Originally Posted by
sleeplessinNL
my worst experience is a recent one.
flying from GRU to JFK few weeks back. Late night departure from GRU, somewhere around the Caribbean while I was deep asleep there was a short but very strong turbulence. suddenly out of nowhere I could see the flight diving nose down for few LONG seconds and the next moment it was climbing hard. I was glued to the backseat. and then nothing... the turbulence was over but there was this eerie silence
Arghhh you're not kidding - I've done similar routes from GRU and 90% of the time about halfway you go through "rag doll" air, where the entire plane bounces about like its on strings for a few minutes... One time coming back from GRU it was so bad (and with so little warning) that an flight attendant got knocked clean over and the drinks trolley came crashing down next to her - smashed through the inerior lining panel right next to the door causing all sorts of panic!
Even this wasn't my most scary experience - a few years ago a United 747 our of Heathrow lost the inboard flap guide cover came clean off JUST as we rotated... I was in J and couldn't see what had happened, just heard the Bang.. Then 100 people in Y screaming as they realised and started to shout out "a piece of the wing fell off"... They were really worried that the guide had bounced up and hit the tail, which apparently is a likely scenario right on rotation. We were cleared for an emergency landing whilst they reviewed our condition - and asked for permission to dump fuel and land. Scary stuff at the time.
