Share your fun, frantic and true-but-unbelievable stories from recent or long-ago flights....

 

I don't have one ready to go, except I sure do want to fly an airline into St. Maarten so I can share a story from the beach like this......

 

Share your fun, frantic and true-but-unbelievable stories from recent or long-ago flights....

 

I don't have one ready to go, except I sure do want to fly an airline into St. Maarten so I can share a story from the beach like this......

 

 

Ive been in that very spot.  It's the only way onto the island.  Hundreds of people gather just to "plane spot"  There are  signs posted that say getting to close can cause physical injury or death.

 

 

Coming into the airport, it's water, Maho beach, a  two lane road (very narrow like Erie or Johnson Ct. for those in Cleveland), a small fence then bam -  the runway.  It's loud as hell.

 

When we were there we watched a couple of people get blown 15-20 feet into the water due to the blast from the engine.  As a plane approaches there is an unspoken rule that cars just stop.  Cars stop, people get out their cars and just look up.

 

The kids and I would sit near the rock wall  and watch.  My middle nephew, who was 4/5 at the time, and was washed right off the beach because the wave rolls.  Is really amazing.

 

Personally the scariest landing is in St. Barts.  It's like the plane is sliding down a hill while doing a  during a sharp turn.

Share your fun, frantic and true-but-unbelievable stories from recent or long-ago flights....

 

I don't have one ready to go, except I sure do want to fly an airline into St. Maarten so I can share a story from the beach like this......

 

 

I've never experienced SXM on the beach as a spotter, but I've flown a 757 into SXM a few times.  Don't have time to people spot from the cockpit on final lol

I mostly remember the truly unusual flights (for me).  I had a meeting in Atlanta a couple of years ago, and getting back was an absolute nightmare.  I'll disclose that I am a HORRIBLE flyer.  I hate it, spend most of the flight queasy and terrified and have to wear motion sickness bracelets or I puke.  I never sit at the window seat as my brain would probably implode having to look out at everything.  I have acrophobia and just hate the whole plane experience. 

 

As luck would have it, it was one of those evenings where there were terrible storms in the northeast.  They delayed the flight like 45 minutes when we were in the airport, and then thought we could go ahead so they loaded everyone on, pushed back from the gate and did all the announcements and everything.  Then they thought the weather was too bad, and we had to wait.  And wait.  We were on the tarmac for almost 5 hours, and then it took another 2 to get home.  We had to stop somewhere completely unscheduled and out of the way to refeul because of all the sitting, and our flight, which was supposed to get in at like 5pm, ended up getting in after midnight.  It was awful.

 

However, the most awful flight I've taken was coming back from England many years ago.  I was very young and dating and English guy and we flew to England for Xmas/New Year's.  I was EXTREMELY sick at the time with an illness I had for 5 years, and I got much, much sicker during the trip.  I couldn't find proper medicine and the food over there was just killing me, and my boyfriend was extremely mean, controlling and verbally abusive.  He ended up leaving me stranded by myself for the day in Stratford because we had a fight about where to park the car.  He just drove off and left me.  I had basically only been on 2 out of town trips my whole life at that point and it sucked.  After I quit crying and freaking out, I got up, went and bought a map and figured out some things to do.  I went and saw Shakespeare's house and Anne Hathaway's house and bought a journal and went to a nice little shop to have tea and write in my journal.  That was the highlight of the trip, srsly.  At the new year's eve party we went to, he completely ignored me to talk to his friends who he hadn't seen in awhile. Everyone was rip roaring drunk and I couldn't drink because it made me even sicker, and some guy literally chased me around the party all night making physical passes at me.  By the time we left England, I was so homesick and physically sick I had a nervous breakdown on the plane.  I was stuck in between this REALLY smelly Arab fellow and an extremely large man who squished into my seat and I just lost it and cried and cried and cried.  Finally the flight attendants got me out of that row and into another row where I laid down and cried and drank the little sample bottles of liquor until I was toast.  It was an extremely turbulent flight complete with the overhead bins opening and sh*t flying out and I just thought I was going to die and never make it home.  When we got there, I am not kidding, I ran into the airport and got down on my knees crying and kissed the dirty carpet.  I'm sure I looked like someone who had lost their mind, and at that point, I pretty much had.  I was numb and couldn't talk about the trip for several days.

 

Conversely, I would say the best, most enjoyable flights I've had were those where I got to fly first class.  I got bumped to FC on a trip to LA for a job interview a couple of years ago and it was wonderful.  I remember drinking wine and eating steak and thinking man, this is the life.  Also, when I lived in LA, the guy I was engaged to out there always flew 1st, so that was pretty nice. I remember flying FC to toronto from LA, it was terrific.

 

 

I have a few.....

 

First, an airport story.  In the San Salvador, El Salvador airport, their version of customs is a stoplight.  You go up to the stoplight, press a big red button, and the stoplight either flashes red or green.  If it's green, you just walk right through.  If it's red, they search your bags completely.  Now, when I went there, we were only allowed to bring a backpack with us, so it wasn't all that complicated.  But the guys that do the searching are so forceful (and we had very full backpacks), that they actually broke the zippers on a couple of my friends' packs.  Quite annoying when that's the only piece of luggage you have with you!

 

And now a flight story.  I was on a Southwest flight from Cleveland to St. Louis (with a ground stop, but not a transfer) at Chicago-Midway.  The flight from Cleveland to Chicago was crazy turbulent, and as we were approaching Chicago, the pilot came on and said, "Uh, folks, we're gonna circle around a bit cause we're overweight for landing and need to burn some fuel."  It sounded like total BS to us cause the flight wasn't full, and Cleveland-Chicago is a pretty standard flight for Southwest to know exactly how much fuel they need.  When we got to Chicago, those of us continuing on to St. Louis obviously remained in our seats while everyone else deplaned.  The flight crew was kind of frantically running around the plane between the back of the plane and the cockpit (not doing normal cleaning duties), and about 10 minutes later, the pilot came out and said "We're gonna do an aircraft switch.  Go ahead and go to gate X, and get on that plane - they'll pre-board you before everyone else."  Needless to say, that first plane was grounded and didn't fly anywhere else that night.

 

My second story is my 27 hour trip from hell back from Scotland.  The flight from Glasgow to Newark was 4 hours late, because the plane that was coming from Newark was late.  The Continental ticket counter people in Glasgow were super friendly and were helping everyone rearrange their connections as they checked in for the flight.  They also gave us the little booklets with the food, ticket, and drink vouchers.  We ended up having to be put on the 3:30pm flight from Newark to Cleveland (which, as I'm sure at least MTS knows, is hardly ever on time).  Well, 3:30 rolls around, and there is no plane, and no ticket agent at the gate counter.  Magically, the computer screens change the departure time to 4:30.  4:30 rolls around, still no ticket agent or plane.  Computer screens magically change to 5:30.  We tried to ask ticket agents at other gates if they had any idea what was going on, and we got the same NY-bitchy "That's not my flight, I don't know anything" response, even though they could've easily checked.  The lines at the service centers (which are one-per-concourse at Newark) were 4 HOURS long, even though there wasn't bad weather there.  So, literally, every hour after that, the flight would get pushed back another hour.  Finally, at about 12:30am, a ticket agent appears and says, "We have a plane, but the crew is 5 minutes from timing out.  Everybody needs to get on the plane now!"  So we all got herded onto the plane and seated within a 5 minute period of time and managed to make it out, finally.  We arrived in Cleveland at 3am, a solid 27 hours after I had gotten up that morning.  If we would've known the flight was gonna be pushed back that much (as opposed to doing it in hour increments), we would've either gone to Manhattan for the evening or just rented a car to drive back to Cleveland in less time than we spent in the Newark airport.  But, alas, we were stuck reading computer screens with no human interaction (or food vouchers) in Newark. 

OMG docbroc that scotland thing sounds AWFUL.

My parents divorced when I was young, and my father took a transfer out of the state shortly after.  Result being that from about age 7-13 I was on 25+ flights per year as an unaccompanied child for visitation.  When I was around 9-10 years old, I was in the Nashville airport waiting for my connecting flight in the "unaccompanied child room" (it was really just a room with a TV and some chairs where they stored excess wheelchairs).  I had done this same thing dozens of times before, amuse myself with whatever I brought along with me and get escorted to my gate when the time came, board early etc. 

 

However, this particular day the staff forgot I was there.  Suddenly a woman bursts into the room and says we have to go now, in a pretty panicked tone.  I'm rushed out of the offices and a gentleman puts me on a golf cart and we book it down the terminal faster than I've ever seen anyone take an airport golf cart, with the guy constantly yelling and honking the horn for folks to clear a path.

 

We arrive at the gate, the jetway door is closed.  I'm handed off to the gate agents who open the door up and we literally run down the jetway.  We arrive at the end of the jetway to see the platform retracting and the flight attendants closing the door.  They quickly reopen the door, and for whatever reason I'm encouraged to "jump" the distance between the platform and the now open plane.  So, they toss my bag over and in some sort of weird jumping/tossing/catching motion I clear the gap.  I'm escorted to my seat and the flight goes on normally.  Now this gap was at the very most 2ft, probably even half that, but I'm 10 and this looks huge but there was clearly nothing but tarmac down below, so it seems huge and action movie worthy at the time. 

 

I told just about everyone I know about it, and I never flew that airline again.  Unfortunately that was the start of my trips through St. Louis and the era of flight delays and me getting to know where all the good food was in the airport, and seeing how many times I could walk all of the terminals between flights for "fun".

Several years ago I had a December wedding in Key West to attend. Perfect time for a tropical vacation! A friend and I arranged a 6 a.m. flight from DAY to CVG to MIA where we'd meet up with a friend (Best Man) traveling from ATL. We'd rent a car and drive down Route 1, enjoying the sites and arriving in Key West around 3 p.m. Best man had a rehearsal dinner to be at around 6:30 p.m. 

 

We boarded the plane for our quick jaunt down to CVG. I was in the last row (window seat) cross from the lavatory on one of Comair's little 50 seaters. One row up and over from me was a teenage boy (13-14) who had never flown before.

 

Well, before we could take depart our plane had to be decided. It was probably in the 20's with light snow on the ground but a clear runway. After deicing we proceeded to the runway. I started noticing a weird smell in the air. We taxied down the runway and went airborne. Almost immediately the smoke alarm in the lavatory goes off. The kid one row up an over starts freaking out, screaming and crying. The pilot makes a sharp left hand turn, so much so that I am leaning against the window and looking straight down, and heads back to the airport. We level off an prepare to land. The flight attendant runs back and fights with the smoke detector, eventually using a ball point pen to shut it off. Emergency crews are standing by as we safely land.

 

Eventually its determined that some of the deicer had gotten into some part of the engine as the smell of the burn off triggered the smoke alarm. We would have been fine continuing onto CVG.

 

Instead, we missed our connecting flight, left DAY over 2 hours later. Had a 2 hour layover in ATL. Got to MIA around 6 p.m. Our ATL friend rented his own car and headed down by himself in order to be on time for the rehearsal. We ended up in Key West around 9:30 p.m.

 

Loooong day.

Ok, it sounds like it’s time for another episode of Grumpy whining about how horribly the Army treated him…

 

In December of 2005 the unit I was in was finishing up our year in Iraq. We had been promised that we’d be home in time for Christmas. By the 20th, the unit that was replacing us had shown up, we’d turned over all our vehicles, and most of the unit’s equipment was already headed home. On the night of the 23rd we loaded into a C-130 and flew to Ali As Saleem airbase in Kuwait. Once we got off the plane we went through customs, and were taken by bus to Kuwait City International Airport. Once there, we sat. And sat. And sat. Before we knew it, it was morning. The 24th. Eventually, around 10am, after we’d been sitting at the airport for 10 or 11 hours we were told that our flight had been commandeered by some VIPs. (We found out later that some higher ranking officers had decided they wanted to make it home to have Christmas with their families, and they thought they were more important than we were.) So we were taken by bus to some Marine Corps base nearby in Kuwait and put up in tents till we could get the next plane. At 6pm that evening we took the busses back to the airport to try and get another flight. Once back at the airport, we found out that this flight had been cancelled as the incoming plane couldn’t take off due to bad weather in Frankfurt.  So we took the bus back to the base nearby and got to spend Christmas night sleeping in a tent. Christmas morning we got to eat MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and try to avoid going out of the tent as it was pouring rain. (And of course our rain coats were all packed up and halfway across the ocean by this time.)

 

On the evening of the 26th around 7pm we finally got loaded onto a plane and took off. The 747 was packed full of soldiers that hadn’t had a shower in 3 or 4 days because all our bags had gone through customs on the 23rd and we couldn’t get them back, so you can imagine how that smelled. I have no idea what time we got to Frankfurt and refueled, but I think we were on the ground 3 hours, then we had to stop and refuel again at Bangor Maine, which took another few hours. Then we finally got to Hunter Army Airfield around 11am on the 27th.

 

If my math is correct because of the time difference that means I was crammed into a coach seat in a plane that smelled like unwashed backside for 24 straight hours. It makes me want to go home and take a shower just thinking about it.

Oh gross.  This would've been me , cause I have a hard time dealing with smells some days on a 20 minute bus ride!

I have a few.....

 

First, an airport story.  In the San Salvador, El Salvador airport, their version of customs is a stoplight.  You go up to the stoplight, press a big red button, and the stoplight either flashes red or green.  If it's green, you just walk right through.  If it's red, they search your bags completely.  Now, when I went there, we were only allowed to bring a backpack with us, so it wasn't all that complicated.  But the guys that do the searching are so forceful (and we had very full backpacks), that they actually broke the zippers on a couple of my friends' packs.  Quite annoying when that's the only piece of luggage you have with you!

 

And now a flight story.  I was on a Southwest flight from Cleveland to St. Louis (with a ground stop, but not a transfer) at Chicago-Midway.  The flight from Cleveland to Chicago was crazy turbulent, and as we were approaching Chicago, the pilot came on and said, "Uh, folks, we're gonna circle around a bit cause we're overweight for landing and need to burn some fuel."  It sounded like total BS to us cause the flight wasn't full, and Cleveland-Chicago is a pretty standard flight for Southwest to know exactly how much fuel they need.  When we got to Chicago, those of us continuing on to St. Louis obviously remained in our seats while everyone else deplaned.  The flight crew was kind of frantically running around the plane between the back of the plane and the cockpit (not doing normal cleaning duties), and about 10 minutes later, the pilot came out and said "We're gonna do an aircraft switch.  Go ahead and go to gate X, and get on that plane - they'll pre-board you before everyone else."  Needless to say, that first plane was grounded and didn't fly anywhere else that night.

 

My second story is my 27 hour trip from hell back from Scotland.  The flight from Glasgow to Newark was 4 hours late, because the plane that was coming from Newark was late.  The Continental ticket counter people in Glasgow were super friendly and were helping everyone rearrange their connections as they checked in for the flight.  They also gave us the little booklets with the food, ticket, and drink vouchers.  We ended up having to be put on the 3:30pm flight from Newark to Cleveland (which, as I'm sure at least MTS knows, is hardly ever on time).  Well, 3:30 rolls around, and there is no plane, and no ticket agent at the gate counter.  Magically, the computer screens change the departure time to 4:30.  4:30 rolls around, still no ticket agent or plane.  Computer screens magically change to 5:30.  We tried to ask ticket agents at other gates if they had any idea what was going on, and we got the same NY-bitchy "That's not my flight, I don't know anything" response, even though they could've easily checked.  The lines at the service centers (which are one-per-concourse at Newark) were 4 HOURS long, even though there wasn't bad weather there.  So, literally, every hour after that, the flight would get pushed back another hour.  Finally, at about 12:30am, a ticket agent appears and says, "We have a plane, but the crew is 5 minutes from timing out.  Everybody needs to get on the plane now!"  So we all got herded onto the plane and seated within a 5 minute period of time and managed to make it out, finally.  We arrived in Cleveland at 3am, a solid 27 hours after I had gotten up that morning.  If we would've known the flight was gonna be pushed back that much (as opposed to doing it in hour increments), we would've either gone to Manhattan for the evening or just rented a car to drive back to Cleveland in less time than we spent in the Newark airport.  But, alas, we were stuck reading computer screens with no human interaction (or food vouchers) in Newark. 

 

thats exactly why I avoid Newark like the plague.  Those jersey folks are rude, rude, rude.

My assistant and I went bolistic on this one guy, he threatened to call the port authority police and the Marshall.  I was seething and dared him.  I told our TMZ folks to buy one way refundable tickets and come to the gate.  I'm a not bitch to play with.

I have a few.....

 

First, an airport story. In the San Salvador, El Salvador airport, their version of customs is a stoplight. You go up to the stoplight, press a big red button, and the stoplight either flashes red or green. If it's green, you just walk right through. If it's red, they search your bags completely. Now, when I went there, we were only allowed to bring a backpack with us, so it wasn't all that complicated. But the guys that do the searching are so forceful (and we had very full backpacks), that they actually broke the zippers on a couple of my friends' packs. Quite annoying when that's the only piece of luggage you have with you!

 

And now a flight story. I was on a Southwest flight from Cleveland to St. Louis (with a ground stop, but not a transfer) at Chicago-Midway. The flight from Cleveland to Chicago was crazy turbulent, and as we were approaching Chicago, the pilot came on and said, "Uh, folks, we're gonna circle around a bit cause we're overweight for landing and need to burn some fuel." It sounded like total BS to us cause the flight wasn't full, and Cleveland-Chicago is a pretty standard flight for Southwest to know exactly how much fuel they need. When we got to Chicago, those of us continuing on to St. Louis obviously remained in our seats while everyone else deplaned. The flight crew was kind of frantically running around the plane between the back of the plane and the cockpit (not doing normal cleaning duties), and about 10 minutes later, the pilot came out and said "We're gonna do an aircraft switch. Go ahead and go to gate X, and get on that plane - they'll pre-board you before everyone else." Needless to say, that first plane was grounded and didn't fly anywhere else that night.

 

My second story is my 27 hour trip from hell back from Scotland. The flight from Glasgow to Newark was 4 hours late, because the plane that was coming from Newark was late. The Continental ticket counter people in Glasgow were super friendly and were helping everyone rearrange their connections as they checked in for the flight. They also gave us the little booklets with the food, ticket, and drink vouchers. We ended up having to be put on the 3:30pm flight from Newark to Cleveland (which, as I'm sure at least MTS knows, is hardly ever on time). Well, 3:30 rolls around, and there is no plane, and no ticket agent at the gate counter. Magically, the computer screens change the departure time to 4:30. 4:30 rolls around, still no ticket agent or plane. Computer screens magically change to 5:30. We tried to ask ticket agents at other gates if they had any idea what was going on, and we got the same NY-bitchy "That's not my flight, I don't know anything" response, even though they could've easily checked. The lines at the service centers (which are one-per-concourse at Newark) were 4 HOURS long, even though there wasn't bad weather there. So, literally, every hour after that, the flight would get pushed back another hour. Finally, at about 12:30am, a ticket agent appears and says, "We have a plane, but the crew is 5 minutes from timing out. Everybody needs to get on the plane now!" So we all got herded onto the plane and seated within a 5 minute period of time and managed to make it out, finally. We arrived in Cleveland at 3am, a solid 27 hours after I had gotten up that morning. If we would've known the flight was gonna be pushed back that much (as opposed to doing it in hour increments), we would've either gone to Manhattan for the evening or just rented a car to drive back to Cleveland in less time than we spent in the Newark airport. But, alas, we were stuck reading computer screens with no human interaction (or food vouchers) in Newark.

 

thats exactly why I avoid Newark like the plague. Those jersey folks are rude, rude, rude.

My assistant and I went bolistic on this one guy, he threatened to call the port authority police and the Marshall. I was seething and dared him. I told our TMZ folks to buy one way refundable tickets and come to the gate. I'm a not bitch to play with.

 

 

Hahaha, oh to only have TMZ at my beck and call!  Really, though, I love Continental compared to all the other airlines, just not at Newark.

I took my daughters to Florida when they were 3 and 1.  I had a seat for the oldest, and the baby sat on my lap.  We had no one else in our row, so we had the extra seat.  The stewardesses were just wonderful, they thought the 3 of us were so cute, a father with his 2 girls!  They could not have been more helpful, holding the baby, etc.  It really made  the trip a pleasure.

 

The return flight was nothing like it.  We had a woman in our third seat, and she was none too happy to be stuck with the 3 of us.  The flight attendents thought we were a family, so they offered no help.  It was a painful 3 hours!

 

 

    17 hours in one seat, from L.A. to Taipei with a fuel stop in Anchorage, was my longest flight. It was part of a 50 hour trip including 3 flights, a 10 hour bus ride and a few hours of stops.

I don't really have any crazy stories. I forgot my identification one time on a flight out of Milwaukee to Atl and they let me get on the plane using only a library card (post 911)  that didn't even have my name printed - just a signature. They said I could use it since it's considered government issued ID.

I have a few....

 

1) I was going into the 7th grade and was coming home from my first trip to Scotland (Glasgow - Balloch - Dumbarton) to visit family. We were flying into Newark right after the remains of a hurricane went through the area. The whole time during the approach the plane was rocking back and forth, and i swear at times i was looking straight down at the ground. Finally we touch down on the runway with only the left wheels, i was sitting on the right side and had a window, and my grandpa was on the left window. According to him, the tip of the wing was less than an inch away from touching the ground. The entire time we could feel the plane trying to level out and touch down with both sets of wheels, but the wind kept pushing us back the other way. Finally once we got about halfway down the runway the pilot had to take the plane up. He came on the P.A. system and said Newark closed the runway jst before we were to touch down, and that was the reason we couldnt land (total b.s.). So we headed to Baltimore to attempt a landing there. The approach was extremely bumpy, and at one point dropped what felt like 100 or so feet when we were not that high up in the first place, we went up again before touching down, circled, and finally landed. It was the roughest, hardest, and loudest landing i have ever had while flying. Its almost as if we hit an air pocket and just dropped straight down on the runway. After landing we had to wait about an hour before going back to newark, meanwhile paramedics came to our plane and took a pregnant lady off who was in extreme pain (still dont know what happened for sure but apparently she miscarried). Because we were an international flight, Baltimore refused to let our plane taxi and let us off the plane, claiming they didnt have customs agents ready. We refueld, and back to Newark we went once the runway opened up, had another rough landing,and finally we got off the plane. While waiting in line at customer service to get new flight information, people who were in the terminal and saw our plane's first attempt to land were talking about how they thought our plane was going to crash, and how they couldnt believe the wing didnt hit the ground. Finally we arrived in cleveland at 3 am, a good 6 hours after we were originally scheduled to land, and i was up and at school for the first day of the new school year 4 hours later.

 

2) Went to scotland for my second time the summer going into freshman year of high school. My mom and dad stayed 2 weeks and i was originally supposed to come home with them, and grandpa was staying an extra week. We got my flight switched so i could stay an extra week at my cousins and come home with my grandpa. Coming home, my grandpa and i flew Glasgow to Toronto, then a connecting flight to cleveland. As we were to board our connecting flight in toronto, they refused to let me on because my grandpa didnt have the same last name as i did, and he wasnt a legal guardian of mine. They said he could have kidnapped me and was trying to bring me to america, almost had him arrested and me taken into 'protective custody' until they figured out the story. Finally we got my mom on the phone, told them her maiden name was my grandpas last name and when they switched the ticket there was no mention that this could be a problem. After about 20 minutes of back and forth they let us board and we were on our way home.

 

3) Phoenix - Houston - Cleveland. Had to spend the night in Houston airport due to our flight from phoenix not leaving in time because Houston was closed due to weather. Arrived in houston 2 hours late at about 7pm, missed the connecting flight by 2 minutes, and they would not hold the plane or give me any food or hotel vouchers because weather is an 'act of god' and out of the airlines hands. So i had to wait till the next flight to cleveland at 7am, and was put on the standby list. Well i didnt sleep at all because i had two bags, so i basically walked the terminals and sat there, waiting to maybe get on the 7am, if not it was 11am. I got on the flight at 7am, and arrived in cleveland the day before thanksgiving.

Hahaha, man, we all have bad luck trying to come back from Scotland!

Hahaha, man, we all have bad luck trying to come back from Scotland!

 

Next time i go i think im just going to stay there.

Although the most recent trip i made there this past winter i had no problem coming home. Well, except for being hung over the first 4 hours of the flight, haha.

 

 

the cross winds at Newark are treacherous.  I hate that airport!

 

 

the cross winds at Newark are treacherous. I hate that airport!

 

Yep!  And that's when you have to use runway two-niner..., provided your landing weight allows you to use such a short runway (or take-off weight for that matter).  Spectacular approach over Staten Island and the docks and a sharp turn to a short final over the Goethals Bridge and Jersey TPK and your down - - - full reverse and watch the brake temps lol

Here's a crazy flying story told by a single picture......

 

If you fly long enough you will have some incidences.

 

One of my first was a last minute decision to go to Pittsburgh on business, where I had to take whatever connections were available. I took an early evening flight out of CVG on an old DC-3 to Charleston WV where I would change to a French Caravelle Jet for the flight to Pittsburgh. By the time we got to Charleston it was storming like mad and everything was delayed. So I am sitting and waiting when I suddenly notice airport personnel scurrying all over the place. Something was up but they weren't saying. After awhile it was announced a Piedmont plane which had taken off earlier had flown smack into a mountain about 30 miles from the airport. Then they announced boarding for the Caravelle. After boarding the pilot taxied the Caravelle to the end of the runway and off onto the grass where he turned into position back to the runway. We waited while a couple of other flights landing came in over our heads. Then the pilot informs the flight attendants over the intercom to prepare for departure. I could hear the engines rev and the plane lurch, it was obvious he had the wheel brakes on. He released the brakes, we bumped across the grass and onto the runway when he threw the engines to full power. I honestly think he was concerned about the length of the runway.

 

We basically flew up the Ohio River to Pittsbugh where we make a left turn toward the airport. The storms had kicked up in intensity and I could feel the pilot fighting the wind. I was looking out the window and thought there's a runway with the landing lights on. I think that is where we are supposed to land but the plane is at right angle to the runway. The pilot managed to wrestle it around, keep level, and slam it down on the runway. I was spending the night at an airport hotel and  couldn't wait to get there before the bar closed.

 

Another incident was an evening flight from CVG to Kansas City. Everything seemed normal and I could tell we were starting our approach. Suddenly we pull out of our approach and begin circling. The pilot comes on the intercom and informs we have a situation. He does not have the indicator conformation the landing gear is down and locked. I can hear the motors on the landing gear as he cycles it a couple of times. Then he comes back on the intercom and informs us we are going to make a low level pass over the control tower in the hope they can get a visual indication of the landing gear. So we make our pass over tower. They can only confirm the gear is down but not whether it is locked. The pilot again informs us we will be going into a circular pattern at a higher altitude while they prepare the airport for an emergency landing. I can tell what the pilot is doing, he is going to a higher level to dump fuel down to a minimum level required for landing. He comes on again to say we are making our final approach for landing and to follow the flight attendants for the head between the knees position for a crash landing. I swear they had every piece of fire equipment in Kansas City lining that runway which was also coated several feet deep with foam. We came in with foam flying everywhere, touched down and everything was fine. But I know I was weak in the knees when it came time to get off the plane.

If you fly long enough you will have some incidences.

 

One of my first was a last minute decision to go to Pittsburgh on business, where I had to take whatever connections were available. I took an early evening flight out of CVG on an old DC-3 to Charleston WV where I would change to a French Caravelle Jet for the flight to Pittsburgh. By the time we got to Charleston it was storming like mad and everything was delayed. So I am sitting and waiting when I suddenly notice airport personnel scurrying all over the place. Something was up but they weren't saying. After awhile it was announced a Piedmont plane which had taken off earlier had flown smack into a mountain about 30 miles from the airport. Then they announced boarding for the Caravelle. After boarding the pilot taxied the Caravelle to the end of the runway and off onto the grass where he turned into position back to the runway. We waited while a couple of other flights landing came in over our heads. Then the pilot informs the flight attendants over the intercom to prepare for departure. I could hear the engines rev and the plane lurch, it was obvious he had the wheel brakes on. He released the brakes, we bumped across the grass and onto the runway when he threw the engines to full power. I honestly think he was concerned about the length of the runway.

 

We basically flew up the Ohio River to Pittsbugh where we make a left turn toward the airport. The storms had kicked up in intensity and I could feel the pilot fighting the wind. I was looking out the window and thought there's a runway with the landing lights on. I think that is where we are supposed to land but the plane is at right angle to the runway. The pilot managed to wrestle it around, keep level, and slam it down on the runway. I was spending the night at an airport hotel and  couldn't wait to get there before the bar closed.

 

Another incident was an evening flight from CVG to Kansas City. Everything seemed normal and I could tell we were starting our approach. Suddenly we pull out of our approach and begin circling. The pilot comes on the intercom and informs we have a situation. He does not have the indicator conformation the landing gear is down and locked. I can hear the motors on the landing gear as he cycles it a couple of times. Then he comes back on the intercom and informs us we are going to make a low level pass over the control tower in the hope they can get a visual indication of the landing gear. So we make our pass over tower. They can only confirm the gear is down but not whether it is locked. The pilot again informs us we will be going into a circular pattern at a higher altitude while they prepare the airport for an emergency landing. I can tell what the pilot is doing, he is going to a higher level to dump fuel down to a minimum level required for landing. He comes on again to say we are making our final approach for landing and to follow the flight attendants for the head between the knees position for a crash landing. I swear they had every piece of fire equipment in Kansas City lining that runway which was also coated several feet deep with foam. We came in with foam flying everywhere, touched down and everything was fine. But I know I was weak in the knees when it came time to get off the plane.

 

Just read this. Wow. Some great stories that I'm glad to read rather than be the one to share from my own keyboard!!

If you fly long enough you will have some incidences.

 

One of my first was a last minute decision to go to Pittsburgh on business, where I had to take whatever connections were available. I took an early evening flight out of CVG on an old DC-3 to Charleston WV where I would change to a French Caravelle Jet for the flight to Pittsburgh. By the time we got to Charleston it was storming like mad and everything was delayed. So I am sitting and waiting when I suddenly notice airport personnel scurrying all over the place. Something was up but they weren't saying. After awhile it was announced a Piedmont plane which had taken off earlier had flown smack into a mountain about 30 miles from the airport. Then they announced boarding for the Caravelle. After boarding the pilot taxied the Caravelle to the end of the runway and off onto the grass where he turned into position back to the runway. We waited while a couple of other flights landing came in over our heads. Then the pilot informs the flight attendants over the intercom to prepare for departure. I could hear the engines rev and the plane lurch, it was obvious he had the wheel brakes on. He released the brakes, we bumped across the grass and onto the runway when he threw the engines to full power. I honestly think he was concerned about the length of the runway.

 

We basically flew up the Ohio River to Pittsbugh where we make a left turn toward the airport. The storms had kicked up in intensity and I could feel the pilot fighting the wind. I was looking out the window and thought there's a runway with the landing lights on. I think that is where we are supposed to land but the plane is at right angle to the runway. The pilot managed to wrestle it around, keep level, and slam it down on the runway. I was spending the night at an airport hotel and  couldn't wait to get there before the bar closed.

 

Another incident was an evening flight from CVG to Kansas City. Everything seemed normal and I could tell we were starting our approach. Suddenly we pull out of our approach and begin circling. The pilot comes on the intercom and informs we have a situation. He does not have the indicator conformation the landing gear is down and locked. I can hear the motors on the landing gear as he cycles it a couple of times. Then he comes back on the intercom and informs us we are going to make a low level pass over the control tower in the hope they can get a visual indication of the landing gear. So we make our pass over tower. They can only confirm the gear is down but not whether it is locked. The pilot again informs us we will be going into a circular pattern at a higher altitude while they prepare the airport for an emergency landing. I can tell what the pilot is doing, he is going to a higher level to dump fuel down to a minimum level required for landing. He comes on again to say we are making our final approach for landing and to follow the flight attendants for the head between the knees position for a crash landing. I swear they had every piece of fire equipment in Kansas City lining that runway which was also coated several feet deep with foam. We came in with foam flying everywhere, touched down and everything was fine. But I know I was weak in the knees when it came time to get off the plane.

 

You say he taxied onto the grass?  This is highly unlikely as taxiing and airliner onto the grass is in itself and "incident" and wouild have to reported and investigated.  And as you say it was storming like mad.  A wet ground and a heavy jet would have made for a stuck Caravelle.  As far as revving the engines with brakes applied, in the early jet engines (of whcih the Caravelle used), those engines were non fan-jets and instead were pure turbo-jet.  Turbo-jets do not perform well a low altitutes and acceleerate slowly.  Hence the construction of long runways back in the late 50's.  As fan-jets replaced those early engines, take-off performance improved dramatically.  But it was common practice to stand on the brakles and bring the engines up to the desired exhaust pressure. 

 

Flying at an angle to the runway will happen when there is a cross wind and will be more pronounced the stiffer the wind and variance from the runway heading.  You definitely want to plant the airplane as firmly as posible when you land. 

Would this have been a violation in the 1950s or early 1960s? It sounds like kjbrill is describing an incident from that era.

It was pre-911.  1996 if I was forced to guess.  I was flying home to CLE via MDW on Southwest.  Due to weather, my first leg flight was late arriving to MDW.  I did the OJ Simpson run through the concourse getting to my connecting gate to CLE.  As typical of my luck, the plane had just pushed off as I ran up to the podium (it was the last flight of the night). 

 

Thinking I was going to be spending the night in Midway, I went to the gate agent to see if she could help me with hotel, etc.  As I explained my dilemma, she told me not to walk, but RUN to another gate number, where she would put me on a flight to Cleveland.  I asked for a boarding pass and she said not to worry--she would call the other gate and let them know I was coming.

 

I sprinted quickly to the designated gate, and a SWA employee was standing at the entrance to the jetway.  She waved me through (with no boarding pass) and and ran down the tunnel to my waiting 737.  As I entered I expected a full plane and to be sitting in the last row, middle, in front of a toilet.  Instead, I was shocked to be the only passenger on the plane!

 

The flight attendant welcomed me, then proceeded to explain that due to the vast weather front causing disruptions across the east coast, that Southwest was repositioning this plane to Cleveland to pick up a dawn flight there the next day.  She proceeded to crack me open a Heineken, and invited me to sit in the front row with her and the other FA's!  One did a safety briefing for me, while the other two enjoyed a red wine!  Once airborne the first officer came out and introduced himself, then invited me into the jump seat.  I was sipping on a Heineken and chatting with them, with brief interruptions as they talked to ATC.  I remember we talked about our favorite hotel chains...as I probably stay in as many as any pilot! 

 

Given the late hour, our empty plane and a tired crew, the trip over lasted only about 30 minutes.  It was one flight I wished would have taken longer!  :drunk:

 

 

 

 

Would this have been a violation in the 1950s or early 1960s? It sounds like kjbrill is describing an incident from that era.

 

Most certainly....and as i said upthread, the weather conditions described would indicate a wet, soft ground.  Unless the ground was frozen solid an aricraft as heavy as a Caravelle would sink into the soil.  Even a few inches would make forward movement difficult if not impossible.

 

Unlike some Soviet era Russian aircraft, Caravelle's were never certified to operate off pavement.  Taxiing off the pavement could cause structural and or mechanical problems.  The plane would have been pulled from service and inspected.

Wow, great story Cleburger.  I travel a fair amount, probably 15 trips a year.  Luckily, I haven't had anything too crazy besides the occassional missed flight or dead sprint through an airport.  I did have a rough flight into Spokane, WA a couple years ago. Rough enough that the flight attendandts never did a final walk through because the captain told them to take their seats and they told us to just put garbage in seat backs.  We hit the ground pretty hard - not like we needed any emergency response or anything, but it's kinda scary having severe turbluence on the entire descent.

This is a nice compilation. Love the segment starting at 7:15....