Post: #26

Damn, you guys are making me feel extremely lucky that I don't have one airplane incident worth mentioning in my entire life of regular flying. Not even any turbulence more than category 3. I feel like it's going to catch up with me sooner or later.

Post: #27

I forgot one more story. In all my times flying, I've only been upgraded to business class once. That one time was on an American flight from Narita to the US. I was in the window seat. Having access to all that top-shelf liquor in business class, I went to town. Once meal service was over they turned out the lights and the lady in the aisle seat next to me reclined her seat completely and went to sleep.

About an hour later, I really needed to hit the head. But, there was no space between her footrest and the back of the seat in front of her. She was fully reclined, almost flat. So, I carefully stepped over her while facing her. Her eyes opened and she looked directly up at me while I was straddling her. She screamed at the top of her lungs. I was so frightened that my drunk ass toppled over and fell onto the passenger across the aisle from her, who was also asleep and reclined. He woke up and started yelling as I fell all the way to the floor. The flight attendant came running to see what was going on. Two people were yelling and I was laying in the aisle between them.

That's my only business class experience. Maybe that's why I've never been upgraded again since.

Post: #28

(04-23-2014 01:05 AM)Carlos100 Wrote:  I forgot one more story. In all my times flying, I've only been upgraded to business class once. That one time was on an American flight from Narita to the US. I was in the window seat. Having access to all that top-shelf liquor in business class, I went to town. Once meal service was over they turned out the lights and the lady in the aisle seat next to me reclined her seat completely and went to sleep.

About an hour later, I really needed to hit the head. But, there was no space between her footrest and the back of the seat in front of her. She was fully reclined, almost flat. So, I carefully stepped over her while facing her. Her eyes opened and she looked directly up at me while I was straddling her. She screamed at the top of her lungs. I was so frightened that my drunk ass toppled over and fell onto the passenger across the aisle from her, who was also asleep and reclined. He woke up and started yelling as I fell all the way to the floor. The flight attendant came running to see what was going on. Two people were yelling and I was laying in the aisle between them.

That's my only business class experience. Maybe that's why I've never been upgraded again since.

That kinda reminds of this old commercial:





Edit--

This is such an awesome flying video showing the life of a pilot. Makes me wish I'd gone into aviation:

Post: #29

Nothing serious like crabbing or intense turbulence, but some turbulence has been frightening. Ive been flying since I was little kid so flying for me is like going on that annual field trip.

My most recent flight which was coming from Mexico flying into Ontario, CA. I had the scariest experience of turbulence though. It was my first time flying solo so that's maybe what spiked my nerves but I was actually quite excited since I was looking forward to gaming girls at the airport and I still had hope that I might sit next to a cute girl.

So I chatted up 2 girl in the terminals, got contact info from one but it's pointless after the plane ride. I take a seat in my plane and everything is running as normal. I actually feel like a man now since I am flying solo for the first time. A liberating feeling of independence. It was a night flight and we took off, the captain then announces that were are going to expect turbulence due to dense clouds and storms. I don't know what it is about storms and clouds in a plane but I guess it sets the mood for something ominous, plus it's night time but I keep my cool. Then the ride gets bumpy, the most turbulence I have experienced, if I were to have a drink I it would have spilled. So I start to panic in the inside but I tend to be good at controlling myself in times of stress or surprise. I start thinking of the worst case scenarios,"this shit is going down". I generally not scared of death and I talked myself into accepting it if it happens, since I know a plane crash won't even be painful. I just start thinking about my family mourning and those death thoughts, but I was happy since I had a nice vacation. Once I don't see clouds and the turbulence subsides I can finally relax and watch an interesting documentary they put on about inventions from the 80's, that was a great fucking show and better than the crap history channel has on now.

That was my little scare.

Post: #30

Had a few awkward experiences, helicopter through the Grand Canyon on one of the windiest days of the year was something else. Kudos to the pilot for manoeuvring through the canyon inches from the walls

Post: #31

The highest safety risk that comes with flying is the TSA tasering/spraying you for some arbitrary reason. Once you're in the air you're safe.

Post: #32

Nothing like riding a military helicopter flying evasively to avoid heat-seeking missiles, RPGs and machine guns. Up and down like a roller-coaster, zig-zagging, shooting decoy flares. You better carry a plastic bag if the flight is more than 15 minutes.

And when you get on the crewchief looks like this:

Post: #33

(04-24-2014 07:13 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  Nothing like riding a military helicopter flying evasively to avoid heat-seeking missiles, RPGs and machine guns. Up and down like a roller-coaster, zig-zagging, shooting decoy flares. You better carry a plastic bag if the flight is more than 15 minutes.

And when you get on the crewchief looks like this:

Have you experienced this? Would love to hear more, man.

Post: #34

(04-24-2014 10:54 AM)PompeyChris Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 07:13 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  Nothing like riding a military helicopter flying evasively to avoid heat-seeking missiles, RPGs and machine guns. Up and down like a roller-coaster, zig-zagging, shooting decoy flares. You better carry a plastic bag if the flight is more than 15 minutes.

And when you get on the crewchief looks like this:

Have you experienced this? Would love to hear more, man.

Used to take UH-60s around Iraq doing things. There was a time, 2006-7 in particular, the insurgents shot down a few helicopters. There were regular shuttle missions around the bases, you could book a seat in advance.

The helicopters would jink back and forth and up and down. They are amazing machines, never could stop being amazed that the weight of 10 people plus a lot of bags was suspended below the rotor on one shaft. Lots of moving parts - lots can go wrong.

Post: #35

I flew the week after 9/11. Plane was pretty empty, maybe 15 people on an LA-San Jose flight (40 minutes), people were scared of flying. There were 3 or 4 Sikh Indians wearing their headgear and everyone on the flight was on edge. I had a pen in my hand the whole fight ready to stab someone in the neck if they got up suddenly.

Post: #36

I had a Round-trip Southwest Airline reservation which began before and ended just after 9-11.

Before, the cockpit door was left open at takeoff and you could see the plane lift from the runway at your seat.


On the way back, the door had a giant lock and there was a thunder of applause at touchdown that time.

The scariest was years later on a Polish airline.



For some reason the turbulence was so awful, I was convinced the plane would crash over a pool in Greenland as the plane felt like it was falling apart.