy to get on the ground.
Going Down, Down
Not me - but I was on a flight at the same time. My collegues landed and said that mid flight a lightning bolt hit their plane making a massive noise and killing the power for a few moments. Everyone was screaming and crying in a total panic. Apparently it was THAT bad.
My colleague looks to the other and says "Well, we're both sales guys so I guess I'll see you in hell"
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Rough In The Sky, Smooth On The Ground
I was flying a 737 on final approach five miles behind a 787 when we got into their wake turbulence. Aircraft banked left sharply then immediately went into very steep nose down right bank. I immediately corrected this attitude but for a quick second I thought it might go over a 90° bank angle. I have never fought that hard in an airliner to recover, but I recovered, and had the smoothest landing of my career.
Sudden Issues
Flying home from FL to NY. Scheduled to land at LaGuardia. Right after takeoff we could all hear the motor that retracts the landing gear straining. And the landing gear would not retract. When it finally did, everyone seemed relieved but I was thinking 'I hope it comes back down when it's time to land.' Lo and behold, about 1/2 hr before landing, the pilot announces that we were being diverted to JFK because of landing gear trouble.
We needed a longer runway to stop the plane. So now people are praying and biting their nails. We could hear the motor trying to bring the landing gear down for several minutes before it finally came down at almost the last minute. We land and the plane isn't slowing down. We hear all kinds of horrible sounds, smell smoke...people are now really freaking out. Plane stops after using up almost the whole runway. There were emergency trucks all over the sides of the runway, foamers..etc. Was never so happy to get off a plane!!
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Struck
My scariest moment was after we got within 700 ft of landing. The pilots whipped the plane back up because of heavy winds and announced that we were diverting to a nearby city in another country.
It was a short flight to the other city, and it was bumpy so I was strapped in. A couple of other flight attendants were standing up though. All the sudden the entire cabin went bright white. Specifically I could tell that the light was entering the plane from the other side around the corner I couldn't really see behind. The flight attendants nearly jumped all the way to their seats and strapped in. There was one passenger that I locked eyes with at one point. Her and I both both made this nervous smile at each other like, "Lets not die here!"
We did end up landing alright. It took 4 hours for us to get off the plane because of all the other planes that diverted there. They also told us the next day that we got hit by lightning at least 3 times. They could tell because of little pin pricks that the lightning makes when it hits the plane.
By the way, I still feel so much safer in a plane than almost any other mode of transportation. The statistics don't lie. The regulations and redundancy on safety measures are unparalleled.
Rollin' Rollin'
Hit crazy turbulence in a prop plane flying into Saginaw from Detroit. Plane was all over the air like a roller-coaster.. Up down, side to side, I swear I thought it was gonna barrel roll at one point. Seemed to never end, but was probably only really a few minutes. Time kinda slowed down. My girlfriend and I were the only two people on the plane who weren't Marines going to some Marine thing. Those guys were cracking some pretty dark jokes while I contemplated my time on earth.
The Limit Does Not Exist
I recall being in a very small plane trying to land at John Wayne International during a storm. No door between cockpit and passengers or at least it wasn't closed. There was turbulence but nothing as dramatic as some of the other stories here. Listening to the cockpit crew arguing with ground control over the flight path was not comforting. I think we were approaching the end limit for flights and ground control wanted them to approach by going more over the ocean. Neither I nor the crew cared for that too much.
Flight attendants are heroes. Let's be honest, when we fly, we're a bunch of babies. We need and need and... NEED! And if you think about it so have the rest of us as passengers. People! Get your behavior in check for travel! Please!
Redditor u/sophmorph wanted the employees of the sky do discuss a few things by asking... Flight Attendants of reddit, what's the most ridiculous passenger you've ever had?