I have been blessed to have traveled extensively during my career to just about every part of the world. Every time i think that I am finally through with international travel, I find myself in another position that requires it so I have resigned myself to the fact that I am an international traveler.
Over the course of this time, I have had literally thousands of flights to many, many aiorports throughout the world. Consequently, by the law of averages, I have had a few "interesting" flight experiences. Overall though, I have been fortunate (more like blessed) to have had only a few close calls.
I recall that in 1986 in Saudi Arabia, we were getting ready to take off and the heat was so high outside that the pilot taxied us off to a secluded area, set the brakes and opened the throttles on the aircraft to, as he put it, "burn off some fuel" so we could leave the ground. For twenty minutes, I thought the plane was going to break apart form the enormous stresses it was gong through. however, we took off without further incident.
In Bahrain in 1988, as we were preparing to take off for Cairo, a sandstorm suddenly came up. It was my first experience with such an event and I was amazed at how quickly mid day became mid night! Within literally moments, all light outside was gone. The plane shook violently from the winds and the pilot had to shut down the engines. This meant we had no AC. The temperature outside was still well over 100 degrees so it was almost unbearably hot in the plane within a few minutes. After about 20 minutes (the last 10 were truly terrible) I saw men outside drive up in a truck and get out (with their headscarves wrapped around their faces) and hook up a hose to the plane to provide AC to us (thank goodness!). The storm continued to rage for another 25 minutes then I saw the men unhook the hose and the truck drove away. The engines on the plane started and the pilot came on and told us we were behind schedule and had to take off. I was AMAZED! The storm seemed to be just as bad and visibility, though improved somewhat, was still very limited. Nonetheless, the plane began to move and soon we were flying down the runway! to my astonishment, the plane lifted off and we rose above the storm at last. I think that the imprints of my fingernails are still in the armrest of my seat.
In 1986 I was flying in to roanoke Va. airport and the winds were particularly strong. I was on a smaller plane (prop) and it was being buffetted severely by the winds. I became very concerned when the attendant asked us to move to the back of the plane (there were about 20 people on board). I had never had that request made before. As we approached the runway, the plane suddenly tipped almost 90 degrees. I was sure the wing was going to hit the ground resulting in a disaster. However, literally at the last second, the pilot recovered the plane and righted it and the wheels hit the runway (HARD) throwing us forward rather violently. As we taxied to the terminal, I was giving considerable thanks not only to the pilot but to my Lord for my deliverance. I learned later that shortly after i left the airport, a plane very much like the one i was on crashed and the pilot was killed (mercifully, there were not other passengers on board).
In 2004, I was returning from a one week technology event in Amsterdam. We had not gone far when I noticed that there was a stream of liquid shooting out from the tips of the wings of the plane. Odd. After a few minutes, the pilot came on the intercom and said, "You may have noticed that we are venting fuel. We have discovered a malfunction in the aircraft that will require us to return to the airport of origin and effect repairs. We will shortly be returning for a landing there. In order to land, we have to lighten our load so we are venting fuel for that purpose. We will keep you advised." He sounded so matter of fact and confident that no one seemed to be very concerned. Having the experiences I have had however made me more concerned than most.
After about 40 minutes of "venting" we started back toward Amsterdam. We started our descent and just before landing (literally, the pilot gunned the engines and we went back up! after we got back up to cruising altitude, the pilot again came on the intercom and said, "We have been advised that the facilities at Amsterdam are unable to handle the repairs so we have been re-routed to Heathrow in the UK." Two immediate questions came to my mind, First, how extensive were the repairs that were needed that Amsterdam could not handle them and second, how much fuel did we have left?! It seemed to me that we had vented a LOT of fuel. Oh well, since there was little i could do about it, I settled back and tried to remain calm.
We finally approached Heathrow for landing. We were told to prepare for a "hard landing". I suspect that is what they say when it is just short of a "crash landing". I followed the instructions and as we came in , I saw fire trucks along the runway just as we touched (actually we hit VERY HARD) down. It seems that we were still very heavy and the brakes actually caught fire as we roared down the runway. As we stopped, the firetrucks sprayed the undercarriage and took care of the overheated brakes. We were then towed to a remote area of the airport where we sat on the plane for the next 8 hours. Thankfully I had a very pleasant and patient seatmate and we exchanged information and passed the time amicably. After 8 hours we were told that we were being moved to another plane. It took two hours for all of us to get moved over and get the luggage all done. Finally we were on the new plane and on our way 10+ hours after we had started out. All in all (with my missed connection in the states) it took me a little over 24 hours to get home. What a trek!