I left for South Carolina Monday afternoon for some training on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was supposed to arrive at 6:30pm on Monday... I got in at 1am.

And NOW, I had a flight from Columbia SC to Washington DC, it shook so bad I filled the barf bag. Yummy. And to top it off, my 7pm Montreal flight was cancelled. Next flight... 9:30am Thursday... and NOT EVEN GUARANTEED I will be on it.

So here I lay on lumpy seats in Obama-land... I thank the Lord for Messenger, MAACA and Shaggy's DVDs...

While we are on it... anyone have airport horror stories?

Ha ha. I am stuck in Revelstoke tonight for weather, and it's taken me 5 days to get here from Vancouver. Worst weather I have flown through the rockies with yet.

One airport story I have (and there are numerous) was coming back from the Alert in the Arctic. On a stretch heading south we had planned to land and overnight in Churchill MB. On this stretch I was number 2 of a formation and my lead was a pretty capable guy but the kind of guy that puts limited effort into doing something unless he really feels he needs to. Anyway we got over Churchill and he radios back to me asking my fuel state. I tell him and says "good we will keep going to the next airport". I answer to him knowing from experience that we have decent rooms (probably an Arctic 4 star which equates to a Toronto 1 star hotel) in Churchill and are you sure there are rooms at the next stop. He says "oh yeah no problem".

We land at the next stop Gillam MB. I get out and go into the terminal and ask the gentleman behind a desk for the name of a decent place to stay the night. He proceeds to tell me there are no hotels or motels in Gillam. We are out of flying time for the day and stuck so now it starts to get interesting. The guy being a really nice fellow offers up his camper trailer for the night. Anyway there are 6 of us and the trailer sleeps 4 so I elect to sleep on a luggage cart in the terminal. This was a good decision I was told later as one guy had the giggles and anouther the farts that night in the camper.

Now the next morning we need fuel. The place in Churchill has in ground refuelling but this place has barrels and we only have a hand pump. To make matters worse the barrels are in a storage area across a field and have to be rolled out to the aircraft and pumped by hand. The guy that normally does this doesn't show up on time so we spend the next couple of hours rolling barrels and hand pumping fuel. He did manage to show up hours late to throw the empty barrels into the back of his pickup and take them away.

Anyway I go back to the guy that masterminded this magical night and asked him WTF he was thinking when he elected to overfly Churchill and continue to a place without facilities. He said he looked in the book quick and saw they had all the amenities. Unfortunately he misread Gillam MB for Gimli MB.

Not really a terminal story, but....

A couple years back, myself and a couple buddies decided to fly down to Dayton OH for the day to the Air Force Museum.  Even though I know how quick Tim Hortons goes through me, I just had to take and extra large on the flight in my insulated Tim Cup.

About half way across the lake, I was begining to wonder if I'd make it.  We got hooked up with Dayton International Approach and our 172RG was nicely sandwiched in between heavy traffic.  About 5 miles out I couldn't stand it any longer, and while flying short final, I was refilling my Tim cup and trying not to piss all over myself or crash the plane.

We got down and parked in front of the Wright Bros. hanger and waited for customs to come out.  When the female agent asked what was in the cup I was so obviously guarding, I had to fess up.  She looked at all of us, laughed and welcomed us to the USA, then promptly pointed out the rest rooms in the terminal.

I miss that cup.

Sorry to hear about your luck, Ian!  I think everyone should send a PM to Sparky to keep him nice and occupied  until his flight.  

My story is pretty horrid, avert your eyes friends.

This is a few years ago and my memory is fuzzy, I'm trying to block it out but I might be getting the location wrong.  I'm visiting my mom in Winnipeg via a work related meeting in Calgery. At the Calgary airport, they had a Lost in Space... in bad shape... and... I played it.

Quoted from MarkToo

A couple years back, myself and a couple buddies decided to fly down to Dayton OH for the day to the Air Force Museum.

Wright Patterson AFB has a really good museum. Lots of interesting stuff. I have found it to be more intersting than the Smithsonian and no where near as crowded so you can actually see things.

Doubt they would have Sparkys barf bag though yet.

Went to Europe this summer on Zoom Airlines with my wife. We were to leave Tuesday at 6:00pm , but it was delayed till Wednesday 7:00 am, so we had to go back home. Left on time the next morning, got to Rome at midnight and 9 hours later I get a text message from my brother that Zoom had declared bankruptcy. Stranded in Europe!! $2000 later and much aggravation we had connecting flights from hell home, so I understand you pain, Sparky, mine just cost me lots of money.  

I spent 4 years travelling at least 3 weeks of every months. I hate all North American airlines, i have been screwed over more times than I can tell you. No one is better than another, the only one I tolerate is Continental. All other north american airlines are the same in my book, they all SUCK!!

On the one hand, it's amazing how often the airlines can so royally screw the simplest things up and make travel such a miserable experience.

On the other hand... WE'RE FLYING AROUND THE WORLD IN GIANT STEEL BIRDS. IT'S COMPLETELY MIND BOGGLINGLY CRAZY THAT WE CAN DO THAT. i.e. for most of humanity's existence, people walked, and that REALLY sucked.

Yep, Flying around in two tons of steel built by the lowest bidder  

Quoted from Vengeance

Yep, Flying around in two tons of steel built by the lowest bidder  

That's a small plane!! 747 weighs approximately 900,000 pounds on takeoff and empty weight is approximately 395,000 pounds.

Got home at 1:30pm, and I crashed. Sorry to Hippochrome for the delayed Pinbot delivery... I will see for either Sunday or an evening next week.

Quoted from Sparky

Got home at 1:30pm, and I crashed. Sorry to Hippochrome for the delayed Pinbot delivery... I will see for either Sunday or an evening next week.

No worries!
Just glad to hear your horrific journey is over, and your finally back in "la belle province"...
Whenever is good for you, is good for me.

Quoted from Sparky

Got home at 1:30pm, and I crashed. Sorry to Hippochrome for the delayed Pinbot delivery... I will see for either Sunday or an evening next week.

Wait, you crashed?! I hope you're in one piece!

Quoted from jonny_eh

Wait, you crashed?! I hope you're in one piece!

Yes... I did... on my couch. The plane didn't.