Quote:
Originally Posted by Bwana
Heh my brother had a much worse experience flying to Belize City a few years back on TACA Airlines (Take A Chance Airlines) They were flying over the ocean and the jet just lost power. They were at over 30K and all hell broke lose. I guess there was a sudden drop and they went into a steep decent. Drinks and passangers were flying around people were screaming and everyone thought "this is it." They managed to power it back up a couple thousand feet before impact and pull out of it.
I guess there was no announcement or explanation of any kind from the pilot. He was likely too busy cleaning out his pants.
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I flew Grupo TACA airlines from Toronto to Havana Cuba in 2000. Didn't have to deal with anything that crazy.
I did have a United Airlines flight from Newark NJ to Tokyo back in 1995 or 1996 once hit severe turbulence about 2 hours before we arrived and people bounced all over during dinner service, food and drinks spilled all over and a few carts fell over. The plane was a mess when we disembarked. To have a 747 bounce around like a roller coaster at 35,000 feet can leave you a little shaken. I was on this flight at least 15 times and 1/2 the time we hit turbulence prior to arriving at Narita Airport in Tokyo. It's common from the winds coming from China across the mountains of Japan causing major ripples in the jet stream.
I also had to land during a severe thunder and lighting storm on a domestic flight in Australia when on Ansett Airlines. We circled for nearly two hours hoping the storm would cease but we had to land when we ran low on fuel and the pilot did a military style corkscrew landing to get on the ground quickly. It took less than 5 minutes to descend about 15,000-20,000 feet like a spiraling lawn dart. The pilot was very helpful by explaining what was going to happen BEFORE the landing.