Hi Chivas.
A few years back we landed at Alicante in a thunderstorm.
I can remember it very well as I'm not a very good flyer and I think my heart fell into my shoes that day.

This is what I remember of it.....
We left EMA one bright sunny afternoon and had an uneventful smooth flight until we got over the Pyrenees, then we had clouds and turbulence.
The pilot ascended to get out of the turbulence, but while it happened, it was a bit scary....well for me.!

Gets to descending into Alicante and by this time it is dark and there was a monsoon storm raging with thunder and fork lightening around us......
Slowly coming down through it and being rather bumpy, you couldn't hear a pin drop on that plane and only the crying of a small child broke the eerie silence, then all of a sudden we are ascending steeply....
It was raining so hard that the pilot lost sight of the runway lights and had, had to abort landing.

We climbed back up and circulated over Alicante for the next hour.....
We were on a 767 and two smaller planes before us (in the stacking system) were diverted to land at Barcelona and Ibiza and air traffic control wanted to divert us, but being a 767 we had enough fuel to stay up in the air above the storm longer....well that's what the pilot told us.

The pilot was in touch with some of his colleagues on the ground who had managed to land their planes before the storm hit its height and they were keeping him informed that the storm was passing.
I don't know if the pilot realised what he said, but he apologised for the situation and said, "My colleagues tell me the storm is passing, so we will make another approach and see if we make it this time."
Make it.?
Well, we did make it and when we stepped off the plane, we stepped into ankle deep water.... the airport was like a river and the rain was still pelting down.

Moral of this long post ...it was scary and bumpy, but the pilot knew exactly what he was doing ...just wish I had not been like a wuss crying, but I was not alone, and at the time, the experience did nothing to convince me to fly again, I vowed to come home on a bus/boat, but bit the bullet and boarded a plane home knowing that if a pilot could get through that storm, then he could land me back safely in England..

Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

You will be fine like sanji says Pilots are very well trained profesionals who know exactly what they are doing, they train for that sort of stuff.
Also if there was a slight case of not being safe to land they would just divert.

Thanks folks.
Like you Sanji we are flying from East Midlands to Alicante so I'm hoping that is the only coincidence of the flight!

I had a scary flight from Philadelphia to Lousiville. Flight was delayed and lots of planes infront of us on the runway. I was flying on a Embraer ERJ-145 (ER4) with 1-2 seat lay out. All I remember was the flight was very bumpy and all I could feel was the plane shake. I was also exhausted due to being up the night before with excitement and had flew from Manchester to Philadelphia the same day with a 6 hour lay over. I was falling alseep on the plane for two seconds then woken up the shaking of the plane.

I just remember bump bump and seeing clouds. I was told that there was storms in Kentucky by my soon to be fiancee.

Never heard anything from captain or crew on plane and everyone seemed calm apart from me who was really scared. I had never experienced flying in a storm before or any turbulence like this. I was muttering under my breath omg amongst other things and please divert plane or get us down.

The captain came on the PA and said we would be landing in like 20 mins. The plane starts to descend and I remember seeing big thick black clouds and we was so low I could see a Mcdonalds then before we know it we was back in the air again flying upwards in to black clouds. The pilot had aborted the landing. I was muttering under my breath please please land the plane divert it anything. I was so drained and tired and had it in my head I was gonna die.

We went to land again and all I could feel was the plane shaking and I put myself in the embrace position. I was white as a sheet when the plane stopped.

I was the only person scared on plane by the way. Everyone else seemed calm

Im flying back next month but not from Philly but from Atlanta.

As previous post said. The Pilots Captains are trained proffessionals they have plans and procdedures in place for anything and planes are build and designed to be able to withold this kind of weather.

I flew back again 6 weeks later and flights back where bumpy. I was told by FA who said ride there was bumpy and ride back to Philly will be bumpy. I was prepared for this. I did alot of reading on the net on turbulence and flying through storms. I had my music player and belive it or not I was really fine on a bumpy flight.

Good look and hope all is ok for you.

so we will make another approach and see if we make it this time."
Make it.? Yikes
im sitting here laughing ,but id have needed a packet of pampers if it had been me on that flight lol

im sitting here laughing ,but id have needed a packet of pampers if it had been me on that flight lol

Pampers and a sick bag

I think it is the lack of control in the situation that fuels the deep-seated fears that normally you can keep suppressed.
Like I say, I'm not a very good passenger and when it feels like you are being thrown around like confetti in the wind, and you personally can do nothing about it, then you think to yourself.........
"What the am I doing in an aluminium tube in the middle of a thunderstorm, 35,000 feet up in the air " ? ..never again will I put myself through this.

TBH, I am scared "poo" less during landing and coming down through the clouds, ..... I have this personal fear that the landing gear will not operate and I just wish to god that the plane will hurry up and land"¦it seems to go on forever.

I'm better than I used to be..... At one time I use to get a window seat, listen to my music and cover my face/shoulders with a small baby blanket, which blocked everything out and also kept me warm, some planes have been cold and people have been going in the overhead lockers to get their coats/cardigans during the flight.
Now, I get brave sometimes and look out of the window, but why is it, at that particular time I look out, the plane decides to bank and losing the horizon makes my stomach hit the back of my throat.? I think they know Sanji is onboard and they do it on a purpose.

There are many places in the world that I would love to see and being retired we can now go whenever, but the fear restricts me to around 2½ hours flying time/4 hours max and after that I am literally pulling my hair out, both with boredom and fear.

Flying during a thunderstorm is really a queer feeling and a mixed bag of emotions because the experience can instantly wipe out any confidence that you have acquired, but at the same time give confidence that these pilots know what they are doing and your safety is paramount.
I'm never going to enjoy flying, I tolerate it under stress because I love going to Spain and I just hope that I never have to ride a thunderstorm again.
I'm one of these people who can't wait to get off ASAP when the plane has landed....I'm the first up and by the doors

I'm very much like the Pope, I continue to kiss the tarmac each time we land and I'm not joking.!

Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I was the only person scared on plane by the way. Everyone else seemed calm

Thats quite interesting. I think its perhaps that we are quite lucky in this country, and have relatively few thunderstorms/severe weather. Therefore when it does happen it is a very unusual thing , we are not used to it. However in other parts of the world where sever weather is a more frequent occurence they are probably used to it, just another flight in a storm to them...

At the end of the day you have to remember its the Pilot's lives on the line as well. They wouldn't do anything if they didn't have full confidence in its safety. Air traffic control and pilots are constantly monitoring weather, and they are professionals that are trained to deal with these things over and over. It may not be pleasant for us lot up back, we don't really know whats happening, but be confindent the guys in the front definately do!

As an air traffic controller, perhaps I can offer some insight!

We do suffer from severe weather in this country that does lead to challenging flight conditions. Most modern aircaft are equipped with on board weather radar and thus can see it miles away. They then ask us to fly around it.

The problems happen when there are huge chunks of thunderstorm activity and everyone wants to go around it. This reduces airspace capacity and increases complexity - so we put on regulations which cause you the travelling public delays.

I have worked loads of planes that have suffered lighning strikes over the years and all have landed safely.

Pilots are very reluctant to divert now a days due to scheduling and company policy, but will invariably hold clear of an airport until the weather passes.

I'd be more worried flying above Africa or the Pacific about volcanic ash clouds and severe cyclones!!

Thanks for that.
maybe I am extremely unlucky but I have landed twice in storms including on front which had 7 storm fronts within it after circling for an hour we were told we were going for it!Look I am still here as are all the people at the back of the plane who were praying very loudly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year we flew into the dom rep as the tail end of the hurricane there was leaving that too was rough but the pilot had full control and the communication between him to ourselves was excellent.If we had been allowed seatbelts off directly on landing we would have had a standing ovation on the go but nevertheless a big cheer had to do.

It has actually eased my fear of flying as before these expereinces i was a what if kind of flyer now I tend to think some things are out of our hands.It certainly wouldnt affect my desicion to fly.

My easyJet 737 was hit by lightning during take-off from Athens in 1999. I was sitting at the window, beside the wing, and the bolt hit literally feet away from me.

Moral of the story: I'm still here to tell the tale.

I've had a few, but my worst was on an Emirates flight from Jakarta - Dubai. We had the Emergency Exits, so were starring (and chatting) to teh Flight Attendent strapped in. Next to her was a TV screen showing rolling BBC Text news.

Anyway, they'd been a plane crash in Indonesia the day before, and the headline 'Plane crashes in Indonesia' came up. Just as it did, the plane hit a massive chunk of turbulence (just as we were climbing on take off) and the plane dropped, and dropped, and lost loads of altitude, and all I can remember as the blood rushed to my head was the headline 'Plane Crash in Indonesia' on the TV in front of me. It kinda seemed pre-ordained!

But, like you all, i'm here to tell the tale!

I had my music player and belive it or not I was really fine on a bumpy flight.

Back in October 2004, flying from Stansted back to Belfast after my Nan's funeral. I was waiting for the seat belt signs to go off so that I could listen to some music. We hit turbulance so seat belt signs stayed on. I asked cabin crew if I could listen to music and was told no. 1 row in front but opposite side to us was a man with headphones on. Hubby asked why he was allowed his on and was told that he was aprofessional musician and had to listen to music due to what he was doing in Belfast but was listening at his own risk. I was not happy but didn't bother arguing.

We've just arrived home from 2 weeks in Corfu and when we were coming in to land there, there was a heavy thunderstorm and the cloud level was very low.

The turbulence was quite bad and after putting the flaps and landing gear down, the pilot suddenly aborted the landing and climbed very steeply (there's a mountain quite close to the airport!).

He tried again and also aborted that landing.
Lots of people were being sick and the girl behind me was crying.

It was a bit fraught but I guess you just have to trust the pilot to do his job.

We were diverted to Thessalonaki where we spent about an hour on the ground refuelling and then flew back to Corfu where we landed OK.

The weather affected a number of flights arriving around that time, one was diverted to Brindisi and I heard one of the Glasgow flights ended up in Athens where they had to overnight before getting to Corfu the following morning.

Polly

We have not landed in thunderstorms but were hit once going over Austria, well done to the pilot, it hit the side and travelled down the wing and guess what we were the ones over the wing that saw it, never asked to sit over a wing again!!!

Gail

What an interesting topic to discuss. I have never been in a thunderstorm whilst in the air or landing and it fills me with dread if I was to experience that!!

I too hate flying but I do it as I love my holidays and living in Aberdeenshire, driving to Europe is not very practical. I do not show my fear visibly but inside I am crumbling. Every little sound, smell sets of panic alarms inside and just like Sanji I too hate it when the plane banks. By the way Sanji I too dread a flight any longer than 3 hours however earlier this year we flew to Dubai from Heathrow on a BA jumbo. I was absolutely dreading this but I have to say it was the best flight I have ever been on!! I just cannot imagine how those huge things get up and stay up in the air!! BA were excellent.

Despite my fears I have a very strange fasciniation for aircraft, airports etc. I love watching these programmes about how they investigate plane crashes and think it makes riveting viewing. I also read alot of information from another forum which is designated for pilots where you can gain a wealth of information and its great to hear experiences from these guys.

Just this week we came back from holiday flying from Ljubljana (Slovenia) to Gatwick, then Gatwick to Aberdeen. Our landing in Gatwick was very heavy and everybody shrieked Even hubby who is normally cool as cucumber on a flight made comment. Then to make matters worse on the flight up to ABZ hubby was in window seat, I was in the middle and there was a man who had quite severe learning difficulties next to me and travelling alone. As we sat down I could see he was visibly shaking. He constantly talked loudly to himself pointing and saying "Emergency exits" "Oxygen" "Stewards". He then said "I am shaking I have to stop, don't listen to what they say about aircrashes" This made me extremely agitated and although I felt really sorry for the man I couldn't help what he was doing to me!!! I thought I am stuck with this for the next hours and a half. He also kept passing wind rather loudly saying "I shouldn't have eaten that cake" so I thought he was going to be sick. I was literally crumbling inside. This was all happening as we were still sitting at the gate. As we took off he was no better and gladly no worse. I pressed my ear against hubby's shoulder so I couldn't hear him saying "We are going down" Anyway drinks were served and then he decided he needed the loo. He was a big guy and as he leaned back rather strongly to get up, his seat broke and went right the way back spilling hot coffee all over the girl behind him. As a result they had to move the 3 people sitting behind us and also move this man sitting next to me. I did feel bad that I was relieved this had happened and I genuinely felt sorry for the guy, but for me it was one of the worst experiences I have encountered!!

sugarbabe61 I am exactly the same as you. Though I will admit I couldn't get on a plane without some diazepam in me!

We had a bad take off in Glasgow coming back to Belfast with easyjet. Thunder and Lightening. Tried 3 times to take off and aborted 3 times and went on the 4th through the lightening, I was crying the whole time. I just hate it. and turbulance is just awful. I hate it.

I am flying next month for the first time on my own just over to Newcastle but its far enough for me!

Jaime C

Paulines_pens..... re turbulence coming fom Philadelphia to Louisville- get used to it. I don't think I've ever flown over the Appalachians without experiencing a lot of turbulence. It seems to take forever to go over them.
Re Atlanta- it is hot and humid there in the summer and they do have frequent Lightning and thunderstorms. The only real disadvantage though is the unloading of baggage gets delayed as they can't send baggage handlers to big metal plane when lightning is sighted....LOL.
I have flown in and out of Miami many times and it seems to be it's always storming there,so much that I don't pay much attention now.

Well I arrived back from Louisville via Atlanta on Friday morning flying with Delta.

We took off from Manchester right over Liverpool flying over The Wirral where I live towards Ireland. It was a bit bumpy but with the lovely english weather I was expecting it and I was fine. Was a bit bumpy over Ireland heading towards the atlantic but again I was fine.

We had 7 mins of turbulence when we flying over St Johns Labrador Island. The flight deck kept us in contact saying it won't last long. The was also storms that day over the east coast flying to Atlanta but all was fine.

When we was going to start our descent the captain came on said we was gonna have a bumpy landing. There was storms in Atlanta too. Somehow we managed to dodge the clouds and the landing was great. The captain came on the p.a saying that was lucky to land as we was the last plane to land cause of the storms and there was another plane behind us circling.

As we taxied towards the gate I could see 40 planes in a long line waiting to take off. It seemed operations had ceased for the time being from the airport too the storm cleared.

I had a chat with the captain when I deboarded the plane and asked him about weather etc. He said it would clear.

After immigration and customs I went to see about my next flight to Louisville and it was about 45 mins late. It was only 50 mins and once we headed towards KY the clouds had gone into sunny skys.

Hi, Im a nervous flyer and over the last 10 years cant remember taking off during heavy rain, is this likely to affect us tomorrow morning, flying from Manchester at 7am? Thanks.