I've been in meetings in Chicago for the last four days. Late last night I boarded my flight as usual. Half way down the runway, something happened and the takeoff was aborted with full braking and sliding in effect. The sensation was very different from a landing sequence because no engine braking was used, so just the squirelly vibrating wheel braking stopped us. Three and a half hour later, we were on our way without incident, but I was awake into the wee hours re-living the sphincter moment.
Yikes. I've only ever flown once, and it was a long, long time ago, in sunny weather with clear skies.
I flew into Denver one winter day and right when the plane touched down it started rotating sideways - strong crosswinds and an ice covered runway were my guesses - there we were going 150 miles an hour on the ground and I could see the entire runway ahead of us thru my window on the side of the plane! We slid along like this for a bit and then the plane snapped straight again - I was amazed it didn't rip the landing gear off, but we rolled up to the gate like nothing had happened. I don't fly a lot anymore, not because of this but the general cost and poor treatment of paying passengers make driving more appealing to me now.
Years ago I had s flight from Columbus to San Diego. All of s sudden pilot says "we are going to have to make a stop. This is not a drill. I will tell you more in a bit". After a bit: " we have an error we can't clear. We are landing in Kansas. Be prepared. It s going to be rough" On approach; "folks the computer says the engine is on fire. I can't clear it. We are going to land hard and fast. Fire trucks are lined up and ready just in case". Slams the runway at what feels like full speed. Fire trucks chasing. Damn scary moment. No fire just bad sensor. Couple hours on the ground for electrical repair and we were on our way. Ahh. Good times.
Strange how all I can remember are the dozens of flights with "issues" but none of the hundreds of routine ones. Guess it's because the routine ones didn't cause "pucker" moments or people to pull out paper bags. Like Minidave, I don't fly much anymore due to cattle herding, delays, costs, passenger aromas, etc.
I've had a few of those "sphincter clenching" moments on planes. I still think the most nervous I have ever been on a plane was on a twin engine turbo-prop "puddle jumper" flight. My window seat lined up perfectly with the left propeller. I spent the whole forty-five minute flight thinking about what would happen to my body if that prop let go. :shocked: CD
I was on a night flight on Pilgrim Airways (Is it still around?) out of Boston - a small plane where the pilot didn't even close the door to the cockpit. Fog was reported where we were headed in Maine, but I really wasn't worried about it until the pilot yelled back to the passengers: "Hey, let me know if any of you see lights down there." :eek6:
A rejected take off can be fun. Each aircraft is different but the one I fly,if durning the take run you pull the throttles to idel the auto breake activit and send 3000psi to each break, it has 8. Of course it has a great antilock system. Your hanging from the straps till you stop. I remember once on landing in low visibility just as the main gear touched I hit a big bird. It splattered all over my windshield to make it worse the it's leg got caught in the wind shild wiper. The nose was still in the air. I told the FO I couldn't see a thing . He took the plane just as I put the nose down. I hope they gave you a free drink Eric!
Adventures in flying! We were taking the puddle jumper from Charlotte to Asheville, NC - interesting plane - tiny, only one row of 8 or 10 seats down each side, no cockpit door or even a curtain, but it had 4 jet engines - anyway, on approach into Asheville, on flare out and just about to touch down when he slams all 4 throttles to the firewall and stands it as straight up as it will go...... We get up to about 2k altitude and he makes another lazy circle of the airport, and the next time we land perfectly normally - never did find out what that was all about.
Nothing on the site, yet. They never told us what happened, and no, MCS02, they didn't offer a free drink this is US(less)Air, we're talking about. Anyway, I don't drink on planes anymore, I consider plane-drinking a rookie traveler's activity, much like I don't drink on amateur night (New Year's Eve.). We professional drunks do our best work at home, alone, in our underpants, stinking up the room with regret and shame.
All of my sketchy air travels have been on the government... Try a combat landing in a commercial 747-400 from 15000 feet over Kuwait city in 2003... Or the return trip (still on a 747) landing at Fort Campbell's air strip, when the pilot thought there was more runway than there actually is. The right wing almost clipped the ground when we got to the end of the road and made a fast left onto the taxiway... Or flying from Denver to Barstow CA in a should have been decommissioned 757 that had a hole in the fuselage. The pilots parked it at the aircraft grave yard we landed at, and took their own ride home! A month later we got back on the same plane, parked in the same spot, with the same hole... Then there was a high cross wind landing on ice in Bangor Maine, that one almost made me go from tightly clenched, to let it all out!.. The most fun, that would be doing a combat launch in a C-17 Globetrotter out of BIAP (Baghdad). That thing will set you back in your seat harder than any car I have ever been in! (Combat launch, is when the pilot locks up the brakes, and builds thrust until the plane starts to move, then releases the brakes and gives it everything the jets have! Your'e literally off the ground in the time it takes a commercial pilot to hit peak thrust.) Or flying a UH-60 Blackhawk so close to the ground in the middle of the night, that you can hear the tops of the trees whacking the bottom of the bird, then coming to a dead stop out of nowhere and getting the green light to rope out! Anymore, no thanks! I will just drive!
Flew out of PHL just a few hours before you yesterday, Eric. Thankfully uneventful. Had an aborted landing once. Almost landed on top of another jet which was sitting on the runway where we were landing. That was an "interesting" experience, going full thrust and steep climb, just moments before you were expecting the wheels to touch down.
Modfather I remember the rides on Blackhawks and done a few of those in a Chinook. Did a SERE course with the 160th SOAR and that pilot tried his best top make a brother of mine and me sick. Instead he made the extra crew chiefs sick. It's two went to sleep. I remember landing in Guantanamo Bay and they came out with the plane tug to pull the front wheels back up out of the water of the bay. Eric glad you're still here. Sent you an e-mail on your company site.
So that, my friends, is the definitive description of flying...period: "Hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror." Had three of those. Once alone and twice with a couple of passengers, never in a heavy though. Nathan doesn't have enough bandwidth if Buzzsaw steps in with his stories.
If you are in need of everyday flying thrills, you should go to Honduras and land at the airport in Tegucigalpa. It is listed as one of the top 10 most dangerous airports in the world. To land, the plane has to negotiate the close by mountains [one half of the wing to the sky, the other to the ground], and then straighten out for a fast landing on a really short runway. Taking off is the thrill of that short runway and immediate sideways negotiation of those mountains again. Then, often times you must factor in one of their frequent thunderstorms and, well, you KNOW that that "ohhhhhhhh crap" feeling isn't just a premonition....:frown2:
I used to fly a lot. I've had engines die on take off, land gear fail on landing, sliding down the runway at a 45 deg angle, and parts fall off waiting for take off. But like DryMartini said I don't recall all the trouble free flights.