re: Scariest plane experience

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don't see why they don't change altitude or path when that happens

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I've been on flights where they altered routes based on turbulence reports from other aircraft.

Flying over Texas, the pilot informs us that a storm has intensified on the radar, and that we will be landing at the nearest airport to ride it out

He then banks sharply and turns right into the mother loving storm. You can see the front, as the rain sheets move toward the runway. We touch down just in front of the blowing rain, and he taxis a bit, before parking. He tells us that we will remain in this positon for awhile, away from the gate

That's when the bottom dropped out

I was on a Delta flight that caught on fire on the runway during takeoff in 2008. The fighter fighting crew at BTR were incredibly fast. I don't think we were stopped for more than 3-4 seconds before they covered the whole plane with foam.

I was on another Delta flight last year that involved a tail strike, which is pretty rare these days especially on approach. Wasn't scary so much as it was surprising. It was a newer Boeing 737-900ER at MSP. Between the propensity to scrape its tail and the required "step" ascent process (it has to burn off a lot of fuel before a loaded -900ER can even climb to cruising altitude) I think the stretched version of the 737 is barely flying under normal circumstances. Hate those things even more now.

Also went through extreme turbulence in late 2015 on a red eye flight to JFK from SFO. It was a nicer Boeing 757, which is my favorite narrow body. A couple of hours in and the flight suddenly got really bumpy. Some of the overhead bins flew open and a couple of people got hurt when one of those drink carts fell over. A few minutes later it got even worse. A few adults praying and people in the back of the plane were crying. The lady next to me flipped out.

It wasn't all that scary but a flight to Reno I was on a few years ago got the landing gear stuck in the down position. I knew something was wrong after takeoff because we stayed at low altitude for what seemed like forever. Finally the pilot tells us the situation and that we would be landing shortly. I thought yea right, he has a ton more fuel to burn before we can land. I think we ended up circling the airport for an hour and a half. I ended up in Reno at 4 am.

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I think it was a Saab 340B. Winter of 1994 I think. I remember my dad taking me out there to see the plane. It had overshot much of the runway and ended up going through a fence, over a canal, and eventually coming to rest in a very muddy cane field.

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Landing in driving rain and 6 inches of water. The landing gear hydroplaned and we almost went off the runway.

The pilot corrected which caused the plane to bank to the right. I was at a window seat right by the wing and we were tilted so much I couldn't see the ground out of my window. I looked across the aisle out of the other window and saw nothing but ground.

I still don't know how the wing didn't drag the ground on the other side.

Turbulence has never really bothered me. Planes are built for it and I think of it as bumps in a road.

Landing in a blizzard in Minot. The plane was rocking side to side, no visibility because of the driving snow, and it felt like we came down forever. The guy next to me says "last week they diverted us to Minneapolis, and this is worse than that". Thanks. We didn't see the runway until a few seconds before landing.

Bad storm in Houston, there was a tornado on the ground within a couple of miles of IAH which was our destination. So our Continental propeller plane circles the airport in the worst turbulence I've ever come across. If not for the seatbelts there would have been serious injuries. This went on for close to an hour.

My dad had an engine explode and drop off as the plane was accelerating down the runway. It was about to lift off but the pilot was able to hit the brakes and stop before the end of the runway. If the engine explodes a few seconds later they would have been in deep trouble.

He also had a business meeting go long so he had to catch the next flight. His scheduled flight crashed with no survivors.

the 4 worst times for me was flying Southwest out of Lubbock to Dallas, and about 15 minutes into the flight the plane started bouncing from Turbulence. 3 or 4 second drops, only to "bounce" back up. that went on for about 35 minutes. it almost made me give up flying which is a bad thing, cause I have to fly often for work.

the 2nd scariest was starting descent into Detroit, and the pilot puts the plane into a 45 degree bank for about 10 seconds. turns out there was another plane in our vicinity and the pilot had to drop the plane to avoid it.

was on final approach to Atlanta coming in from the east, we had the gear down and was about 8 or so seconds from touchdown, and a plane waiting to take off pulled onto our runway. the pilot had to go full power and climb up to avoid it.

last one was flying from Chicago to Birmingham, and around Huntsville we were skirting a storm and the plane was hit 2 times by Lightning.

I was on a flight in the middle of a storm and lightning was flashing all around us. The turbulence was so bad the entire time that we would have sudden drops where you felt like you were falling like on the Tower of Terror in Disney. Had to hold on for dear life the entire time, and bags were falling out of the bins. Never had beverage service either, and I really needed that beer