Scary flight (or airlines suck!)

[mudkow60]

A buddie of mine just came back from a flight in the Eastern part of the US. He said it was one of the most frightening experience he ever had in an airplane. He said that on take off, the aircraft was swerving all over the runway, and on departure, the jet leveled off at a very low alt, and did a 180 degree, sharp banked turn. Some of the other pax were screaming, and he thought they were having major mechanical problems. After that, things were fine for the en-route portion. He said that the aircraft felt like it was doing negative g porpousing(sp?).

The landing was even more horrific, as one wheel touched down first and hard, and farr off of centerline. All this and not a word over the intercom to the pax.

Upon landing and questioning, the pilots said it was just because of a large crosswind. My buddie and his wife departed the same airfield in an hour, and the second flight was flawless. Upon speaking with the second crew, and retelling the incident, the pilots said that something was not right with the first flight and crew.

What should my friend do? He and his wife are going to speak with the airline, but I am sure that will come to nothing.

Just for some amplyfing info, the buddie of mine has flown in the Navy for about 11 years, and is a pretty good pilot himself, so his perspective and perception, in my opinion, carry some weight when evaluating the flight.

 

[LJDRVR]

I think you've got to chalk this one up to the old "everyone has a bad day" syndrome. Just one of those things.

The absolutely worst flight I ever had as a pax was on an Offutt-based C-135. I really thought these guys were gonna drag a pod on landing. Not to mention the force with which we hit the runway. Experienced (Read that high-ranking) crew. Everybody has a bad day once in a while.

 

[chperplt]

Upon speaking with the second crew, and retelling the incident, the pilots said that something was not right with the first flight and crew.

How many drinks did your friend have before this flight?

At 1000 AAE, commercial airplanes will generally drop the nose and start an accelleration. Depending on the noise abatement procedure, this could be a dramatic pitch change. Add a few drinks to the mix and the pilots are not right and the airplane is falling apart.

Tell your perception of the events to another pilot and they might think the same thing...

Lay off the booze.

If you really feel there was a problem, go to www.faa.gov and report it.

 

[mudkow60]

No drinks...

Ever stop to think that economics may not be the only reason most majors are dying. Like lack of customer service, and other things that used to make flying on airlines fun? And **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ty pilot technique, in my opinion, adds to the shortcomings, and makes such flying a drag.

But, keep blaming someone else... it is never the airlines fault.

 

[liv'n_on_credit]

He said that on take off, the aircraft was swerving all over the runway.....Some of the other pax were screaming......
The landing was even more horrific, as one wheel touched down first and hard, and far off of centerline.

Sounds like a 250 hour PFT wonder-pilot at the controls!

 

[mudkow60]

I would buy that, but at least the captain could have said something over the intercom to calm the passangers.

I had a C-12 pilot get the stall horn on take off once, but at least he came on the speaker and apologized to us... he said he was a helo guy new to fixed wing. Didn't provide much comfort, but at least we knew what was going on.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

A buddie of mine just came back from a flight in the Eastern part of the US. He said it was one of the most frightening experience he ever had in an airplane. He said that on take off, the aircraft was swerving all over the runway, and on departure, the jet leveled off at a very low alt, and did a 180 degree, sharp banked turn. Some of the other pax were screaming, and he thought they were having major mechanical problems. After that, things were fine for the en-route portion. He said that the aircraft felt like it was doing negative g porpousing(sp?).

The landing was even more horrific, as one wheel touched down first and hard, and farr off of centerline. All this and not a word over the intercom to the pax.

The take-off didn't happen to be out of DCA was it? It sounds like the departure procedure for 36 at Reagan National.

You failed to mention the type of airplane, so this is a guess. Something long like a 757 or like plane can get a pretty good side to side motion during a heavy crosswind that is barely noticable in the front but very pronounced in the back.

As to the landing, Bad day maybe? New hire pilot? New pilot to the A/C type? One wheel down first indicates a good crosswind was blowing. Could have been a pilot fresh out of the Navy, It normally takes those guys a while to figure out how to land an airplane instead of catching the three wire. Training a Navy guy is easy until it comes to the landings, The Navy doesn't teach finesse to the carrier guys. The worst landings I have ever seen in the airlines was by a new hire Navy fighter jock. Or if in a regional, maybe it was a 1000 hour guy on his IOE in his first real airplane.

Without knowing more about the A/C type, where, or weather conditions, it is hard to come to a conclusion. Too many unknowns and variables with your story to really condemn anyone. I know I am guilty of leaving a nice set of divots in a runway from an IOE flight, and I have been with a very senior Captain that swacked a 73 so hard that It rattled my teeth!!! In all fairness, it was during a blizzard and the winds were gusting pretty high, going in to a short runway.

 

[mudkow60]

I will find out the details next week, and post them. Thanks for the info.

 

[Lazy8]

Worst flight I ever had was on a regional i'll keep unamed on a Saab 340. The flying pilot jerked at the controls in turns and descents so hard I thought my neck was going to snap. The landing was the worst I've ever experienced. After seeing more and more runway go under us, and I knew this particular runway wasn't very long, we finally touched down.. engines go full reverse and some of the heaviest braking i have ever felt. Everyone flew foward against there seatbelts. Then suddenly we turn off a taxiway, slight skidding, and there I see it.. we were at the end of the runway when we turned off (still going too fast)... Well felt like I had got my a$$ kicked when I got off the plane, but **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** was that a trip.

G

 

[bigD]

Worst flight I ever had was on a regional i'll keep unamed on a Saab 340.

Dammit FlyChicaga, I TOLD you to stop scaring the passengers!

 

[chperplt]

ASEL w/ Instrument

I love these stories from people who have been there and done it all.

Like the guy who complains about the landing in a heavy crosswind or the guy who eats up all the runway and has to use max braking to get the airplane stopped. You were seconds away from death when by the grace of god the airplane stopped and taxied to the gate.

Give me a break. Do what we do day in and day out and see if you're perfect every time. Did I land in the touchdown zone, get you to the gate alive and allow the next crew to utilize the same airplane?? Unless the answer is NO, shove it up your private pilot butt.

(edited to remove a misspelled bad word...but it's ok to say ass all we want.)

 

[huncowboy]

My worst experience (wans't that bad at all) was when we landed in an American Airlines MD80 in El Paso a few years back. At that time I did not even have a PPL and even today I still don't know anything about flying jets.

On final, may be 15-20 sec before landing, the engines went from (what it seemed to me) idle to full power to full idle and full power again... like 2-3 times. We could feel the acceleration/deceleration. I guess the pilot was trying to maintain glideslope while fighting gusty headwinds?? I don't know but it sure scared everyone because we all laughed after touchdown. You know that little histerical laugh. The young (tops 30 years old) FO was smiling with this "this was fun wasn't it" simle when we exited the plane.

I always thought it should be only slight adjustments before touchdown but this was definitely not slight LOL. Anyways like I said, I have no clue about flying jets NADA whatsoever but it did scare me a bit. I would do it again now though

 

[CatYaaak]

Give me a fuking break. Do what we do day in and day out and see if you're perfect every time. Did I land in the touchdown zone, get you to the gate alive and allow the next crew to utilize the same airplane?? Unless the answer is NO, shove it up your private pilot butt.

Nobody's perfect, but hopefully your attitude towards to pax (the one's paying your salary) and their comfort encompasses more than just landing in the TDZ and not bending the airplane for the next crew. Private pilot or not, why are you berating a pax who obviously felt discomfort due to a ham-fisted pilot? Some people were obviously meant to fly boxes.

 

[bafanguy]

Huncowboy,

Hard to say what prompted your experience on the MD-80, but I can say with some certainty that the MD-80 autothrottle system is bad about slamming the power around in an effort to chase airspeed variations on final in gusty winds. I was not a big fan of using them on approaches unless I had to for some legal or operational reason. I knew the pax had to wonder what the heck was going on up front even though it would not have been anything out of the ordinary.

I have to agree with chperplt ( I had to laugh at his response ) that there's often more to the story than be told from a pax seat. If anyone has a question for the crew about what happened or why, ask...they'll be very happy to fill you in. You'd be amazed at how hard crews work to produce "smooth sailing" for you.

 

[chperplt]

Yak

I'm not berating anyone. I'm mearely telling a private pilot that he's sitting in the back and doesn't know what is going on up front.

 

[LAXSaabdude]

I can say with some certainty that the MD-80 autothrottle system is bad about slamming the power around in an effort to chase airspeed variations on final in gusty winds. I was not a big fan of using them on approaches unless I had to for some legal or operational reason. I knew the pax had to wonder what the heck was going on up front even though it would not have been anything out of the ordinary.

I was jumpseating in the front of an -80 one time when the throttles practically firewalled themselves during a base turn while leveling off. I could actually hear dishes and glasses in the galley falling to the floor and breaking!

LAXSaabdude.

 

[CatYaaak]

Yak

I'm not berating anyone. I'm mearely telling a private pilot that he's sitting in the back and doesn't know what is going on up front.

Well if telling someone to "shove it up their private pilot butt" doesn't meet the standard of berating, what does? Makes me wonder what you would tell a non-pilot pax if their opinion was a flight was uncomfortable. They do have a right to their opinion, and not all pilots are saints or considerate. I can remember one accident aircraft who's captain, among other things, was well-known to have given passengers purposely rough rides because he was pi$$ed off at management and wanted to hurt the company.

I've been in the back on flights where a pilot is obviously hand flying and repeatedly jerking the thing around to the point I see other pax gripping the armrests and stop talking. Or is devoid of technique in smooth autopilot operation. I don't care how fast you do anything, you can still make it smooth and untroubling for the people in back.

These boards are filled with people demanding to be treated and paid like "professionals". Well, part of being a pro is not slinging pax around in the cabin and giving them the most comfortable ride in every phase of taxing or flight, every time.

 

[bafanguy]

LAXsaabdude,

Yeah, the MD-80 is a great airplane but does have a few quirks one learns to work around and the ATS is one of the first on that list. Let the IAS get 5kts below the giant orange bug and the ATS apparently thinks we're all going to DIE and can only be saved by firewall power. A few trips under the belt and it won't happen again...much...

 

[Lazy8]

Yak

I'm not berating anyone. I'm mearely telling a private pilot that he's sitting in the back and doesn't know what is going on up front.

~edit~

you know what... it's not worth it... great attitude guy... i was just telling about an experience I had on a Saab several years ago. Sure everyone has their bad days and hard landings. I wasn't trying to berate the pilots of that Saab, but It would have seemed a Go-around wouldn't have been such a bad idea either. Anyway, I guess i'm just an ignorant private pilot so what does it matter. =)



G

 

[FlyChicaga]

Dammit FlyChicaga, I TOLD you to stop scaring the passengers!

I know! I know!

By the way, every landing in a Saab 340 is hard and causes the people to slide forward in their seats during reverse. At least if you're doing it right!