One of the first Garuda flights to Bali from Perth 1979. On the way back the Indo pilot couldn't land the plane 'cause of the strong crosswinds at Perth Airport. Took him three goes to finally put it down, people praying, grabbing pillows, girls crying and NOTHING was said by pilots or crew. For all we new they had parachuted out! Plane finally landed and everyone claps and cheers. We were on the 6 o'clock news. Still to this day won't fly Garuda....
I picked up a cheap bucket shop Garuda flight from London to Sydney in 1982.
When it took off from Gatwick the pilot got onto the mike and apologised for the lack of refreshments as the plane had been intended to carry pilgrims to Mecca. When we landed in Zurich everyone hit the duty free. Onto Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore,Bangkok, Jakarta where we had a four hour delay, spent at the bar. Bloke I was drinking with got so drunk they wouldn't allow him back on the plane. I got back on but vomited before take off. On to Brisbane then Sydney.. By the time I got to Sydney I was so ill that I have never drunk on a plane since.
Flight lasted 26 hours! I recall somewhere on the flight guys stepping over the hostess sleeping in the galley to get more grog!
Not a flightmare for me (I thought it was awesome), but for my sister and Mum it was. Flying a tour of Kings Canyon in a Cessna when I was 15. The trip caused them both to projectile vomit. The only thing that was a bit scary was the landing. The pilot dropped the plane like a rock descending onto the runway, and my stomach hit the ceiling. As a discovered on many flights to Alice Springs and in that region, pilots don't muck around in the turbulence near the ground. So it's always a steep ascent and a steep descent.
Flying to England in 1997 over the Bay of Bengal at night was a bit funky too.
