Seeing all the seasoned travelers here, I was wondering how many of us have had "Emergency Situations" while flying. I supose this woukld include, Lost Cabin Pressure (Oxygen Masks), Emergency Landings, Combative Passangers, Medical Emergencies, etc. I'm sure there are some interesting stories out there.

I must be lucky, but in flying over 600,000 with Delta domestically, I've been on one trip where we landed early for a medical emergency to get a passenger to a hospital, one where we landed early in DFW because the autopilot went out (Austin runway was pretty short), and one trip where we returned right after take-off because a door did not fully seal. Hope the luck with non-events continues....

A couple of years ago on a trip from TUS-PHX-PVR on HP traveling with my wife, we left Tucson at 6:30am to Phoenix, changed to the plane to Puerto Vallarta. We departed on time and traveled south, passing over Tucson. A little later I noticed that we were turning left --- until the morning sun was shining through the right hand side window. I questioned our flight attendant (we were in F/C) if she knew what was happening--she told us that they had shut down one of the engines on our 737 due to overheating and that we had to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport, which was TUS. About 10 minutes later they made the announcement to the passengers in the plane. The landing did not seem out of the ordinary except for the emergency vehicles along the runway, and that they didn't use reverse thrust. we arrived back in Tucson about three hours after our origninal departure, and waited a couple of hours for a aircraft replacement. The worst thing was that they had to trash our F/C meals because they had been standing too long since our original departure!

I have been a frequent flyer for as long as there have been FF programs, and this is the closest thing to an in flight emergency situation I have experienced.

I posted a very long (but apparently readable and enjoyable) trip report a few months ago, about being turned back to Vancouver when an indicator showed hydraulic pressure building in one of the thrust reversers. If you would like to see more, click on:

http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/Foru...ML/000004.html

Regards,

Ken Hamer

No inflight emergencies, but an aborted takeoff once. Pretty amazing how fast a 767 can stop when they really step on the brakes. We actually had to remain just off the runway for 20 minutes to allow the brakes to cool off. Then it was back to the terminal, where it was determined that it was a malfunciotioning indicator. Prior to our second attempt at takeoff, the engines were run up all the way for a couple of minutes, just to make sure everything was OK. And it was.

All of the above you mentioned but have yet to ever see a mask come down. Beginning to wonder if they actually do!

Only thing that ever happened to me was on Delta out of Salt Lake City. As we were starting to climb there was a sporadic low noise, sort of like a bowling ball rolling around in the trunk ("boot" to you Brits) of a car. Then it became obvious that we weren't climbing as fast as planes normally do. Then we made a U-turn and landed, uneventfully, back at SLC where they finally told us what had happened.

Turned out that a baggage door wasn't fully closed. It opened in take-off, interrupting air flow to one of the rear-mounted engines. The engine would shut down. It would then try to start up again and shut down again, hence the sounds. All in all not a good way to fly. They rebooked us on the next flight out.

TexasFlyer - could this have been the flight where you returned to the airport? I don't recall the details, but I think it was to Calgary, around 1996-7.

One time when returning from Cancun, an announcement was made for a doc or any medical people. I was traveling with two other buddies of mine who are also in the medical field. So we all look back the asile to see some guy pukeing in the asile -- from drinking too much alcohol. Needless to say he didn't need medical help (at that point), he just needed a trash can.

on a flight with LH from Bogota to Frankfurt in the late 70's. I (working for the swiss salt works) was accompanied by two doctors from Switzerland. We were travelling on a World Health Organisation mission participating at a congress about fluor added to salt and/or water in Medellin to fight "caries"(is that the english word?).

LH asked if, by any chance, there would be a doctor on board. Both doctors did not want to be known and didn't react. I asked them why. They replied, that they were afraid of later juristic implications ...

Since then I don't give much on the medical-profession's oath anymore (what's the name of that greek god again)!?!

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 07-01-1999).]

Had the engine cut out on a DTW-bound DC-10 on take-off from MSP. No problem, just an aborted t/o. The most annoying part was the flight crew trying to restart it (on the tarmac) for half an hour before admitting defeat and taxiing back to put us on a later flight.

-Pushpak

PS - Rudi, Hippocrates of Cos was a Greek physician, not a God. Of course, most physicians don't seem to think there's a difference

[This message has been edited by Pushpak (edited 07-01-1999).]

doc, I was on a flight where oxygen masks deployed. We bumped pretty hard on landing at SFO, and a whole section had masks come down. Most thought it funny, but a couple of people had that look of fear...

On my April flight DEN->JAN the landing flaps (Canadair Jet) would not deploy. This made us land fast and long. That's the most exciting thing so far in my first nine months of frequent flying.

Hmmmm. Am I bad luck or what? I have had three incidents in the last year, and one very scary one back in the 60s.

1. Flying PDX/SEA on a Dash 8, we approached the landing strip and in the midst of our final descent, started ascending. Hmmm. We then started circling and circling, fairly tight and low to the ground. Also noticed that no other planes were landing or taking off and ambulances and firetrucks started racing to the landing strip. Something was definitely not normal. After a lot of intense grinding noises had emitted from the belly of the plane, the pilot advised that only one wheel had come down on our first attempt at landing and that we had had to "manually" lower the other wheel. We were a little concerned but in the end everything was fine. Didn't stop the emergency vehicles from running along beside us with lights flashing.

2. Second was between Phoenix and ElPaso. At the about the time we should have reached our normal cruising alttitude, I was still able to pick out individual cars on the freeway. Seemed odd so I asked the FA if everything was ok. She said, sure, no problem. Seconds later the pilot announced that we had lost cabin pressure and were going to divert to Tuscon, flying very, very low. Again no serious problems. One young girl whose hand was in a cast had to hold it high over her head as her hand started to swell dramatically and one person had an anxiety-panic attack.

3. After two previous delays, one for a missing crew member and one for an instrument malfunction, we left the gate only to be forced to return a few minutes later for a medical emergency. Someone thought they were having a heart attack. Again this turned out to be an anxiety-panic attack as a result of missed connections.

4. When I was a young woman serving in the U.S. Marines (see how many funny little secrets I have) I was flying from on a GV1 which lost an engine and was forced to bail out somewhere close to 29 Palms. I was about a third of the way through training at the time--not really prepared. They say my landing was passable, but I don't really remember much past the intense FEAR that overcame me when I realized they weren't kidding about the jump. There again the plane actually landed safely. I sometimes think the whole deal was a setup to see how I would react. I was of only 2 women on board at the time and the guys (all of whom were experienced jumpers) were fond of testing our limits.





[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 07-01-1999).]

Hippocrates was the son of Apollo, who was a God. In the US, the Hippocratic Oath, or a version thereof, is really coming back in the med schools. I already took the oath upon entering school, and I have to take it again next week before starting clinicals.

Yikes, Punki, you are probably the best testament that flying is the safest form of transportation, even if the flying is in the military. Oops, sorry, the Marines. Great story!