Originally Posted by
GadgetFreak
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.
Man... that's a pretty scary situation to be in. I get nervous with bad turbulence, but then I try to think about it logically and usually that calms me. Strangely, the one time my flight was diverted (some sort of antenna was malfunctioning), it didn't bother me at all (rather, I was thinking, cool, I get to go to Gander, Newfoundland).