This was a topic a few years ago but automatically closed due to lack of activity. It’s a new year and I’m hoping to hear some new stories. This can be any type of story! Whether it’s funny, scary, weird or just overall a good experience. To start things off I will go first. If you’re able to please provide the date, flight number and route.
2/15/26
F93316
Sacramento (KSMF) - Los Angeles (KLAX)
Last time I’ll be flying with frontier unfortunately. Thankfully it was an aircraft issue and not the airline but the airline itself isn’t the best. I had just come back from a long night of training with Sacramento PD. I had been up for about 17 hours or so at this point and I was ready to get home and sleep. My flight was scheduled to leave Sacramento at 11:55pm ish. Boarding went normal and I got on the plane (N363FR). I got lucky and had the whole row to myself including the next row over. The seat was very uncomfortable. Too thin and just not enough. I could’ve spent an extra 40$ to upgrade but I didn’t want to spend that money lol. It’s about 12:15pm at this point and we’re just finished up on boarding. As the cabin crew is preparing to close the door the pilot comes over the PA and announces, “hey everyone, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ll make it to Los Angeles today but the bad news is our aircraft is not taking fuel.” Well now what does that mean? How is the plane not taking fuel? It’s an Airbus for crying out loud not Boeing. (Sorry no offense Boeing ). So everyone is mad and annoyed at this point. We sat on the ground for about 1hr 30mins. I fell asleep for a bit but when I woke up my neck was killing me due to the seat. I decided to just lay out in the row since I had it to myself. But being tall and laying down in economy seats isn’t easy. Around 1:15pm the pilot announces that maintenance came out and did an inspection on the aircraft. They refueled it manually instead of automatically. Now they had to wait from a higher up to approve the plane to fly. We got the approval and we’re pushing back. As we pushback the plane is taking a lot longer to start up. More than usual. They started up engine 2 twice. I heard it turn on the first time and then it stopped. 3 minutes later it started again. That was a little odd. We eventually taxi to the runway and takeoff around 1:45pm. The flight was pretty smooth and very beautiful on the way home. Landing and taxiing to the gate was all normal. I got picked up around 2:50pm. I was originally supposed to land at 1:40pm. So a bit delayed. However I made it home so I’m glad.
I definitely have more stories that are probably more interesting but I figured since this one was most recent it would be good. Hope to see some good stories!
In 2024 me, my mom and my younger brother went to see my Grandfather and cousins who live in LA but my family lives in Campinas. We were going to fly Azul to Orlando and then make a connection to LA on United. The flight on Azul was pretty normal, the plane was an A330-900 in the pink livery, I had some pasta with meat and eggplants and I watched Avatar. Before landing was a hot Ham and Cheese sandwich. We landed taxied and disembarked. We then went to baggage claim where disaster struck. Our connection was 2 hours and 20 minutes however for whatever reason the crew got their bags first and us 250 odd passengers ended up waiting for over 2 and half hours to get our bags. The three of us ended up running with our bags to the domestic terminal but since Orlando is so big you have to take a tram to get to it we ended up taking 45 minutes and missed our flight. Unfortunately we were rescheduled for a flight at 9:00 the next day. So my mom ended up paying almost 200 dollars for an airport hotel room and we ended up staying in Orlando for about 14 hours until we finally left the nect day on a United 737-900
In 2021, I was returning from Punta Cana to Seattle with a stopover in Dallas. Keep in mind, middle of summer flying into DFW is always a mess with the weather. Storms are popping up and delays are rolling through departure boards. Well, my family and I land in DFW and our layover time was maybe an hour but we had to get through CBP and get our bags to our next flight.
We end up rushing, sprinting practically to make our flight as they are closing the doors. We made it but barely. We sat down and relaxed knowing the next 4-5 hours is gonna go by quick… spoiler alert, it didn’t. We sat at the gate for over an hour, that could be attributed to weather but it came down to a weight and balance issue. We sat for probably 2+ hours as the crew worked through the weight and balance. We were scheduled to arrive in Seattle around midnight, but we didn’t get in until 3/4am PST. (Plus I had work that morning, so that was great).
quite an old one almost 2 years ago at this point so it was a bit hazy
March 18th 2024 AAL 2380
Right after my favorite approach that I have had ever into KSAT we deplane and then while we head to the gate we stop into a store to look around for random stuff and I got my first daron model but when we get to our gate we find out they we are delayed by an hour doubling our layover but my mom wouldn’t let us go explore the concorse so I just sat and did nothing for an hour so when we finally board I sit down and film the takeoff (accidentally deleted it in a data wipe) and when we get to cruising altitude I build a best lock plane (I regret not getting a real model but I was 11) about halfway through we get into some turbulence that would last for the rest of the flight and when we landed in clt I decided not to film because it was too dark and rainy so we had the hardest landing of my life and we got back into my car and drove 2 hours back to Greenville and I was HUNGARY because the last thing I ate was some panda express back at PHX which was about 10 hours ago so I started begging my mom for McDonald’s (as any kid would do) and we got it and I finished in 10 minutes and then we finally got home at 1am
When I was younger I was flying DUB-KMCO on Aer Lingus, by the time we had gotten served our food which was the dinner service I started having this oddly amusing obsession with the small salad included with the meal, and so everytime before I ate some of the salad I would say to myself “some salad” and later on it turned out I actually got sick a while before landing, I still remember that to this day and in fact I remember it always that I think it’s now permanently etched into my core memory
I’ve had my share of cool experiences while working at Hill AFB over the years.
Most are just cool things I saw like a 747 taking off empty (got airborne within 3000 feet), F-35Cs taking off into a thunderstorm (the A and B models can’t do that), and F-22s getting approved for unrestricted climbs (they will literally use the entire runway to accelerate before piching straight up and disappearing up to 60,000 feet.
One of my favorite things to watch was the MD87s we work with. Those pilots were crazy. They would take off and immediately turn. They also did some of the most exotic approaches. If you’re familiar with the maneuver called a power-off 180 that is often done while training in small GA aircraft, these pilots were doing that with an MD87. These pilots flew an MD87 like it was a stunt plane.
Other stories I have from aviation are often just crazy coincidences. Going back to June 2024 while leaving Maui to come back home, there were 2 aircraft I was flying on. On my first flight, WN2233, was on N8717M. At the time, I wasn’t aware that this aircraft was special, however, it’s winglets were paint slightly different than other Southwest Max aircraft.
So, what’s special about this aircraft other than the winglets? N8717M is the 10,000th 737 to roll off the production line at Boeing. Pretty crazy that I got to fly that aircraft.
The 2nd aircraft was the cherry on top to wrap up my Hawaiian vacation trip. For my 2nd flight, WN411, I was on N8710M, the Imua One special livery. What are the chances to have 2 aircraft for my trip back to back.
A little bonus with WN411, I started in LAS at gate B19 on June 30th and ended in SLC at gate B19 on July 1st. Not only did the flight take 2 days (not really ), I also ended at the same gate number I stared with. Coincidences are strong with me
8-11-24
I was flying my First Orientation Flight through Civil Air Patrol. I was the PIC while we were flying around a Reservoir in North Jersey. Just doing the normal Scanning, when TCAS Starts Yellin. We had an aircraft come right off our nose while we were in a turn like this
(Best art ever, right?)
Red being our Aircraft, and Green being an aircraft with no Transponder going against the grain of the aircraft.
When TCAS sounded, the FI took controls and put us in a hard right turn, and we avoided the aircraft with about a football field horizontal separation and seemed to be about 10 ft of lateral separation.
Photo from that flight. Probably 10 minutes before the Incident
I don’t remember the flight number but it was 2020. Flew from LAX to MCO on United Airlines A320. The weather was so bad in MCO that we had 3 go arounds. On the last one we diverted to PBI to refuel and replan the arrival. Eventually we landed 5hrs late.
Fun fact that flight is what got me into aviation so much. I was so impressed by how well these pilots were and the ability to fly through that weather.
I love that feeling lol. Most people get nervous or afraid but I throw my hands up in excitement. It’s such an unnatural feeling.
When I flew from SMF-LAX we were taking off and the plane went from 3500ft to 3000ft in seconds. It was scary I won’t lie but the feeling reminded me of being on a roller coaster or Tower of Terror from Disneyworld
). So everyone is mad and annoyed at this point. We sat on the ground for about 1hr 30mins. I fell asleep for a bit but when I woke up my neck was killing me due to the seat. I decided to just lay out in the row since I had it to myself. But being tall and laying down in economy seats isn’t easy. Around 1:15pm the pilot announces that maintenance came out and did an inspection on the aircraft. They refueled it manually instead of automatically. Now they had to wait from a higher up to approve the plane to fly. We got the approval and we’re pushing back. As we pushback the plane is taking a lot longer to start up. More than usual. They started up engine 2 twice. I heard it turn on the first time and then it stopped. 3 minutes later it started again. That was a little odd. We eventually taxi to the runway and takeoff around 1:45pm. The flight was pretty smooth and very beautiful on the way home. Landing and taxiing to the gate was all normal. I got picked up around 2:50pm. I was originally supposed to land at 1:40pm. So a bit delayed. However I made it home so I’m glad.
), I also ended at the same gate number I stared with. Coincidences are strong with me 
