<p>^^^^Yeah, probably. My Dad is retired Air Force, recently a retired pilot instructor for a major airline. He tells me, “if turbulence is happening at 37,000 feet, you’re FINE. You drop several hundred feet in a second or two, that’s nothing. Now, air shear as you’re coming in for landing, maybe not.” Thanks, Dad.</p>
<p>^^What Nrdsb4 said in #78… :O</p>
<p>This happened many, many years ago when I was in my teens. I was flying with my family, but I wasn’t sitting with them. I was in an aisle seat in the next to last row. A young man (older than me) in the military was the only passenger in the very last row, sitting diagonal from me. For almost the entire flight, he was stimulating himself through his uniform and was especially ‘active’ after the attractive flight attendant walked past his row. Yuck!! </p>
<p>I have never told my parents about this, but obviously it made an impression as I still remember it all these years later.</p>
<p>It’s not really weird behavior, more like persistently clueless behavior - but I’m constantly astonished at the number of brain-dead people who, despite years of nagging by the flight attendants, still thoughtlessly put their roller-board suitcases in the overhead sideways instead of nose or wheels first, thereby taking up twice as much space as the case really needs. </p>
<p>Simple courtesy and half a moment’s thought can create a lot more space for everyone to get their stuff on the plane.</p>
<p>“I’ve heard it’s not physically possible to open the cabin doors while the plane is at its cruising altitude because of the air pressure. Is that true? I sure hope so, because my nightmare has always been that a crazy would open the door, and we’d all be sucked out!”</p>
<p>That is mostly true. At altitude, commercial flights are all pressurized, so it would be impossible to open the door because there isn’t anyone strong enough to work against those sort of forces. But if for some reason the airplane was unpressurized, I suppose you could open the door, because the pressure would be equal inside and out. Though if you’re at altitude (say 35,000 ft) and the airplane loses pressurization, the time of useful consciousness is between 30-60 seconds. So for someone to get to the door and open it in that time, they’d pass out before they got there.</p>
<p>And though you know someone couldn’t possibly open the door, it would be scary to see someone try to open it anyways. We have a procedure where if a door indicates unlocked inflight (it’s always just a microswitch, it’s not open), we have to go back and press down on the handle. I must admit I open the door to the compartment carefully, ready to grab onto something just in case, then push carefully down on the door handle. And am relieved to go back in the cockpit and see the light out. We’ve all seen too many disaster movies!</p>
<p>Shortly after 9/11 I was on a flight with a passenger that was clearly a nervous wreck. This escalated at take off and just became worse until she started to really claw into her husband. The next thing we heard was her carrying on about the plane crashing because someone was going to break into the cockpit. Within seconds of that the woman was taken to the first-class section by a man who appeared to be a passenger but obviously wasn’t. The plane had to turn around and go back to the airport. It was a nightmare that could have been prevented had the stewardess reported her carrying on as soon as she boarded. Needless to say everyone within hearing distance was rattled and upset. The plane tookoff after she and her husband was put off of the plane.</p>
<p>Busdriver…How often do you have problems like the one I just mentioned?</p>
<p>momma-three, I have never seen anything like that in 28 years of flying, either as a passenger or crew. There have been some times that the guy sitting across from me in the cockpit is carrying on and ranting about some political or personal issue, that I’d like to toss him off for, but that’s about it. I flew for American for awhile (before 9/11), and would have been assigned a particular trip, but the guy just senior to me took it instead, thankfully. He told me that one of the passengers went berserk, a large guy with AIDS, trying to bite people. He had to go in the back and handcuff him, luckily he was also a large guy who was a black belt. I am glad I didn’t have to deal with that situation, yikes.</p>
<p>My worst personal story was when we were seated in the bulkhead seats with our S who was 6 months old. He was a “lapbaby.” We would get him to fall asleep & then put him in one of those cute bassenittes that they used to hook up for the infants. As soon as he was put in the contraption, he would jerk awake and scream bloody murder. I’d take him out & try carrying him & soothing him and get him to fall asleep again. I finally learned he liked it best when I put a receiving blanket down on the floor and lay him asleep on top of it.</p>
<p>My RN friend and her MD husband had to try to assist a passenger on a plane to Paris. They begged for more supplies to help the passenger but were denied, even after landing until the passenger “was stabilized.” They were very upset because they felt if the ambulance were there or they could get supplies they could have saved the passenger–unfortunately that was not allowed. That was the start of their vacation. On their way back to the US, again, there was a medical ER & again they sprang to action. This time, they were able to keep the passenger alive until transported by ambulance upon landing. They did receive an upgrade to 1st class for their efforts. </p>
<p>On a lighter note, I recall the businessmen casting a wary eye on my toddlers when we flew long flights with businessmen in suits on either side of us, with us armed with a bulging diaper bag of things to keep the kids engaged and content. At the end of the flight, they sheepishly admitted the kids were quiet, cheery and excellent travelers. The only tough part of the flights was having to turn away other kids whose folks thought we were running a free childcare center for the plane.</p>
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<p>I remember it well. I was working in the Sears Tower at the time, and we could see the smoke. The next week or so after it I had to fly on business, and when the landing gear were retracted with the usual bumpitybump you could see everyone on the plane flinch. The other notable thing was that they had turned off the movie screen that normally showed your own plane taking off. Apparently people on the doomed flight had had the great joy of watching their own plane crashing. :(</p>
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<p>How awful!</p>
<p>I’ve been enjoying this thread and came across this from today’s news: [American</a> Airlines Flight Attendant Rants About Plane Crash, Grounds Flight](<a href=“American Airlines Flight Attendant Rants About Plane Crash, Grounds Flight | HuffPost Life”>American Airlines Flight Attendant Rants About Plane Crash, Grounds Flight | HuffPost Life)</p>
<p>Also in today’s news: [Toddler</a> Tantrum Gets Family Booted from JetBlue Flight.](<a href=“http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/toddler-tantrum-gets-family-booted-jetblue-flight-flying-184600037.html]Toddler”>Toddler Tantrum Gets Family Booted from JetBlue Flight. Is Flying Still Kid-friendly?)</p>
<p>This thread is (mostly) a riot. I’m flying next week…can’t wait to see if anything funny happens.</p>
<p>I don’t think I can post a YouTube link, but look for flight attendant rapping the safety briefing on Southwest Airlines! I bet those on board were calmer after that!!</p>
<p>My daughter and I were recently on a prop plane from Boston to Syracuse. They verified all 12 of us were on the plane 30 person plane and pulled back from the gate 30 minutes early. At which point a young lady in the back row totally panicked during the safety demonstrations and screamed she needed to get off the plane. We went back to the terminal, and let her off. We ended up leaving only 10 minutes early.</p>
<p>So, now we are flying with our one flight attendant who has the passenger roster and knows us all by name. We asked how often that happens on these prop planes. He said he only flys props, and in the last 4 years it had only happened one other time.</p>
<p>The prop plane only made my daughter want to go to school out there more.</p>
<p>A few months ago we were on the second floor of the giant Qantas airbus that flys from LAX to Sydney. The last line of the safety announcement was “No one, not even children, are allowed to sleep on the floor of the plane.” I’m should have peeked downstairs. I’m wondering what it looked like in that sea of coach that they had to make that announcement.</p>
<p>As for the toddler tantrum…One of the places we were thinking of moving to after our nest empties was Orlando. Good golf and tennis. International airport with direct flights to Europe. But then there are the passengers. I’m not sure I could handle the very excited kids on every flight home, or the very tired parents on every flight out.</p>
<p>snowball, posting youtube links is now allowed.</p>
<p>UCD,
Before you narrow focus to Orlando, consider Stuart or Jupiter.</p>
<p>In the early 80s I flew across the country on a half-full redeye. The man across the aisle was mid-50’s, dressed in a suit and tie and carried a briefcase. Once in the air he opened the briefcase and pulled out a stack of adult magazines. He studied the magazines and when he identified a worthy photograph he would meticulously cut it out and organize it into one of his piles separated by hair color. He would grab one of the piles and disappear into the bathroom for a few minutes, returning all sweaty. My plan was to stare at him until he was embarassed enough to stop. All I did was burn his sweaty face into my memory forever. A stewardess finally threw a blanket over him and told him to leave it there for the rest of the flight.</p>
<p>On another flight, this time from Paris to NY, I flew with a friend on a low cost charter. The plane was a 30 year old DC8 that took 10 1/2 hours to cross the Atlantic. Most of the trip was through very heavy and constant turbulence resulting in about 80% airsick passengers. They ran out of barf bags by the 4th hour - stewardesses were making the rounds carrying plastic garbage bags. The bathrooms were unuseable. The only upside was, given my iron stomach, I got to have 3 dinners. Not many people were hungry.</p>