What was your longest/scariest/funniest flight?

[beet1e]

I'm interested to see the movements of our diverse community. What's the longest flight you have been on, and what was the point of origin and destination? What areas did it overfly? How great was the time change? What type of plane? Also what was the worst turbulence or scary moment you ever had on a flight? What was the worst airline food you ever had?

My longest - London to Singapore, 13 hours, 747-400. Time change = +7. Overflew about 10 countries. Iraq was right in front of us, but the flight doglegged around it and flew over Iran, but NOT Iraq! (1997)

Worst turbulence - New York to London, mid March 1999. There's wind that blows in the NE USA which they call the Nor-Easter. We must have passed through the middle of it. Damned plane (747-400) was shaking all over the place - not just for a few minutes, but for two hours.

Scary moments? Well none really. Flew on Garuda Airlines from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) one time. I was the tallest person on board - LOL. I didn't even touch the food. The scariest thing was that it was Garuda - lol - only a few weeks after that crash they had, caused by an ATC balls up. ATC told the pilot to "turn left, turn right now", by which he meant "turn left immediately". The pilot turned right, and flew into a mountainside.

Worst food? Possibly United airlines - before that employee ownership thing. After that, it improved.

Least legroom? British Airways - I avoid them whenever I can - only two trips in more than 20 years. Why can't they do what American did, and take out a few rows of seats?

Cheapest flight? London to Dublin on RyanAir - £1 LOL. The tax added another £25. Cheapest long distance - London/Newark (New York) - Virgin Atlantic, £145 inc. tax.

Diversion? On British Midland from Luton to Jersey. Fog at Jersey caused the flight to turn back to Luton after an attempted landing.

Ever lost luggage? Me, only once one Christmas Eve, flying into Newark. Even in America, clothes shops are closed on Xmas Day. So now I always keep a spare pair of underpants in my hand luggage - lol.

Best service? Singapore Airlines - very friendly flight attendants, pretty too! Best transatlantic? Virgin Atlantic. Toad-Air was OK too, but I was crushed when it was confirmed that Mr. Toad was not my chauffeur.

[NUKE]

I didn't read the post, but I imagined it was long winded, boring and somehow manages to self glorify in some way.

Carry on.

[Furball]

you're a jerk nuke.

nice post beet1e! never really been scared on a flight, and i cant remember my longest! cheapest flight was London Luton > Amsterdam, we paid about £30, nice weekend break with my friends for my 18th birthday .  Flight was a bit of a joke, we got on the plane, and by the time they served us a drink it was time to start the decent!

[nuchpatrick]

Hrmm..lol

Longest flight (Northwest) Boeing 737:  Florida to Detroit (two hours while they attempted to repair the brakes) (Flight took 3 hours) After 'they fixed' the brakes iut was on to Cincinatti another 1 1/2hrs.  Total annoyance: 7 hours

The following week.. seems it must have been the same plane Because it never showed up..problem with the brakes.  I got to fly home First Class on Delta, on Northwest's dollar.  ( Really complained and refuse to fly Northwest till this day)

Roughest/Scary moment:  727 Florida to Bahamas. Thunder Storms plus turbulence. Plane dropped atleast 500-1000ft.  We were given priorty landing.  The plane was a mess..anything that was in the overhead compartments was on us or the floor.

Best flight.. 1943 SNJ-6 Navy Version of T-6 Texan

[Habu]

Ok I will bite.

Worst flight. One time I booked an around the world ticket on KLM (paired with Canadian Airlines) Business Class. Pretty expensive at around 7,000 USD. The first leg  starts in Jakarta and lands in Singapore, they serve a drink and offer a newspaper.

After a short layover the flight takes off to go to Thailand. I ask the cabin attendant for a new newspaper as I finished the one she gave me. She says "Sorry you are only entitled to one paper per flight." I said I did not want another drink or a meal or anything else just a $0.25 newspaper and she says No. And I am in freeking Business Class!

Ok so I fill in one of those forms that ask for your opinion on the service and 3 months later I get a reply and it basically says I was only entitled to one newspaper so the cabin attendant was right. This is not a bull**** story it is the truth, even though now as I look back I cannot belive it myself.

Later in the trip I am in Rio de Janero and the incoming flight from Santiago Chile is delayed. There terminal is pretty decrepid and I will have to wait 4 hours for the flight. I go to the KLM desk and ask politely if I can wait in their executive lounge. They tell me "Sorry only for First Class". Considering there were about 20 people total waiting to get on the flight I could not see the difference one passenger would make but after the newpaper incident I just resigned myself to the fact that Dutch People are all incredibly stupid. I go to the American Airlines counter and show them my Business Class ticket on KLM and tell them what happened and the guy gives me a pass to wait in their lounge.

I never flew KLM again. (And I flew tons over the next 5 years. My standard booking instructions were "Anyone but KLM" and still are to this day".) I have a few more stories about them from that trip but this is already too long.

BTW I flew Garuda many times (probably over 100) and have never had a bad flight. The old days when they allowed smokeing were bad as those clove cigarettes would almost gag you but once that stopped they were all great flights.

[LePaul]

Edit:  Darn, BBS Search doesnt go back far enough

I can't find it, and hate to re-write it....but my scariest ride was when I was invited to fly in a DeHaviland Vampire (British 1950's era jet fighter)...and the guy, as it turned out, only had a few hours in it....and he wasn't having a good day that day.

This is a Vampire...one I flew in had Australian markings



Couldn't find the post so here it is in a nutshell:

I was active with the Civil Air Patrol and was asked to ferry down our new Cessna 172 to the open house/air show down to Owl's Head (small airport with museum on field).  My friend Larry went with me, who was a KC-135 pilot.

Got there, walked the flight line and it was largely WW1 era stuff, an F-4U, B-17 and a few other odds n ends.  Noticed a jet with a twin tail and singe engine...was checking it out since I hadn't seen one before.  The pilot was cleaning the aircraft and we began to chat.  He was very interested to see a "military" C-172 so I brought him over to see our underpowered, nose-heavy with redundant radios bird.  I told him he had a nice plane and he asked if I wanted to fly the jet with him, as he is in the airshow to make a few high speed passes.  SURE!

So...showtime comes and I meet him at the Vampire.  Strap in, spool up and wait to taxi.  I'm noticing placards all over the cockpit that say things like DO NOT GO TO THIS ## RPM and stuff.  Its also really really hot outside, so sitting in a black jet and closing the HUGELY thick plexi on top of us isn't making things any better.  With an old jet, high temp/humidity...I'm thinking this little beast is going to use a LOT of runway.  Pfftt.....

My host, whom we'll refer to as Einstein, taxi's us out onto the runway and revs the jet up....in the DO NOT GO rpms.  I check straps, make sure my feet are clear of obstructions and ejection handles, and prepare for a fun ride.

We barrel down the runway and surprisingly, he yanks the nose up quite soon.  Then the nose bobs up, then down, then up....so we are sorta up in the air (ground effect) and Einstein yanks to retract the gear.  Mid way thru the gear cycle, we THUD into the runway and are skidding....I see dust, smoke...wings wagging (I'm expecting a cartwheel).....aieee!  The tree line is looming ahead and I decide "Thanks for the ride, gotta go" and yank the ejection handles....which simply break off the seat into my hands.  Like a dog waiting to get smacked for crapping in the house...I'm waiting for some nasty explosion to shoot my arse through the canopy.   In the coolest voice Ive ever heard in my life, Einstein tells me the seats arent armed.  GREAT

Somehow, perhaps God's good humor....we get into the air and the landing gear slams shut (with a grind).  Hooray!  I'm alive!

Now the big question is....is the gear toast?  Will it extend?  And, those FAA Inspectors on the field are scribbling away like a White House press conference.  Larry tells me later that the take off looked like a comet richocheting off the ground!

Again, for the sake of summary...we make a low pass with the gear out, and the folks with binoculars feel everything is ok, make two high speed passes.

Einstein does the first at 400mph and WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  He hands me the controls...I drop my ejection handles, and get to do the second, a wee faster, and with the middle finger extended for all to see     Einstein takes over and heads over the water and into what he thinks is a cloud.  Umm, no...its fog.  I point this out and he breaks out in a clearing...and good grief, we're at under 1,000 ft and diving in on some poor guys fishing.  I dunno what was more memorable, their WTF eyes, or mine.

He brings the airplane back to the field, on a long final...and again, he's sitting onthe RPMs the magic placards all say are *bad*.  As the plane gets slower and squirley...he comments "this is the part im not so good at".  Ugh.  But, with a hearty smack...we land...and are greeted by 12 FAA inspectors.  Larry slips in, tells me how lucky I am and why didnt i try to get out.  I showed him the handles  

Last I knew, the guy sold the plane....he asked if I was interested in it for $60k.  Nah!  

Turns out he had just bought the jet and asides me, also gave a few other people a few good scares.

[gofaster]

Longest flight: Tampa to Toronto

Most boring flight: Tampa to Toronto - same flight.  Nothing but clouds until nightfall, and then nothing to see since it was so dark and cloudy.

Funniest flight: Return flight on a business trip from New Jersey to Tampa.  I'm sitting at the gate, minding my own business, scoping out the chicks, when I spot a pretty blonde girl in a denim skirt shopping at a nearby kiosk.  She's got the body of an angel and the piercings of a tramp.  I play it cool, catching a glance at her, then a glance at an old lady smuggling her dog onto the plane in a ventilated duffel bag, then back to the blonde, then back to the lady with the lap dog, then back to the blonde.  

As I'm watching the lady with the lap dog explain to another passenger about the bag, the dog, and why little Fluffy travels with her, the blonde walks over and sits down next to me.  So of course I open the conversation with something so smooth and debonair that it could've come straight from the lips of James Bond: "Hey, nice wedding ring."  This thing was a freakin' ROCK!  I'm talking big, like coke money big.  She looks over at me and smiles and says "Actually, its just an engagement ring."  I congratulate her and ask about her wedding plans (something most women fantasize about most of their lives, so its a pretty good topic to discuss when you want to get them to open up).  But she confesses that no date is set and I'm getting the feeling that she's got some reservations about the whole thing.  

So we get to talking a bit and it turns out she's engaged to a guy who owns a horse farm in Ft. Lauderdale.  She didn't come out and say it, but I got the vibe that she was about to become his next trophy breeding stock. No love there.  She had that rough edge to her and I suspected she was in it for the money, and probably had danced for dollars at some point in her young life.

Anyway, the gate opens and we begin to board the plane.  Faster than you can say "Mile High Club" the ticket agent seats us at different ends of the plane.  

Not sure if that's funny or simply tragic, but it was certainly the most interesting pre-flight experience I've had.

[Creamo]

Most Turbulence? A Eastern Metro Express Dash 8 from Atlanta to Chattanooga. It was really bad the whole flight. Soda on the ceiling, pull the belt as tight as it would go, bad.

Longest? San Francisco to Hong Kong. Way long, like 12 hours or something? Japan to Dallas was a haul too.

Best service? AA 777 1st Class from Japan to San Jose, CA., Amazing service, anything you could ever want, and the seat folded into a bed with a curtain. Add this for best food too. The steak was great. The Sundae cart wasn’t bad either.

Worst service? American Airlines San Francisco to Honolulu. Some old sky hag that was like 90 really made it clear she was a old hag. Tied, is not even being allowed to get past security early this year because my carryon bag I had traveled with many times wheels prevented it from fitting in that metal box that measures carryon size. So I missed my flight.

Cheapest? Free, anytime I ride in coach.

Lost luggage? Eastern Airlines, Atlanta to San Fran but they delivered it to my door the next day which was cool. Actually my parent’s camcorder was stolen in Chicago. The empty open case came down the carousal which was kinda cruel of the rampers. Got a brand new one out of the deal though.

Scariest?  Went on a test flight in a American Eagle Metro III. You don’t wanna know.

Worst flight?  Honolulu to Los Angeles. I was really sick from overdoing it all weekend, and that sucks on a long flight.

Diversion? Ya know, it’s never happened.

Singapore and Cathay Pacific are outstanding Airlines. The flight attendants are young, picked to look great, treat you great, and help you any way they can. They spend as much time in the mirror making their makeup just right as anything. Oh, and AA is putting the seats back in the airplanes Beetle, some of them anyway. Too bad too, it makes a huge difference.

[JB73]

i remember that story LePaul .. that was some funny watermelon the first time you told it you had more Drama LOL but great story none the less!


longest flight: was Milwaukee to Anchorage about 7-8 hours. i was like 12-13 years old. it was in a DC10 and about 2/3 was empty so my cousin and me were running all over the place LOL. flight was so smooth the i even made a small house out of playing cards on my fold out tray


worst flight:
Milwaukee to Omaha. coming in for an approach we felt a major "lurch" then our stomachs all dropped out for like 20 seconds. everyone was screaming and stuff going WTF happened. after landing very suddenly pilot came on and told us a 747 had just flown ahead of us and we went through it's jet wash or something to that effect. we dropped something like 5000 feet in 20 seconds before pilot got the plane level again. this was on the way to a cruise in the carribean and it was going to be a 4 hour stop-over in omaha. they sent us on our way in 45 min (guessing to get us out of there and not spread stories around the terminal for 4 hours LOL).

[guttboy]

Wow....I will have to write more on this one!  Great stories guys!

Longest flight....AC130 from Brindisi, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya  In support of Mike Durant and his buddies.  Long...tiresome...WELL FRIGGIN WORTH IT!!!!

Le Paul.....great pic and story!!!!!!!  BTW..folks live in Freeport...I get back there every so often....perhaps a beer or two if I get up there?  That would be fun!

NUKE.....you are the epitome of an prettythanghole....unless of course you were being VERY sarcastic...not seeing your other posts on the board I would not know.

If you like these stories here read the book "Fate is the Hunter"

OUTSTANDING!

[Habu]

Funniest Flight

One time I was on a local flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt Nigeria. The plane was an old Boeing 707. If you ever wondered what happens to all the old loud planes that are not allowed to fly in Europe anymore just look south into Africa. That is where they all end up.

Anyway so I am assigned a seat and I get to the front of the line and quickly board to make sure I get the window (so I can look out and watch my luggage actually being put in the plane).

The flight is full and this big pompus looking guy comes in and stops a couple of rows in front of me and sees someone in his assigned seat. Problem is that guy also has a ticket for that seat so he refuses to move. Before you know it both are yelling and screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. Finally the cabin crew drags the pompus guy away before he starts to pummel the guy.

A few minutes later they come back and make the other guy leave but he refuses and locks his hands on the chair arms. Finally 3 guys all pull him out of the chair and drag him out of the plane. The pompus guy comes back and we depart 45 minutes late.

[LePaul]

Originally posted by guttboy

Le Paul.....great pic and story!!!!!!!  BTW..folks live in Freeport...I get back there every so often....perhaps a beer or two if I get up there?  That would be fun!

 

Sure, say when, I'm in Bangor...like a mini-Portland here, minus the traffic!  Civilization is nice!

[MoMoney]

I once flew from New York JFK to Tokyo non-stop.  14 1/2 hrs.

Scariest flight was from Leon, Mexico to Dallas Tx in 1997. At 30k over Monterrey, Mx the Captain came on and said that ATC issued a turbulence warning and told us to buckle-up.  Right then we went into freefall.  I hit my head on the bulkhead so hard it almost knocked me out.  Screaming-crying-food everywhere.  The captain was making violent  banks to try and get-out of what we were in.  We were over the Sierra Madre Mountains.  It was horrible.  A passenger in first class was killed.  Broke his neck.  Interestingly enough, that year American had 3 turbulence related fatalities.  It was the big El Nino year.  All fatalities were over mountainess areas…..humm????  Maybe some of u remember seeing this on the news..it got some Pub.

Best flight..comming back from Spring Break in Cancun.  Felt-up and made-out with the Chick next to me.

[Habu]

Longest Flight

KLM (still on my around the world flight) from Rio to Amsterdam. It was the longest in the world at that time.

The only reason I mention this is I decided to lay over in Amsterdam for a night before flying on to Jakarta and back to work. I stayed in a highly rated Golden Tulip hotel and except for the KLM food and the hotel food did not eat anywhere else. On the flight to Jakarta a day later I did not feel too good at the end. When I got back to my house in Jakarta I felt definetly sick but not too bad so I went to work the next day. Turns out I had to fly to an offshore oil rig the same day so I went home packed and made the helicopter.

A week later still feeling sick I told my boss in town. A second week goes by and I am still sick. Nothing major just mild stomach upset and the runs. Finally I get a chance to leave the rig and get to town where it is found I have dysentry. The only place I could have got it was from the stupid KLM hotel.

I lived in the third world and in some really rough places for over 5 years and the only time I got sick from the food was in Amsterdam!

[guttboy]

Yeah have many fond memories of Bangor!  We would ALWAYS stop there on our redeployments from Brindisi or Africa to go through customs there!  Always had the VFW folks meet us and make us feel great to be in the military...they also brought Stephen King stuff for us there....they were SOOOO nice!

Been a while since I have been through there though on a plane.

Mike