Smooth Flying? Well, Mostly [ Post # 59 ]

I have been asked by friends a few times, “have you ever had scary or unusual experiences with all of the flying you have done?” Well, here’s the answer to that question. Yes, I have had a few frightening experiences. Considering the many many hours I have spent in the air, the few incidents were rare, but those were my moments of thinking,” is this it? So, this is how it is going to end?

I was on an airline flight where an engine exploded and it looked bad. I was piloting my own rental airplane and the throttle cable broke and I had no control over the engine, it was at full power with no control whatsoever. I once escaped from a jetliner through the emergency over-the-window exit and crawled through it to the wing, awaiting rescue. And of course, during my pilot training I had to recover from unusual situations, such as being in a spiral dive heading right for impact with the earth. Plus a couple of jetliner engine stalls in flight which got everyone’s attention. So, let me splain….

The big scare for me was on a flight from Los Angeles to London on my birthday many many years ago. In my early years with my airline I would take trips to London quite often, several time a year. I’d do the tourist things, go to plays on the west end, often first run plays and musicals, such as when “Cats” just came out. Also went to discos, etc., for my entertainment and wild times. So, in this case I was going especially to try out a brand new airplane that TWA bought, the Boeing 747SP. Being a pilot, I was curious what this new airplane was like. Was it any different than the regular Boeing 747, this new, updated version?

Well, all was going well until about an hour after takeoff. All of the sudden, there was an explosion and a shaking and a sudden drop in altitude. We were advised to buckle up and and put everything away that we may have had out. The flight attendants went running through the plane putting their things away as they were in the middle of starting the meal service. Soon, the pilot came back to look out the window to assess the damage and situation. As all that was happening, my thought was, “wow, I’m going to die on my birthday, how is that going to be talked about by my family and friends?” How ironic, being born and dying on the same day. Well, we did make it back to Los Angeles, made an emergency landing with all the firetrucks and emergency equipment following us as we touched down. The pilot had warned us they would be following us as we landed. After a couple of hours, we boarded another airplane and made our trip to London. But, for a moment or two, I was thinking, “this is it!’

I had three other “unusual” incidents on airline flights. Twice I experienced what is called an “engine stall” on a jetliner. What that is is when the airflow through the engine gets disrupted and the engine “stalls,” it makes a big “boom” and scares the hell out of you. Both times the pilot explained it as best he could and we continued our flight. Another time, something happened, which was not explained and we made an unscheduled landing in Kansas City. We were in route to St. Louis from Los Angeles, so it must have been something serious as Kansas City is not that far from St. Louis and for some reason we did not continue a little bit longer to St. Louis. The scary thing for me was, I was on my way to San Antonio, Texas to attend the American Atheist’s Convention and be with with Madelyn Murray Ohare and her family. As we diverted to Kansas City, my thoughts were along the line of “I knew I should not have come to this convention… God’s punishing me!” Well, everything turned out okay and I did enjoy my time at the convention.

When i was piloting my plane and the throttle cable broke I happened to be with my flight instructor, so between the two of us we figured out how to get to an airport and land. It was not easy. I think we figured out how to turn the engine off and back on in order to lose altitude and eventually stop the aircraft once on the ground. If I had been alone I don’t know that I would have figured out how to get back safely on the ground.

Okay, the opening of the over-the-wing emergency exit and climbing out to the wing is a bit misleading in a sense. Yes it did happen, but it was a voluntary situation. I was going to school in Seattle, Washington and Boeing Aircraft was there in Seattle at Boeing Field, where they manufactured jetliners. I volunteered to take part in an emergency evacuation of a jet for certification purposes. We were to pretend being on a flight, landing, and then, on cue. evacuate. We had to be able to evacuate within 90 seconds, and we did.

So, those were my abnormal experiences in my flying on airliners and in my own aircraft. I have had my moments of concern. I have been lucky.

Wally