Flying into COS sometime in 2008. USAirways CRJ 200. Problem with flap deployment combined with less than ideal weather. Made for a high speed bumpy landing.

It's hard to say, but you'll know when it's your time.

All of my scariest flights have been on small planes. Our family had a six-seater single-engine Piper Lance, and our alternator belt broke over the Gulf Stream on a flight from MYLS-FLL...on two different occasions. Nothing like having your mother turn to you and shout 'we may have to ditch!' to get the ol' pulse racing.
Flew NAS-MYLD on a UP charter (Beech 1900) in October. The door seal was broken and didn't close properly; I got several nice ocean views as we dodged through thunderstorms. My dad (former pilot) was terrified and was convinced we were going to crash.
Rich International used to fly horrible old Curtiss taildraggers out of NAS in the '70s...not the best experiences.

Why would a broken alternator belt cause you to ditch?

Loss of avionics, and (I'm not sure how this happened) my dad couldn't get the nose gear down at first. I didn't have a headset (as I was in the back), and didn't get to hear the cockpit conversation. There must have been something else going on, but my parents (wisely?) didn't expand beyond the alternator belt problem. Needless to say we didn't end up in the water, although it was an extremely tense half hour.

LGA-YOW on a CRJ. We took off without incident. Within a few minutes, we noticed that we were turning around and heading back towards LGA. The FA is talking to the flight deck in hushed tones. He begins walking down the aisle, asking the (few) passengers on board to tighten their seat belts and keep their feet firmly on the floor. As we look out the window, we see LGA. From other angles, other passengers begin to notice fire trucks and ambulances await our arrival. The captain announces that there is a light on deck indicating a problem with the nose gear, so we will be landing again in a few minutes, and it may be a bit rough. Make sure seat belts are secure and tight, and follow crew instructions as needed.

We landed without incident, but the damned light was still on, and mechanics could not figure out what the issue was. Spent the night at a fleabag motel near LGA, where we felt like the luckiest people in the world, courtesy of Air Canada, and took off again for YOW early the next morning.

1. Was it in the Spring, because I was on my way back to PVD and we had to head out towards Fall River to make the approach on the short runway (instead of 7,166ft--5/23, 6,084ft--16/34). Then, as we turned for final, we were bouncing (the aircraft was a US 733) and ended up using most of the runway.

2. Another incident was when flying CLT-STT and there was a Tropical Storm heading into STT. About halfway towards STT, the pilot gave us a "weather update" by saying the storm had tracked a bit closer to STT and he was going to have the aircraft prepared for landing earlier than normal. Sure enough, all hell broke loose as me must have hit some heavy precipitation and winds. The worst part about the winds, wasn't the up and down motion, but rather the torquing as well as the lateral movement.

3. Flying PVD-PHL-DCA as my PVD-DCA was cancelled due to thunderstorms in and around the DCA area. The flight into PHL was uneventful, but the test of endurance was on the PHL-DCA. As we were on the climbout of PHL, I looked out to the South (as we did a banking turn) only to see that there appeared to be a line of thunderstorms. Within 5 minutes or so, the pilot came on the PA and indicated that instead of our planned cruising altitude of 20,000, we are going to stay at 12,000 and we will be making a "different approach" into DCA. Right after that, we entered the clouds...and stayed there for most of the flight, with lightning all around. For a 20-something minute flight, we ended up taking just over an hour. While waiting for the gate checked bags to be off loaded, I asked the pilot if we were circling. His answer was that ATC had vectored us out near Richmond to wait it out because the only available runway to use was 15.

4. Flying CVG-PVD on DL, we line up on the runway to take off, only to have the engines spool up and then go back to idle, because the co-pilot noticed that there was a discoloration in the window, and upon further inspection, the seal had deteriorated.

5. We weren't flying yet, but AA S80 has a de-icing unit problem at PVD. AA calls for a mechanic to come in from BOS with the part. After fidgeting with the part of some time, we see the flight crew board, take the aircraft to the end of the runway and simulate flight conditions (snowstorm at the time). After doing that, the aircraft come back to the gate and the pilot comes out and tells the GAs to hurry with boarding because, "we have the last slot to leave before the airport is closed and we are following the plows."

While not the SCARIEST flight, it was certainly the worst..

In 2008 I was flying WN from New Orleans to Phoenix..so already by virtue of it being WN it sucked.

However, the jet stream was blowing from PHX right through Texas because it was February, and according to the turbulence forecast, was "heavy to severe" across the entire route. It didn't matter what altitude we were at...it was an agonizing roller coaster ride that lasted 4 hours without a moment of smooth flight. Normally that flight is only 3 hours, but the headwinds slowed us down significantly.

People were screaming, some people got sick so it began to smell, the seatbelt sign was on the whole time so bladders got uncomfortably full, and there was a screaming baby. It was the most unpleasant flight I have ever had, and that's saying alot because I have thousands of flights under my belt.

My Most terrifying flying moment
 

This wasn't a terrifying flight overall, but it had one terrifying moment. I was flying from San Salvador (SAN) to JFK.

An hour into the flight, I saw a friend of mine walking oddly. As he walked past my seat, he collapsed, partly onto me, partly in the aisle. Seeing someone I knew passed out, right next to me, while we were mid-air, was one of the most terrifying things I'd ever experienced. :eek:

Luckily there were several doctors onboard, and it ended up being just a case of low blood sugar. We'd been traveling for a while, and he just needed some food and water. Still, for the 15 minutes where I knew nothing, it was terrifying.