What is your closest encounter with an airplane crash?

BrokenArrows

I've been on a plane. I guess thats the closest ive been. haha.

Nothing eventful has ever happened on the couple of hundred or so flights ive been on. But tell that to the wife who hears a slight squeak and immediately assumes that the plane will fall apart at any moment.

smurfjed

Does this alert tell you where the other plane is? Is it above you or in front etc?

Yes, we can see a small little symbol for every equipped aircraft with its height and climbing/descending. With TCAS II, it will tell who which action to take as in climb or descend and it also reverse the instruction of needed, this was an advancement due to the crash of Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 with a DHL 757. Latest versions of this such as on the 787 will actually give you all the same information as FlightAware as in flight number, type, destination, you can also track a specific flight, its quite cool.
Most of the world now operates with Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum Airspace (RVSM) that allows aircraft to fly opposite levels 1000 feet apart, so 30000,32000,34000,36000 ft etc going one way, 31000,33000,35000,37000 ft going the other, considering that some aircraft are about 200 feet wide/long, they can look a lot closer at a distance of 1000 feet.

_Dara_

smurfjed wrote: »

@chosen1, "guy at work" hasn't got a clue and is completely wrong, Also your aircraft is doing about 400+ NMPH and so is the other one, so the passing speed is fast.

Yeah, don’t we all have that know-nothing-know-it-all at work?

Graces7

smurfjed; I am totally and utterly in awe of you. Watching the Heathrow youtubes and reading your posts...stay safe!

Paddy Cow

QueenMTBee wrote: »

The closest one (that I know of) was about 16 years ago on a flight from Frankfurt to Tampa. The plane flew into a lightning storm just as it approached the airport They attempted landing a few times - by which time everyone was nervous as hell - but then just as the wheels were about the touch the ground it pulled up practically vertically. I honestly thought we were all going to die. Turns out there was another plane on the runway which hadn't moved out of the way in time due to the storm and we were about to land on top of them. I had a panic attack when trying to check in for the return leg. They had to give me a free flight the next day because I refused to get on the plane and was freaking out all the other people in the airport.

The worst crash in history happened in Tenerife in 1977 in foggy conditions. Due to a number of errors, the Captain of a KLM flight thought he had clearance and took off. A Pam Am flight was just turning off the runway and they collided, killing nearly everyone

_Dara_

Paddy Cow wrote: »

The worst crash in history happened in Tenerife in 1977 in foggy conditions. Due to a number of errors, the Captain of a KLM flight thought he had clearance and took off. A Pam Am flight was just turning off the runway and they collided, killing nearly everyone

So many factors. The necessary transfer to the smaller airport that couldn’t handle the traffic. The heavy fog. Pan Am missing their allotted turnoff the runway (I think they assumed it couldn’t be that turnoff because the angle was too sharp). Poor, unclear communication between the control tower and the pilots. The KLM captain’s impatience. Take away any one of these and it would have been averted. At least the Pam Am pilot turned at the last minute though. He saved sixty odd lives with that action.

Lustrum

smurfjed wrote: »

41000 feet above the Indian Ocean, we see a TRAFFIC ADVISORY meaning that another aircraft was close to us (these are extremely common), this changed to a RESOLUTION ADVISORY that basically means that we had 25 seconds before a possible impact between the two aircraft unless we immediately did something.

Was there a limitation on RA's above any altitude on whatever type you were flying at the time? (based on previous posts I'll assume it was something very fancy that probably had a ceiling another 10000ft or so above that!)

On my current type RAs are inhibited above 34000ft - if we got something at 41000ft the only direction we could manoeuvre is down!

Grandeeod

I'm following the thread and not entirely sure if my particular story counts. Apart from GA's on lots of airlines and one particular experience of severe turbulence on a British Midland flight, where I witnessed a few eejits hit off the over head bins (didn't follow the advice to buckle up) its all been good.

So if anyone remembers the Spanair flight 5022 crash in 2008, well I flew on that particular plane on three occasions. Obviously thousands of people did and do on any other plane that has crashed. But from a personal point of view it was a shivering moment when it went down.

smurfjed

@Lustrum, our RA was CLIMB, his was DESCEND. Our Ceiling is 45,000ft.

In your case, if both same type at 34,000 feet, you can't both go down?

lurker2000

A few turbulace shake abouts and a re take off after nearly landing is all. But a friend survived a major air crash back in the 80s in the States - most people were killed. He later became an airline steward just to prove to himself he had the balls.

thebull85

2003 coming back from Ibiza, on a comedown. Flew through a bad storm i never experienced turbelence like this in my life and ive travelled a lot. Was sitting at the very back row of seats.

Fairly unpleasant.

Lustrum

smurfjed wrote: »

@Lustrum, our RA was CLIMB, his was DESCEND. Our Ceiling is 45,000ft.

In your case, if both same type at 34,000 feet, you can't both go down?

I suppose it could be a DESCEND and a MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED.....ideally I'd prefer to not be getting a RA a up there though!

smurfjed

MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED

Are you still using TCAS 7.0?

smurfjed

Friend was part of our airline SAFETY-GO-TEAM, the biggest accident that he ever had to attend to was in Delhi where a B747 and Ilyushin Il76 collided killing 349, this was and still is the worlds worst midair crash. His job was to investigate the accident which resulted in him spending a couple of weeks walking around the wreckage.

This was a role that I later moved into, but luckily I only had to investigate minor incidents.

lurker2000

A few turbulace shake abouts and a re take off after nearly landing is all. But a friend survived a major air crash back in the 80s in the States - most people were killed. He later became an airline steward just to prove to himself he had the balls.

bear1

The Tenerife one is very interesting to watch, the utter impatience of the klm pilot was their downfall.

mistersifter

akasudonim wrote: »

Coming into Dublin one night a few years back, just about to touchdown - like almost level with the terminal lights - when full power back up at a serious climb and v steep angle, then quickly turned to go round again.
Gang of stag lads fairly full who'd been singing etc for a while immediately shut up, as did everyone - captain came on afer a few minutes to say there was a cat on the runway!! I still think it must have been something else, but it gave me a serious land!!

this happened to me two months ago landing in dublin from krakow. Pilot came on and said there were birds flying about the runway. Was scary, but I dont think it's that uncommon.

Worst thing for me was I was burstin for a p*ss and had to wait about an extra half hour to get to the jacks!

mistersifter

Grandeeod wrote: »

I'm following the thread and not entirely sure if my particular story counts. Apart from GA's on lots of airlines and one particular experience of severe turbulence on a British Midland flight, where I witnessed a few eejits hit off the over head bins (didn't follow the advice to buckle up) its all been good.

So if anyone remembers the Spanair flight 5022 crash in 2008, well I flew on that particular plane on three occasions. Obviously thousands of people did and do on any other plane that has crashed. But from a personal point of view it was a shivering moment when it went down.

wasnt this the one that the musician deadmouse missed by seconds, only to see it crash just after take off?

Paddy Cow

_Dara_ wrote: »

So many factors. The necessary transfer to the smaller airport that couldn’t handle the traffic. The heavy fog. Pan Am missing their allotted turnoff the runway (I think they assumed it couldn’t be that turnoff because the angle was too sharp). Poor, unclear communication between the control tower and the pilots. The KLM captain’s impatience. Take away any one of these and it would have been averted. At least the Pam Am pilot turned at the last minute though. He saved sixty odd lives with that action.

bear1 wrote: »

The Tenerife one is very interesting to watch, the utter impatience of the klm pilot was their downfall.

There were so many factors in this one but ultimately the pilot of KLM was at fault. Apparently he was highly regarded in his field and had a huge ego complex. When he wanted to refuel and his subordinates questioned his decision he basically shot them down by saying "I'm the Captain, I'm in charge". When they were taking off, the flight engineer wasn't sure the other plane had cleared the runway but he was shot down by the Captain. The Captain's arrogance cost the lives of nearly 600 people.

The only saving grace in this tragedy is that none of the passengers could have seen it coming. They thought they were making a normal take off and ....

WildWater

Last year, flying Ryanair Knock to Stansted, over Irish midlands.

I had a window seat on the left side of the aircraft. I'm looking out the window when I see another plane whoosh past. It would have come from our ~2 O'Clock position and crossed to about our ~8 O'Clock position.

Now I know ATC maintain minimum separation and that planes are fitted with collision avoidance systems etc but this was much, much, much closer than anything I have ever witnessed before. It was so close that the other plane looked massive and even though I only saw if for a second, maybe less, I could easily make out the distinctive tail livery. It was a Continental Airlines plane. It definitely wasn't below us and logic tells be that it couldn't have been at the same level as us but it sure did look like it was.

Maybe all was kosher but it sure gave me a chill.

smurfjed

@Wildwater..... Continental ceased to exist in 2012


In May 2010, the airline announced that it would merge with UAL Corporation (the parent company of United Airlines) via a stock swap. Continental's shares were acquired by UAL Corporation. The acquisition was completed in October 2010, at which time the holding company was renamed United Continental Holdings.[2] During the integration period, each airline ran a separate operation under the direction of a combined leadership team, based in Chicago.[4] The integration was completed on March 3, 2012.... wiki

Creative83

Paddy Cow wrote: »

*Airplane vs Aeroplane either works for me

https://youtu.be/9kJ7aTOo_Yc?t=395

WildWater

smurfjed wrote: »

@Wildwater..... Continental ceased to exist in 2012


In May 2010, the airline announced that it would merge with UAL Corporation (the parent company of United Airlines) via a stock swap. Continental's shares were acquired by UAL Corporation. The acquisition was completed in October 2010, at which time the holding company was renamed United Continental Holdings.[2] During the integration period, each airline ran a separate operation under the direction of a combined leadership team, based in Chicago.[4] The integration was completed on March 3, 2012.... wiki

Fair enough, I'm no airline buff but definitely Blue and Yellow on the tail. I didn't go looking up the logo I just recalled that Continental had blue and yellow on the tail.

AlphabetCards

Aborted landing in Italy after touchdown, which was a surreal moment.

I vaguely remember a helicopter popping it's undercarriage on a military exercise in Norway one year but can't really remember. Was too tired to GAF.

Tipperary animal lover

was on a flight from Bangkok to London 12 years ago, the cargo had bees in it been delivered to the UK from Australia, anyway the bees got out of their box and an emergency light came on in the cockpit, captain taught there was a fire in the cargo hold, he dropped 30000 feet in 12/13minutes it was scary, we had to land in a place called uralsk Kazakhstan in a military base tiny runway, fair play to the captain he landed with only inches left on runway, spent 12hours sitting on the plane until they could get smaller planes to bring us home, some of the army came on board to have a look all dressed in their military gear massive Russian hats long leather coats machine guns the lot was like something out of Monty phyton, we got a £20 voucher off of British airways to use on our next fight with them....

WildWater

I may wrong but I thing think it was Knock to Stansted on 26/04/2017 (I definitely flew that route that day). My best guess is this would have occurred somewhere over Cavan or Monaghan. Look it up if you can. I'd be happy to hear that there was minimum separation.

christy c

WildWater wrote: »

Fair enough, I'm no airline buff but definitely Blue and Yellow on the tail. I didn't go looking up the logo I just recalled that Continental had blue and yellow on the tail.

Lufthansa?

riemann

Hezekiah Ripe Notch wrote: »

I seen the Hezbollah engage an Israeli Cobera 'copter with 20mm cannon in south Lebanon one night, but the 'copter fired two Hell Fire missiles at the AA position and blew them to bits.

I wish this post was never written.

_Dara_

Paddy Cow wrote: »

There were so many factors in this one but ultimately the pilot of KLM was at fault. Apparently he was highly regarded in his field and had a huge ego complex. When he wanted to refuel and his subordinates questioned his decision he basically shot them down by saying "I'm the Captain, I'm in charge". When they were taking off, the flight engineer wasn't sure the other plane had cleared the runway but he was shot down by the Captain. The Captain's arrogance cost the lives of nearly 600 people.

The only saving grace in this tragedy is that none of the passengers could have seen it coming. They thought they were making a normal take off and ....

Definitely hubris on the Captain’s part.

Graces7

Never near a crash but left the North Isle on my journey here on a small Islander https://www.orcadian.co.uk/golden-islander-aircraft-return-orkney/
in a storm that had the boats cancelled.

Waited in the car that was rocking in the wind; learned later that friends trying to find if I had got away were being told they had no idea where the plane was at as they could not contact it

Finally this dark shape appeared in the darker clouds and I was heard to say, "Is it a bird?"

Told the pilot I had been praying for him and he replied. "Yes I heard you!"

We only had one flight a week and had to connect with the next flight
It was.. rocky.. But so skilled was he and let me sit by him! I was the only passenger so he had come just for me.

And my cat who was stowed in the hold being very airsick...

As dangerous as I would wish for reading these posts...

What Username Guidelines

smurfjed wrote: »

@Wildwater..... Continental ceased to exist in 2012

It merged with united, and the tail design remained on United planes.

WildWater

What Username Guidelines wrote: »

It merged with united, and the tail design remained on United planes.

Thanks, that reassures me that I am not going senile. It was definitely that livery. Would love to know if the incident/non-incident was kosher or a little bit of a whoopsie. As I said, I've never witnessed anything so close.

smurfjed

Would love to know if the incident/non-incident was kosher or a little bit of a whoopsie.

All planes have to be fitted with TCAS 7.1 therefore if they got too close system would react, if you didnt feel your aircraft climb/descend, then most likely things were perfectly normal.

_Kaiser_

We moved to Holland for a few years when I was a kid and spent 2 years in Amsterdam. Learned the language, went to school, experienced proper public transport...

Came home anyway again and a few years later I was woken in the early hours of the morning by my mother because a plane had crashed into the apartment block we'd lived in over there! Watching the footage it looked as though it actually hit the section we were in.

Wiki link here

:eek:

_Dara_

WildWater wrote: »

Thanks, that reassures me that I am not going senile. It was definitely that livery. Would love to know if the incident/non-incident was kosher or a little bit of a whoopsie. As I said, I've never witnessed anything so close.

There are flightradar nerds all over the world. Wonder did anyone capture it?

smurfjed

https://www.boards.ie/b/thread/2057555939

Post time/date/location and flight details in this thread, and I'm sure that one of the gurus shall look for it.

WildWater

smurfjed wrote: »

All planes have to be fitted with TCAS 7.1 therefore if they got too close system would react, if you didnt feel your aircraft climb/descend, then most likely things were perfectly normal.

Indeed, and there was no sudden movement of our plane.

smurfjed wrote: »

Post time/date/location and flight details in this thread, and I'm sure that one of the gurus shall look for it.

Ryanair Knock to Stansted on 26/04/2017 flight would have departed Knock about 10am and this occurred over Irish midlands.

smurfjed

Done....

https://www.boards.ie/b/thread/2057555939/442#107305281

0lddog

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

......a plane had crashed into the apartment block we'd lived in over there! Watching the footage it looked as though it actually hit the section we were in.

Wiki link here

:eek:

IIRC the DU ballast in that plane became hot enough to be a radioactive hazard.

touts

Was on a flight landing in an Irish airport. We were delayed landing (some debris on the runway) and circled the airport for ages. Eventually started the approach and were only feet from the ground (we were almost level with the trees and buildings either side out the window) suddenly the engines roared and we pulled sharply up and aborted the landing. It turned out the planes were backed up too close and the flight that landed ahead of us was still on the runway.

smurfjed

I'm getting jealous, 272 flights in the last year and not one missed approach/baulked landing......

zuutroy

Took off without a fuel cap (sit on top of the wings) one day. The pressure difference above the wing can syphon fuel out in a matter of minutes. Someone found the cap on the ground in the airport and told ATC who contacted me just before I left their zone. Probably would've been picking a field at some point if they'd been a minute later.

Grandeeod

smurfjed wrote: »

I'm getting jealous, 272 flights in the last year and not one missed approach/baulked landing......

Come on smurfjed:D Let us simple fliers express our innocent stories. You pilots can be so cynical.:D

faoiarvok

WildWater wrote: »

Last year, flying Ryanair Knock to Stansted, over Irish midlands.

I had a window seat on the left side of the aircraft. I'm looking out the window when I see another plane whoosh past. It would have come from our ~2 O'Clock position and crossed to about our ~8 O'Clock position.

Now I know ATC maintain minimum separation and that planes are fitted with collision avoidance systems etc but this was much, much, much closer than anything I have ever witnessed before. It was so close that the other plane looked massive and even though I only saw if for a second, maybe less, I could easily make out the distinctive tail livery. It was a Continental Airlines plane. It definitely wasn't below us and logic tells be that it couldn't have been at the same level as us but it sure did look like it was.

Maybe all was kosher but it sure gave me a chill.

1000 feet doesn't look like much at all when they're doing those speeds towards each other.

jmreire

Was on a flight Heathrow to Dublin one night, Plane took off on schedule ( Air Lingus) but as it was climbing, and the wheels were retracting, there was a big flash and a bang. I was sitting about 4 seats back from the cockpit, with the hostess sitting on the jump seat just in front of the cockpit. I felt the bang directly underneath where I was sitting, and I thought,,,,the landing gear has taken a hit, so we have a problem. Then the Captain came on over the speakers. " Ladies and Gentlemen. we have just had what is known in flying as a " Lightening Strike", and it happens quite often. All of the indicators and gauges here at the controls are showing in the normal range, and we have no malfunction or other warnings showing. However, we are going to return to Heathrow and get everything checked out, as that's the prudent thing to do". Now while the Captain was trying to reassure the passengers, from where I was sitting, on the bulkhead just over where the Hostess was sitting, a whole row of multi-coloured light's were flashing. The Hostess was looking calm and unconcerned, exuding confidence, until I caught her eye, and motioned with my head to look up at the bulkhead. She saw the lights, smile vanished, she grabbed the phone and a few seconds later, all the lights were switched off...The plane returned safely to Heathrow ( was very quiet at that stage... no one saying much ) The engineers boarded the plane, and after some discussions, we were all off-loaded, and had to wait for another plane to continue the journey. Although it was dark when we left the plane, we could see that there were a lot of burn marks on the fuselage, About 6 weeks later, I was in Shannon, and asked a friend there was there any news of plane, and he told me that it was still there being repaired...………...
'

Graces7

smurfjed wrote: »

I'm getting jealous, 272 flights in the last year and not one missed approach/baulked landing......

Please do not say things like that, especially in jest!

smurfjed

@wildwater, one of the FR24 gurus looked it up and his response is...

They passed each other around Athboy. The UA 772 never passed directly over him and it was at fl320 and his flight was only at just over fl260

smurfjed

@wildwater, one of the FR24 gurus looked it up and his response is...

They passed each other around Athboy. The UA 772 never passed directly over him and it was at fl320 and his flight was only at just over fl260

thomil

Two incidents come to mind. The first one happened when I was still teenager. I was living in Prague at the time, and a team from the International School there, of which I was a part, flew to Warsaw for a week of competitions against the local international school there. We flew in an ATR-72, and I remember falling asleep somewhere over the Polish border. I woke up on approach to Warsaw, and wondered why it was so quiet. I look outside and see that the prop on the left-hand engine was apparently feathered. We had apparently had an engine failure sometime during the approach. The landing itself was quite anticlimactic, although it was a bit disconcerting to see emergency services waiting on the taxiways next to the runway.

The second incident happened just last November, on a flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. About fifteen minutes out of Frankfurt, our little Embraer 190 (PH-EZD according to my log) suddenly began getting absolutely pummelled by turbulence. Left, right, up down, and all kinds of other weird movements, we got absolutely hammered for about fifteen minutes, and not in a good way. I had a window seat, and the wingtips were doing crazy 60, 70, 90 degree arcs and more, and the wing flex, from what little I could see in the dark, was getting perilously close to unhealthy levels. Now, I may not be a super frequent flyer, but I've clocked a good 100 flights since 2000, and I've never had any turbulence even approaching this. The flight attendants were getting worried, which says something. Oh, all that happened in clear air.

sdanseo

I was mad into flightsim etc as a kid and have done 2 private lessons in Cessnas - when I have the cash I'll do the other 43 required for a licence some day.

On the first, and this is in an aircraft built in the 50's, the door opened about 300 feet above the ground. The seatbelt was basically a bit of metal loosely forced in between another bit of metal and wouldn't have been much use, so I remain convinced that if we'd done a steep left turn I'd have been in trouble.

Asked the instructor if we needed an emergency landing, he told me to stick out my hand and just slam the door closed. 30 seconds later I was flying the plane. After that, nothing short of an actual emergency will scare me about flying any more (not that anything ever did). Statistically you are 2,200 times more likely to be killed in a car than in an air accident in an entire lifetime. You are also apparently 68 times more likely to be struck by lightning.