Used to be the National Sales Manager for a national lender. In banking terms that means I was the travel guy, so everyone else could stay home with their wives and children. 5 days a week typically @ least 40 weeks a year. Lots of harrowing travel stories like dropping 10k feet in seconds etc but the one I remember vividly was a mechanical failure and the pilots efforts to keep us all alive.
Once had to take a small 20 some passenger turboprop commuter flight from Cedar Rapids (had been there closing the office) to Cleveland where I would catch a jet to BWI and home on a Friday afternoon.
Shortly after take off we had total hydraulic loss.
The pilot comes over the intercom and advises he has no tail or flap control.
The only way he can turn is to feather the props and he can't climb, the only way to descend is drop rpm. Landing is a one shot deal. Cleveland declines to let us land and recommends we go to Detroit since they have longer runways for a crash landing. While this is going on you hear a frantic thumping sound from the cockpit. The one steward on the flight keeps getting called to the cockpit then looking out the window. Finally the pilot asks over the intercom if anyone can see if the wheels have come down and locked. The co pilot was manually trying to pump them down with a hand pump. About 14 mins go by and you still hear the pumping so passengers never knew if the gear was down. Next thing we were advised is that Detroit was requiring we get rid of fuel so we looped out over Lake Erie while they cleared air traffic and got things ready for a crash landing. When we finally made our approach to Detroits longest runway it was lined on both sides with the chartruese emergency equipment with lights flashing. The fear was we were either going to belly land or if we had landing gear that there would be no brakes.The plane touched the runway and bounced on its gear so we all breathed a sigh of relief and the pilot slowed it enough that we ran off in the grass @ the other end. If you have never been in a plane where the pilot has said" brace for impact", its a unique experience to say the least. People were trying to call loved ones, others were praying @ the tops of their lungs (like volume makes a difference ?), one lady was screaming. Once we were all interviewed by police (that part made no sense to me) we were taken to an office where they tried to figure out how to get everyone to their original destination. I had two hours till a flight to BWI so I went to bar and slammed 4 long island iced teas. Finally the bar tender comes over and asks why. I told him the story and said I have to get on a jet in 45 mins. Guy says "the rest are on the house man, as many as you need".
