The most threatening experience of your life

[Boncuk]

Hi all,

everybody gets into a situation beyond his/her control some time during life, threatening life. It makes all the memory pass within a split of a second.

Well, here is my story:

I was exchange pilot at the 113 tactical squadron of the Turkish Air Force, where we used to fly RF-4E (recce aircraft) with it's NATO demand for double role aircraft as bomber.

The turkish pilot, just having escaped from pilot training had the front seat and we headed towards the bomb range with an exercise bomb underneath the belly.

He started the pullup for a dive bomb attack much too late and not steep enough what put him outside attack parameters already.

The resulting dive angle was consequently much too steep (45 deg instead of 30) and logically resulting in excessive speed as well. (550 instead of 450knots).

A real bomb has to be pickled 3,000ft above ground level not to have the aircraft blow up in the bomb's splinter radius. (2,000ft + 1,000ft clean round out at 4g)

I calmly said to him: "Kiss it off.", but nothing happened. He headed towards the bull's eye as if he wanted to hit it with the pitot boom. (target fixation).

I couldn't feel he was pickling the bomb (distinct knocking sound and feeling)and the ground came closer at rapid speed.

That was a real emergency and I grabbed the stick to pull out the aircraft at 8.5g. (We just made it blowing all rocks of the target circle away). The Turk became unconscious and I circled about 10 minutes over the airfield to have him take over the landing.

The aircraft was ready to be written off, since it was a pile of corrugated iron.

On the ground I gave him a warm welcome back on earth.

Looking in the mirror later at the shower room my hair colour had changed from black to bright white.

Boncuk

 

[bryan1]

Well Boncuk,

Thats a good reason why i say people weren't meant to fly.

Back when I was a heavy machinist I was working on machining a ball mill ( 8 meters diameter X 15 meters long and the apprentice that made the platform for me to stand on was very close to the chuck which was about 4 meters diameter. I said to him you better go check your measurements as that platform looks like it's too close to the driving dog and the driving dog will hit it. He went and complained to his foreman that I questioned his work and I got over ruled. My foreman started the machine while i was standing on the platform and when the driving dog came around it did hit the platform and i ended up going down with it. When they got me out they said I was a mess but when I saw my foreman I enough wit and strength to go over and land a left fist fair on his jaw which flattened him. The superintendent was there at the time and came over to me, sat me down and said take it easy mate I'm calling a taxi to take you home, you nearly got killed there and you did ask about the safety.

I was back at work the next day for the inquiry where the foreman that had done 30 years service was sacked for not listening to me and nearly killing me as the result. I did protest and thru many discussions I did manage to save his job, need i say from then on if i asked a Q about a job setup he listened.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Boncuk]

Well Boncuk,

Thats a good reason why i say people weren't meant to fly.

Cheers Bryan

That applies to bold pilots only. I've never experienced an old bold pilot, but instead escourted 41 of my pilot comrads to their last place to rest in peace.

 

[j.friend]

Whilst my story isn't as exciting as any of the previous, would still like to put in my 2 cents worth.

My 'closest' call was when I was a young tacker living on a naval base in Darwin. The bus stop I had to catch in the morngin was just outside the base, on the side of the main highway. One morning i was waiting for the bus when a bloke in a jeep pulled up and told me to get inside of the base becasue there was a bull loose from the local rodao. I rather promptly scurried just inside the gates of the entrance.

A couple of minutes later the big brahman bull came running past the base, soemone attempted to lasso it at the gate. The bull dodged it and turned into the base and headed straight towards me. I was so scared i couldn't move and the bull ended up passing by me within a metre. The stomach of the bull was right about at my eye level.

needless to say i was petrified by the experience.

 

[BrownOut]

The most exciting thing that ever happened to me was reading the first post.

 

[j.friend]

hehe...

Oh I also cut an extenxion cord (whilst in use) when i was triming the hedge. Nearly gave my grandfather a heart attack

 

[Torben]

In my teens I went snow camping and hiking with a friend's family. The father of the family is an avid ice climber and a very experienced mountaineer.

One day we were traversing a slope when I lost my footing (and my ice axe) and started sliding. Below me was a crevasse, the bottom of which was all rock and jagged ice chunks.

Before I could think, my friend's dad had leapt into my path, jammed his ice axe into the snow, spreadeagled on the ground and managed to catch me as I shot past.

I don't know if the fall would have killed me--it certainly could have. He sure saved me from a world of hurt in any case.


Torben

 

[picbits]

I was held hostage at knifepoint in an armed robbery around 20 years ago if that counts ?

 

[sleekyG]

Wow. that was a hell of experience. I used to be in an accident, where the vehicle that I am in rolled on the highway and almost fell into a bridge 10 feet high. Does it count as well?

 

[Torben]

I was held hostage at knifepoint in an armed robbery around 20 years ago if that counts ?

Jeez. I'd hope so.

Although I have to say that so far I think Hans still has the craziest story.


Torben

 

[dknguyen]

Onto a bridge 10 feet high? Or off a bridge 10 feet high?

 

[Torben]

Onto a bridge 10 feet high? Or off a bridge 10 feet high?

Either way it would really suck. It'd take quite a bit of momentum to get a car up onto the 10-foot-high bridge, and falling off of one wouldn't be fun either.

I've rolled a car down a 2-meter bank into a frozen swamp. I was just glad the swamp was frozen. It was pretty scary but I had a roll bar which helped take the edge off. Mostly I remember it being really, really loud--sheet metal sliding on gravel isn't a soothing sound.


Torben

 

[Mikebits]

Some time long ago, I think I was 18 years old and a young Navy man. I was stationed at Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines.

It was a Friday night and I decided to hit the town of Olongapo. A few buds and I hit the local bars we were there for awhile but we grew bored and we all decided to take a trip to Subic City which was about 10 miles out of the mainstay town.

So the fellas and I hit a few bars and got pretty drunk. My compainions decided to hook up with a few ladies so now I was left alone. It was around 2 or 3 AM and I decided to head back to the base. Well in that region the best form of transportation was a Jitney, Something like in the image below, but not quite as crowded.

**broken link removed**


Since it was late at night, I felt safe as few people were using the Jitneys, so I popped on one where I was the only passenger. "Olongapo" I tell the driver, and off we went. A few miles were traveled and we stop. 3 local men jump in the back with me. I was furthest from the exit of the vehicle and now there were three men sitting in front of me with smiles on their face that I translated as I am in trouble.

We drove some ways further into the darkened night, and I was just crapping myself at this point as it just did not seem right.

Driver pulls over in a dark section of the road and informs me this was a special fair, and the cost would be more than a usual fair. I asked "how much" answer was, how much do you got? And the driver displays a nasty looking butterfly knife.

It became obvious that I was in trouble. The driver with the butterfly knife behind me and three sneering locals in front of me, blocking my run for freedom.

So I assessed my situation and decided to use a football maneuver to get out the back, and this is what I did, elbows and knees were flying as I flew out of that Jitney.

I quickly ran from my would be assailants into the jungle where I began to fall down a steep hill full of most painful plants and shrubs. I regained my footing at some point and crawled further into the brush.

At some point I decided to make my last stand. I hid as best I could as I heard the others searching for me as they would call out, "Hey Joe we just want your money" "Make it easy Joe and come out". I found a nice broken branch that would surely knock someone into submission. I stayed in my concealment huddled and quiet, barely breathing.

I heard the other men searching for me, but they were a ways off, so I just sat, and sat in this jungle mess with lord only knows what was crawling about me.

These men searched for what felt like eternity and if they had found me I would surely have been killed. As time passed, they gave up the search but I remained silent and still until daylight broke.

After the streets came alive with people, I made it back to main road, got another Jitney and headed to base, so all was well. Well not quite, I was late for reporting for duty and received quite a unpleasant greeting from my boss.

The whole thing scared the poop out of me.

I almost forgot this part. After all that, I had contracted a few nasty bugs and they decided to make me the host of their parasitic party. I got a bad case of the squirts for a week. A few doses of antibiotics later, my color changed from yellow to normal

 

[HiTech]

I was held hostage at knifepoint in an armed robbery around 20 years ago if that counts ?

I was the knife wielder! I only managed to get $40 ransom for my efforts. Next time I'm selecting someone who has clout and good looks!