Pilots announcing that they are declaring an emergency and diverting get my attention. Happened to me twice. Once a generator went out taking all the lights with it (and apparently a lot of instruments) and once when the cabin didnt pressurize as we were approaching 10,000 feet. Getting hit by lightening a bit after takeoff while still in steep climb was also attention getting. The worst though wasnt in our plane.

I had landed in DFW and was connecting and as I was walking through the airport I kept noticing the bars were packed with people standing around the TVs. I had some time so I stopped and started watching. There was a news story about a plane crash that had just happened. I asked the guy next to me where it happened. He looked at me and didnt say anything for a couple seconds and then said "Here". When my connection took off I could see the still burning debris off one of the other runways. It was the DL flight that went down due to a microburst while landing.