aneverydaystory Readers Share Worst Flying Experiences

From a Facebook commenterTyrita White:

After almost an hour in the air, an engine caught fire and began failing. Turbulence hit hard, and lights flickered. People cried and panicked. We saw the fire's torch on the left side of the plane. They prepared us for an emergency landing.

This was the worst flight I ever had. It was a pure nightmare. We landed safely but missed the gate. The plane broke down right after touching the ground. We had to wait to be pushed to our gate. I waited nearly ten years before flying again.

From a Facebook commentKelly Halter:

Flying a Cessna. We tried to leave Bethel, Alaska, in a blizzard. We spun and went up and down! We cried and prayed! We made an emergency landing on the ice.

From a Facebook commenterKelly Martin:

I flew a puddle-jumper from Charlotte to Charleston, West Virginia. We hit a patch of bad turbulence, and the person next to me could not handle it.

He threw out all his stomach contents, and it smelled like sulfur. I have never smelled something so bad in my life.

From a Facebook commenterLinda Beetschen:

The wings froze over. We almost ditched in the ocean.

From a Facebook commenterAnn Kattos:

We hit too much turbulence once. The cabin doors opened, and luggage flew around. I thought we were going down for sure! I have never flown a plane since!

From a Facebook commenterBrett Ransome:

Pulling out of Miami for Venezuela, we had fifteen minutes left before turning back. The pilot spoke up, warning it was not wing smoke; they were dumping fuel for a rough landing.

We landed safely among fire trucks. The plane was foamed down. We told no one what went wrong, but I called my mom from the plane on the satellite phone once we turned around.

From a Facebook commenterCrocheted Creations:

I was in a puddle-jumper that leaked oil from one of the two engines.

From a Facebook commenterDorthe Houlby Brush:

Flying from South Korea to the US in business class, I sat across from a couple with twins under one year old. They cried and screamed for most of the fourteen hours; one child stopped crying, the other started again.

You cannot get too upset about this because you cannot expect babies to be quiet just because you want them to be. But it was a miserable trip.

From a Facebook commenterNick Carranza:

My recent one: A little girl sitting across from me saw I was reading theJurassic Parknovel when I sat down, so she started screaming “RAWRRR!” for the next hour.

From a Facebook commenterMary Hanna Wilson:

Flying out of O'Hare in a bad snow storm with lightning. It was scary.

From a Facebook commenterLynn Gunnell-Kays:

Flying from SFO to Salt Lake, I sat next to an off-duty flight attendant. During takeoff, a terrible screeching sound started suddenly, like a belt slipping somewhere, but it sounded muffled.

The noise grew louder as we climbed higher. Everyone looked worried, scared. Then, the flight attendant beside me put her head in her lap and told me to do the same.

A passenger stood up. He said, "Wait a minute." He opened an overhead cabin. He took out a big boombox. It turned on by itself. It sat between stations, making a loud squelch. He turned off the radio. Everything was fine. He was with a polka dancing group, like in the John Candy movie.John Candy movie. A serious moment turned funny.

From Facebook commenterPhil Wilkinson:

A volcano erupted. This meant two extra hours to fly around the ash.

From Facebook commenterZack Martin:

When I was little, a blizzard diverted my flight to NY to Detroit. There was bad weather there too. For some reason, we did not get our luggage upon landing. We waited a day for it.

From Facebook commenterAnn Gladstone:

I flew a red-eye. The kid next to me picked his nose for one solid hour. His dad sat across the aisle. He talked to the boy sometimes, but he never mentioned the digging.

From Facebook commenterFelicia Thomas:

Two Cokes spilled on me during a 30-minute flight. She offered no apology. I was twelve. I still won't fly that airline.