VTFreiherr

As a young boy we landed in Berlin's Tempelhof Airport (THF) back in 1967 on a foam carpet that had been spread out for our old DC-6 when the landing gear's "nose gear locked"-light would not come on after a charter flight aboard the (now-defunct and very scary) Saturn World Airways from Naples, Italy.

Your fiance's experience would not have been a newsworthy event under any circumstances as such things happen relatively frequently and are generally quite harmless.

Apropos unusual experiences that seemed dramatic but went uncovered and were actually "non-events": I was aboard an Allegheny jet landing in Columbus, Ohio (CMH) many years ago in the exit row. When we thumped down onto the runway (kinda like a bowling ball being lofted), the exit window on the opposing side of the aircraft fell out of the plane. There was much consternation among the passengers, but we taxied to the jetway and noone was the worse for wear. There was no coverage, either.

Little mishaps occur on a frequent basis throughout every travel-related industry. WIth the news being clogged already with traffic accidents which are generally not newsworthy, I'm quite happy they don;t clutter it up even more with every little airline incident.


[This message has been edited by VTFreiherr (edited Feb 16, 2004).]

Eastbay1K

This is not a "newsworthy" event, but admittedly, unsettling when it happens. I was once on a UA DC10 HNL/SFO which couldn't get the landing gear to retract - and since we couldn't fly across the Pacific that way, we had to dump fuel and get back to HNL. Unfortunately, the cockpit couldn't confirm that the gear was actually still locked in landing position. The fire engine arrival awaited us. The UA FAs were kind enough to keep the beverages a flowing while waiting for this landing

USCGamecock

Hope all is well now. I've been through that a couple of times as well.

chobby100

Believe me, if you lived in Boston, this is a front page Herald / lead story channel 7 kind of thing. no "real" story, but they would make one out of it

lmermaid

A similar thing happened to me on a flight from DCA to BOS (also Delta) a couple of years ago. They said it was a "hydraulic failure", had to put the landing gear down manually, and do a "long, slow approach." Then we sat on the runway at Logan with the fire trucks while the hydraulic fluid dripped out of the wing.

Of course Channel 7 said something like "this is the one pilot that could have landed this plane safely."

Delta sent me a $200 voucher a couple of weeks later. Watch your mailbox....