Two bad flights, less than 10 days apart, turned me into a weak hearted flyer for a few years.

1. July 2002 - United - PDX-DEN

Just after beginning our decent into Denver, we flew through severe mountain wave activity. I've had bumpy rides coming into Denver from the west, but this was far beyong the typical.

First wave, we rise quickly for 1-2 seconds and then slam down hard enough to make loose items on the plane rattle. Lot's of murmers from the passengers, but everyone calms down quickly. Listening to channel 9, I can hear the pilot reporting the turbulence to ATC.

Second wave, we rise quickly for 2-3 seconds and then slam down even harder than the first wave. Some people on the plane scream out and lots of crying.

We then proceed into a third wave about 20 seconds later. Plane lifts up for a few seconds and then violently pitches to the right. Had to have been around 30-40 degrees. As we loose lift, the right wing dips even further and we fall. First time on a civilian plane, I've felt such negative G's. People are crying out and alot of 'Oh God' and 'Jesus' comments can be heard. After about 15-20 seconds, the engines spool up and, for the first time in my flying experience, they go to max thrust at altitude. The pilots regained control of the plane and the rest of the ride into Denver was bumpy but uneventful. The plane was totally silent until we landed.

This was one heck of a scary experience. For a minute or so, it felt like we were at the mercy of Mother Nature. What shook me up the most was channel 9 being turned off during the last wave. That told me more about how serious the situation was than anything else.

2. August 2002 - Frontier - DEN-MCI

Not to be outdone by United, Frontier decided to show me another rough flight just a few days later. Since it was August, there can be some pretty nasty storms in Kansas. When I checked the weather before heading to the airport in Denver, it looked like pretty smooth sailing into MCI.

Oh! was I wrong. As we begin descending into MCI, we can see some lightning off to the left side of the plane. Looks to be a pretty good distance away. Over the next 5 minutes, the lightning creeps closer to the plane and begins to intensify. Suddenly, the captain comes on the PA and says, 'Flight Attendants, stop what you're doing and sit down immediately. Everyone needs to be buckled up and make sure it's secure!'

Before anyone can react, we're swallowed up in clouds and we enter an intense electrical storm. Then, the down angle of the plane begins to increase. We begin the typical ups and downs you expect from a thunderstorm. Next thing you know, the gyrations have increased to where I'm unable to focus my eyes on a single spot, the interior of the plane starts to creak and things are beginning to fly about the cabin. To make matters worse, we enter a hail shaft. Having never heard hail against an airplane it took me a few seconds to figure out what it was. Coupled with the downdrafts from the hail, it feels like we're going down rapidly. Not a peep could be heard on the plane. The only noise is the hail against the outer skin, heavy rain and an incredible wind noise.

After 5 minutes, the captain comes on the intercom and say something like, 'Sorry about that ride folks. It looks like we'll be in this for another 5-10 minutes.' Luckily, while we stayed in foul weather until just before landing, it was nothing like the first 5 minutes.

After landing, the flight attendent gave the usual, 'be careful when opening overhead bins, because bags may have shifted in flight.' Most of the passengers started laughing. Then, she decided to have some fun with one of the passengers. It was his 81st birthday and his first plane flight. She announced this to the rest of the flight and everyone applauded. At least we ended on a positive note ^

To this day, I still can't figure out why the flight crew flew into a level 4, and possibly a level 5, thunderstorm.