Similar. August 20th 2011 was supposed to fly SEA-KTN-WRG-PSG-JNU but coming into KTN the wind shear was so bad the piot aborted very last minute and we were thrown all over the place and flew into WRG first then came back to KTN then onto PSG an dthen JNU a few hours late. Scary stuff.

Also going MCI-EWR June 28th 2007 in an ERJ 145 and the storm was so violent we circled and landed in PHL to refuel then flew very low from PHL to EWR. Incredible buffeting and bouncing all over. Made worse by the fact it was a Barbie Jet.

Hmmmm.....my most terrifying flight? I knew I should have taken a few pics when I flew Toumai Air Tchad on their once weekly N'Djamena (NDJ) - Abeche (AEH) route back in 2009. Toumai's airline code is 9D for those who just went scrambling for Google. The Toumai passenger fleet at the time consisted of one 732 and one Fokker 28. I flew the Fokker. I took solace knowing that at least the aircraft was built solidly despite whatever wear and tear, poor maintenance record etc. it had flying around Chad for the past however many years.

Security was decent - pax had to take off belts, but not boots. Guns were not allowed through security or so I thought. We shared the departure lounge at NDJ with over a hundred chain smoking French servicemen and women awaiting their A330 flight home. We boarded over an hour late for no apparent reason. No announcement.

It turns out that my flight was overbooked by 1, but the crew didn't realize that until everyone had boarded and the door was closed. One poor guy was left standing in the aisle. Part of me wondered if we'd start to taxi with him standing there like on a city bus. Luckily we didn't. He had a military uniform on and I imagine that's why he wasn't IVB'ed. The door was re-opened, the stairs brought back to the plane, and an older guy was IVB'ed. I doubt he got any compensation other than a seat on the next available flight 7 days later. Throughout this process I also noticed that a different man in a military uniform had brought his automatic weapon with him into the cabin. It stayed with him throughout the flight. I can't say the weapon or the overbooking inspired much confidence in Toumai Air Tchad. Yet, the flight was uneventful. We had an in-flight beverage service and we landed safely. I can't lie - I kept my eye on the guy with the automatic weapon for much of the flight. It seems that I may have been lucky. Chadian authorities suspended Toumai Air Tchad's international flights in 2012 due to serious safety problems.....

BRU-IAD September 11, 2001

Most Terifying Flights
 

Hello, this is my first post.

1. Last year flying 757 SFO-KOA, right engine went dead mid flight and immediately lost altitude dropping to 5000'. Pilot announced he was dumping fuel and diverting to HNL taking three hours, and then emergency landing. Pilot did a great job. UA put us up in Honolulu for the night and flew to KOA the next day on HA. Return flight UA upgrade to F.

2. Delta 727 out of PDX on take off, engine failed at rotation and pilot was able to get it back on the ground.

3. Pan Am 747 taking off on reef runway at HNL and tires blew out on nose gear. Great piloting skills to keep it together.

On Ethiopian Airlines flight from ADD-DAR. Ready for take off, accelerated for 30secs or less and braked, take off aborted, turn left, and stop.Captain on the speaker " SOrry folks, we need to abort take off due to slight mechanical problem, mechanical crew on its way. After 3 minutes , the plane take into take off position again and the announcement was " Okey folks , lets try again. You can just imagine the looks on every face when it start accelerating again, and I just mumbled to my self, " I cant beleive, I will die in Africa". Then airborne, I waited for it to explode, it didnt :D.

Sounds like they gave special advantages to military folks to "bend" the rule. I agree, does not sound like a comforting thought, if not on the safety of that particular flight then on the kind of governance of Chad..

Not terrifying, but humbling:

a few weeks ago RTM - LCY on a Fokker 50, on a stormy day.
4pm flight cancelled because the wind was so strong they could not open the door of the plance.
I got on the 5pm, plane on the parking spot was shaking like mad.
We got a bit of delay because we were above the wind limits for taxi (limit is 40kn, wind was around 50).
After we finally managed to get to the start of the runway, wind increased again... I never had a take-off with so much shaking in a plane, and the pilot having to apply so much corrections as we were bounced left and right in a heavy way while accelerating on the runway.

I've generally had great luck with flying. The most memorable scare was landing in Cape Town on a South African Airways flight. We landed so HARD that the plane bounced 3 times before all wheels were finally on the ground. I'm not sure what the conditions were or why it happened, but it felt like the plane just fell the last 20 feet on to the runway, bottoming out the landing gear's suspension. I can still feel the jolt in my spine.

Most Terrifying for Me
 

I've been through aborted takeoffs, aborted landings, diversions, etc.

My most terrifying moment on an airliner circa 1991-92 on TWA STL-SFO. I was in business class on a 3 class jet (I think it was a 767, it could have been an L1011). We took off uneventfully but after 15-20 minutes we were in 200+ mph headwinds and the plane both shook from side to side and was having trouble maintaining a constant altitude. This went on for quite a while; all of a sudden, a flight attendant standing by door 1L was trying to adjust the interior lighting when we hit a big bump and he inadvertently switched off all of the lights at once, plunging us into a frightening darkness. My heart about came through my mouth; I thought the plane was breaking up at that moment. It took a few minutes for the lights to return; Latin prayers I had learned in Catholic elementary school flashed back through my head.

...thinking that now I can retroactively classify some of my first flights as 'terrifying' due to the fact that equipment was Tu-134, Tu-154 (AKA 'flying coffin for 150') and YAK-40/42s....

However that time I expected that flights were supposed to be like this...

Did you end up in Canada? A friend was flying Paris - NYC that day and got stuck in Halifax I think it was for more than 24 hours.

I was on a layover at LGW when the whole "explosive liquids" scare story broke in London. I was going from LGW-DFw. We were allowed to board with only our passports. Everything else had to be checked. Laptops, purses, everything. It was the fastest boarding process I have ever seen. We sat on the Tarmac for hours. Once we finally took off the flight was ok, but it atmosphere was really tense. Lots of customs officials and news cameras when no we landed, but it was quite tense.

Fear of having a loud or crying child near me or having to sit next to a fat or stinky person.

Scary not Terrifying
 

1984 on HNL reef runway. UA 747 aborted take off, came to a quick halt. The scary part was passengers were taking their Hawaiian tourist trinkets from the overhead bins before going down the emergency chutes. Straw hats and bags everywhere! What were they thinking?

People do strange things when stressed. Sometimes they do 'normal' things even though the situation might be calling for different behavior. What do you normally do when you exit an aircraft? Grab your things.

There are photos of passengers with bags after the Asiana crash.