Had a couple of really bad landings in some high winds at Southampton recently, literally felt like we were coming in sideways. Worst i experienced was a "rejected landing". High winds coming in, pilot slammed the plane down, for whatever reason couldn't complete the landing so had to take off again. Pilot came on and said due to wind we overshot & couldn't break in time so had to go round again. Apparently a very very rare occurrence that usually only ever takes place in pilot training. Needless to say, I and the 150 or so on board had already shat ourselves!
Had a couple of really bad landings in some high winds at Southampton recently, literally felt like we were coming in sideways. Worst i experienced was a "rejected landing". High winds coming in, pilot slammed the plane down, for whatever reason couldn't complete the landing so had to take off again. Pilot came on and said due to wind we overshot & couldn't break in time so had to go round again. Apparently a very very rare occurrence that usually only ever takes place in pilot training. Needless to say, I and the 150 or so on board had already shat ourselves!
Had exactly the same experience at London City cafcpolo when it first opened there used to be an airline called Flexair flying to Rotterdam in very small planes (Turbo prop just one row of seats either side of the aisle) we landed in a force 8 gale same thing aborted landing etc. I can say that everyone including the cabin crew yakked I managed to keep my stomach the respectable side of my teeth until I disembarked and then threw up all over the tarmac. It was the worst experience I have ever had but as I fly 2-3 times every month you have to get on with it.
The real horror stories I have heard involve flying internally in Africa where a lot of the airlines definition of maintenance is giving the tyres the odd kick to see if they are still inflated my colleague who looks after our business there was on a flight coming into Nairobi having been told to assume the brace position he looked out the window and could see bits flying off the plane. Undercarriage collapsed but fortunately the plane didn't catch fire. two days later he had to fly back home to Jo'burg on the same airline. All I can say is that he's a better man than me I would have walked rather than fly!
My mate went to Russia on Aeroflot in the early 90's and the toilets had curtains rather than doors.
I've done Aeroflot - went to the Ukraine with them. Plane was an absolute nightmare - looked like rivets were falling off the wings when you looked out. This wasn't long after the break-up of the Soviet Union mind (early nineties, like yourself), I think things have improved since then (they probably don't even let you take cattle on board any more)
I recommend reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. There's an excellent chapter on planes in there, and how crashes occur. I read it before my own nightmare flight, and knew that, as long as the pilots didn't make 7 consecutive mistakes, we'd be ok!
It focuses on how Korean Air had loads of crashes, but it was nothing to do with the quality of the plane - it almost never is. It was to do with the communication and culture.
Because the co-pilot was invariably inferior in social standing to the pilot, they didn't have the communication ability required. i.e. the co-pilot didn't have the balls to correct his pilot, even when faced with certain death. Also, the likes of JFK and Newark have very stern flight controllers, so much so that when running out of fuel, one particular co-pilot was told to stay in the air and so he did - until they ran out of fuel and crashed in a field.
According to Gladwell, loads of progress was made in the late 90s to combat these communication issues, and are the prime reason why we now have far fewer crashes than ever before.
Was on a flight back from Spain in October - cheap flight, drinks extra, so very few people had one. However, the couple a few seats in front of us had some nice G&Ts... Just after they'd been served the plane lurched to the right and a G&T flew majestically into the air, giving the gent a G&T rinse. A few seconds later the pilot's voice came over the intercom warning us that "we may experience some turbulance" - I almost busrst out laughing.
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It focuses on how Korean Air had loads of crashes, but it was nothing to do with the quality of the plane - it almost never is. It was to do with the communication and culture.
Because the co-pilot was invariably inferior in social standing to the pilot, they didn't have the communication ability required. i.e. the co-pilot didn't have the balls to correct his pilot, even when faced with certain death. Also, the likes of JFK and Newark have very stern flight controllers, so much so that when running out of fuel, one particular co-pilot was told to stay in the air and so he did - until they ran out of fuel and crashed in a field.
According to Gladwell, loads of progress was made in the late 90s to combat these communication issues, and are the prime reason why we now have far fewer crashes than ever before.