I’ve had some bad flights before, but they’ve been bad for being long, or occupied by obnoxious people, squalling babies, hyperactive children, or other somewhat tolerable things. This morning’s flight to Southampton, for example, was a bit frightening getting underway, because we made such a steep ascent, almost like we were going to do a loop. We didn’t level out until 25,000 feet and we were practically pulling g’s. It was a bit bumpy along the way, but we did eventually head out.
Today’s return flight from Southampton, though, qualifies as the worst flight I’ve ever been on because we had to abort the landing 2 times due to sever wind shear, and wind gusts from between 35 and 56 miles per hour. We were finally told that we had fuel enough for one more shot at it, and if we couldn’t make that landing, we’d have to divert to Aberdeen. The prospect of being diverted to Aberdeen is a fair horror because it’s several hours away by bus, which would have been how they’d have gotten everybody back to Glasgow. But the landings?
The aborted landings were a true horror of flight. The first was aborted at about 10 feet from the ground, the second at several hundred feet from the ground. In both cases, the pilot yanked the plane into a high ascent (think, better than 45°), powered the engines to a high whine, and said nothing until we’d climbed back to altitude to circle around for another try. You’d think that the first one would have been worse than the second, because we knew something of what was possible. Not so: the second was worse, because we’d all had time to worry about what might possibly happen. By the time we were circling for the third attempt, people were vomiting, and those who weren’t were either cursing, whimpering, or very quiet.
There weren’t even any bumps on the third attempt, except for the very definite jolt of the aircraft as the pilot sought to get us firmly upon the ground.
So, I made it home, after a fairly successful business day, and am supremely grateful that it’s over.
(T. adds, Thank God.)
-D
Wow… How frightening! Glad you’re ok! Bad day for airplane travel, I guess.
Glad you’re safe and sound.
Paz (Thanking God with T)
Very glad that you’re home safely.
Thank God is right…sheesh! I don’t know if I could do that again.
amazing story! I hope you have a kind thought in your heart for the obviously *excellent* pilot, who probably didn’t enjoy the flight too much either! (and I hope I never have to endure a similar flight, nor you another one.)
Wind shear in Glasgow? I can’t imagine. Very happy to know it all ended well!