Longest point-to-point flight: 747-200 Sydney, Australia to Honolulu (abd then on to SFO without an equipment change) Long, long time, no overflights I was aware of.
Lost luggage -- yeah, it's happened to me more than a few times, often involving milan, or KLM (and always when both conspire).
Cheapest Scheduled Flight: Tower Air from JFK to CDG. $99 one way to France. completely full 747-200, not all safety equipment in place. On crossing, plane never got above 18k; Ticket was overpriced.
Most entertaining flight:
CSA Czech Airlines 737-400 redeye from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague. A schoolgroup of 12-year-olds was on board. Pilsner Urquell was the beer served in coach. Enjoyed one.
Now I need to digress about the state of Prague's airport at the time:
As I waited for my connection later, I observed traffic landing and taking off. Prague has three runways 24: 22-04, 06-24, and crossing both of those 31-13. In E corner between the three runways is the N terminal building and ramp area (
http://www.biolog-online.info/beta/docs/PubDoc/D03-OCD-10.pdf has a map on page 73).
This day, as is common, I imagine, the only runway in operation was 24.
But there was construction, which closed off both high-speeds on the crossing runway and all taxiways on 24 except B, a high-speed for traffic coming down 06, roughly 700m from the 24 treshhold.
So I'd sit and watch planes land. For example, an ATR-42 came in, touched down, and stopped about halfway between the W highspeed and the crossing. It then taxied to the crossing, turned N, and taxied all the way to the far apron, made another left turn at the intersection over by the GA area, then came back to the ramp and parked at the terminal, some ten minutes after touching down.
Well, that's not what happened on my landing. I think the flight originated in Dubai or something, and the crew didn't want to taxi around with all those 12-year-olds making a mess of the airplane. So they come in perfectly on 24, then they thunk the thing down hard right at the threshhold, go full breaks and thrust reversers, and hold it like that while dentures and glasses fly across the cabin, up until the plane is completely stopped, with the thrust reversers still shaking and screaming. Then chops throttle, brings the reversers in, gives a forward blast from the #2 engine, swinging the nose around before shooting down the eastbound highspeed that happens to be just to our left. 30 seconds later, we're at the terminal..
--
turbulence:
Well, once while walking to my flight one windy day in Pisa, on the tarmac, I watched overhead as an MD-80 went wheels up and turned to the left, and was thrown all over the sky. I mean that plane was shaking. Got on board the ATR-42. "This is the Captain speaking -- we're in for a bumpy ride to Milan today." It was.
scariest:
well, I haven't had many scary moments that I've known about, thankfully. And I'm sure there are much better stories out there (actually I know there are, like Funked's 777 hop).
I once had this flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Rome, Fiumicino, on Cyprus Airlines. Cyprus Airlines has 4000 employees and 7 planes, mostly A320s (awful planes).
I had a seat on this A320 directly over the wings. The all-composite body means that you get to hear all the workings of the aircraft, especially when you're sitting over the wings. So I get to hear the full ignition sequence, from the APU to the right engine, to the left.
So not much happens on the flight until we're descending into FCO. I'm not paying much attention, reading, as we drop through the clouds on final. Then -- still nowhere near the ground -- the pilot firewalls the engines and banks hard and to the right. 1 second later, a loud "crack" pierces the air, the jet lurches to the left, and flames shoot out the front of the #1 engine. The largely cypriot passengers, for reasons still obscure to me, think that a compressor stall is sufficient cause for a spontaneous ovation. I'm thinking "please refrain from using electronic equipment or applauding the flight crew until after the aircraft has arrived at the gate".
Anyway, the plane now flies straight ahead, hanging at a 10-degree left bank for about thirty seconds. Then I hear the sounds I'd associated with starting the left engine; these cycle continuously until the plane touches down.
"This is the captain. We couldn't land because there was another plane on the runway. We'll be down in five minutes".
Nobody believed him. Well, I believed the five minute part.
So now the plane skids around the sky and we land without further incident.
