Aviation is a huge job provider. Just the United States sector alone has605,950employees making sure everything runs, or, should I say, flies smoothly.But with an estimated22.2 millionflights worldwide, someone is bound to experience the unexpected.So after Reddit userNew-Low5765posteda questionon the platform last week, asking “People who work in the airline industry, what are some of the craziest things you have seen?”, it received plenty of memorable replies.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Aviation is a huge job provider. Just the United States sector alone has605,950employees making sure everything runs, or, should I say, flies smoothly.
But with an estimated22.2 millionflights worldwide, someone is bound to experience the unexpected.
So after Reddit userNew-Low5765posteda questionon the platform last week, asking “People who work in the airline industry, what are some of the craziest things you have seen?”, it received plenty of memorable replies.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Saw the pilot walk into the passenger area and say " I’m not flying this piece of s**t " and get off the plane , and all the passengers followed him
When I was a ramp rat in the 90’s we were servicing the airplane as people embarked. The pilot came over the speakers and spoke about the flight details and said we will land in Dallas in approx 1-1/2 hours. He then said if you’re on the wrong flight please get off. Dead silence and 3 minutes later the pilot and co pilot exited the airplane as they were the ones on the wrong flight.
As a baggage handler I once had a shipment of live Alaskan crabs escape their container on the ramp. Flights were delayed. Turns out those guys scatter when they panic and try to hide under anything and everything.
We had a guy drinking out of hotel Shampoo and lotion bottles. He got upset when we questioned him saying it wasn’t alcohol. I said “Sir, if it’s not booze, I have many more questions for you”.
A fully naked woman just walked through the terminal and tried to walk through security like she wasn’t fully naked
Not in the industry, but boarded a Northwest flight many years ago. A lady in the emergency exit row (a couple of rows behind me) called the FA back and said “I can stick my arm out of the plane”.I look out my window and sure enough, she’s waving back at me.Takeoff was delayed while they called maintenance to re-seal the exit window.
Legacy captain here.After starting the engines and beginning the taxi, we immediately get a call from the back saying “There is a man back here punching his wife in the face and a very large military looking guy got in the middle and said if he touched her one more time he would ‘break his f*****g face.’”Welp, back into the gate we go…
Little girl had an emotional support rooster in a tutu. This was shortly before the airlines started cracking down on what kind of animals could be in the cabin during flight.
Someone had the tip of their finger cut off when closing the door to the plane and didn’t say anything until the flight landed at the arrival gate and when the door was opened the chunk of finger fell out. The staff then said, “oh yeah, that’s my finger. you can throw it away.”
I don’t work in the airline industry, but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night. Anyway, my idiot aunt smuggled a monkey into the US from Mexico. Her plan was to keep it under her shirt until she got through customs. She is a big woman and it was a small monkey. Anyway, the monkey started running around the cabin, and crew and some passengers were trying to catch it. The monkey was a bit of a biter, so it was a huge stupid s**t show.
Coworker of mine worked as a baggage handler for 25 years.Early in his career, a family was trying to get their grandpa onto a flight that loaded on an outside ramp. He was in a wheelchair and was waiting on people to help him up when it started raining.My co-worker watched as his person in a wheelchair was just getting rained on and when people were finally ready to board him on the flight, he was dead.The thing was.. he was dead for 2 days already and the family was trying to get him home the cheapest way to bury him and not pay to transport the body…..Needless to say the family got into a lot of trouble and my coworker said he still remembers seeing a person in a wheelchair just out in the rain for 10 minutes.
One of our pilots wanted to do a funny April fools joke.He filled his flight bag with empty alcoholic drink bottles and on his way out of the flight deck pretended to be drunk and spilled all the bottles down the aisle. It was so funny HR wanted to hear about it and he was shorty fired.
There were two suitcases checked in that were full of nothing but weed.
Several years ago I was flying from Knoxville to DFW. It just so happened a full eclipse was happening that afternoon directly over our flight path. Just about the time we leveled off at our cruise altitude the eclipse began. By the time the eclipse was full on 100%, it got so dark in the cockpit. I’ve never seen it that dark in the cockpit during the daytime on a clear day in my entire life. We put our sunglasses away and enjoyed the show. It didn’t last long and the speed we were flying. Another. Flying from Houston to DFW in 2003 we were at our cruise altitude when we looked up out the cockpit windows and saw quite a few fire balls above us leaving massive contrails. Many other pilots were chatting about this on the radio and none of us or even ATC knew what it could be. It wasn’t until we landed about 35 minutes later that we learned it was the Space Shuttle Columbia re-entering Earths atmosphere and had burst into many many parts and killing all on board 😢. I will never forget that day. Another. As the second gulf war was heating up we were flying near For Hood Texas one night. We were able to look down from our cockpit windows and see a massive amount of tracer fire as the US Army was practicing on the range. These are just a few of many over 20,000 flight hours.
Worked in the Cargo handling shed. We had two HUMS (Human Remains) arrive at the same time. Some bright spark took the documents off and forgot which was which. Flipped a coin on it and one went to Tel Aviv (Jewish Burial), the other to Dalaman (Muslim Burial).He chose… wisely. But could have been a lot worse.
A grandma had an oversized pair of scissors, she wanted to take them with her. Instead of putting them in her checked in bag, she decided to put them in her shoe. So out of all options she decided that smuggling is the way to go and got the cops called.
Worked as ground crew. 2nd day on the job we were issued a notice to gather. So when you check in every morning you’re supposed to always take a breathalyzer test to prove you can like you know, ride around the tarmack, use pushbacks etc.For whatever reason this dude hadn’t taken it/got past without taking it.He was not sober.He was tasked with pulling a 370 into a hangar.He eyeballed it for whatever reason.So here we are watching a video of this absolute loon break the whole wing off while damaging the hangar in the process.Because he was drunk, insurance doesn’t kick in.We were promptly told that christmas bonuses might be a bit smaller
Worked at the airport, flight had just got off the ground. Pilot calls in “uhhhh hey we are coming in for an emergency landing…..the exit door just got sucked into the plane” so door was sucked in. I had someone in that seat be really wishy washy about whether or not they wanted to be in the exit row so I moved them. Probably would have killed them if they had stayed, door completely destroyed the seat.
Worked in operations at IAH for a while, one of our pilots landed with passengers at the wrong airport.
Was on base maintenance for my national airline carrier in 2013 or so. Aircraft was scheduled for take off, and the pilot followed procedure per the usual. The chocks come off the wheel, the engine spools up and taxis to the runway. Except the ground personnel didn’t clear the chocks in time because he didn’t follow procedure. They’re often poorly trained or not at all as part of cost cutting. Pilot spooled up the engine and sucked the ground personnel straight into the turbofan. His torso was pinned against the fan cone, shredded his limbs and head right off. We spent the next 2 weeks decommissioning the engines. Damn near 5 Mill USD bill. He got a pension of about 400 USD per month. Now I know what it’s like to powerwash someone’s bones out of complex machinery.
Emotional support scorpion is probably up there on the list of crazy. Dude was unable to state the emotional support he derived from the scorpion. It got even more fishy when we told him he would not be allowed to board with it and he said he would just throw his buddy in the trash.
A plane I got on once almost left without half of its aircrew on it.
I’m an aircraft mechanic. I got called out once because a passenger had accidentally dropped their cell phone into a lavatory toilet. That took me a little while to fish out because it had slid into a tiny corner of the toilet tank. The passenger wanted the phone back, so I had to put it in a giant red biohazard bag.My craziest call though had to be the time a refueling hose had popped. I drive out to the gate and it looks like a geyser of fuel is spraying up out of the hose. Someone hits the e-stop as I get out of my van, and I start inspecting the plane. The entire right engine (CRJ-900) and a good portion of the right rear of the fuselage is soaked with fuel. I’m standing there wondering what they expect a mechanic to do about all this, when I get a call from my office because the pilots were wondering if they were good to go (they were not). We ended up towing the plane back to our hangar to wash the whole thing.
Family friend who was flight attendant on South America to USA international flights. She said someone tried to get boarded with their service animal….a Kangaroo. Service Kangaroo and their human were denied boarding. Still can’t work out how they got through the airport.
The amount of sex in that small bathroom. Geez
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I work for a company that manufacturers airliners.We have one specific model (you’ve probably flown on one), where the fuselage is built and shipped via train car across the country to the plant that fully assembles the aircraft (i.e. attaches the wings, empennage, engines, etc).These fuselages regularly arrive with bullet damage from people taking shots at the passing trains (usually just dents and scratches). This is so common that we have a whole process dedicated to inspecting and repairing this damage.
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My dad was a reservation agent for Piedmont, then US Airways. A man called in one day because he had sneezed while in the lavatory, and lost his dentures down the toilet. He wanted them back.
I was a gate agent for 13 years. Had a flight leaving and just waiting with a coworker for it to push back. We had the jetbridge off and everything was buttoned up. Human remains (HR) had just come in on the aircraft and were still in the baggage cart attached to the tug; I don’t think the funeral home had arrived yet.One of the ramp agents hops in the tug, CRANKS the steering wheel to the right, guns it and the human remains go FLYING out of the baggage cart in full view of the boarded flight. The HR always came in a big white box with “HUMAN REMAINS, HANDLE CAREFULLY” written in huge letters on the side so I have no doubt half of the plane saw it.Thank God the box didn’t break open or that would have been traumatic for everyone involved. I probably have a million stories but that was one of the biggest “oh f**k, this is bad” moments.
We had a small commissary buggy to stock up planes when they’d land….tiny little car that went 30mph….bag of toilet paper fell off the passenger seat and landed on the gas pedal with nobody in it….it did circles for five minutes before it hit a wall….almost took out several planes….driver got supspended for only a week …she was our union steward
I saw someone go around some safety cones and take a shortcut with his tug And he wound up axle deep in fresh cement
Not crazy in the least, but every aircraft you fly on will have several things on it that are not working or outright broken, and that includes several systems that the average person might think would be vital to the safety of the aircraft. There’s a thing called the MEL (Minimum Equipment List) and it details what can be non-operational and in what manner without the aircraft being grounded. Certain systems are of course vital and lead to instant grounding, but other systems or components can be broken for several months without it needing to be sent to maintenance. And sometimes you get a situation where System A can be non-op, as long as System B is still working, or vice versa.General procedure if something breaks is to consult the MEL, see how long it can be broken for, and if the next round of maintenance occurs before the deadline, you just mark it as non-op, and keep flying.
I travel a lot, and although I don’t work for an airline I feel like I do sometimes. Anyway, I was sitting on the plane as boarding was continuing, and we get a sudden, urgent sounding page over the intercom to “calmly but quickly evacuate the aircraft back through the jetbridge.” The plane deboards faster than I have ever seen (although actually calmly, surprisingly), and on getting to the top of jetbridge I look out the window.Only to see about 3-4 fire trucks, and what can only be described as a LAKE of jet fuel under the centre of the aircraft. Like, it was closing in on being the size of the wingspan. There was also a guy in a suit red-faced screaming at the ramp crew, who I assume had not hooked things up correctly, leading to our new lake.That could have ended a lot worse than it did, but fortunately after about 90 mins of cleanup we reboarded and got back on our way. I presume the day was a lot longer for those idiotic rampies and their likely newfound unemployment.
Back in the 80’s I was working the New York JFK to San Juan, Puerto Rico flights. Lot’s of crazy stuff on those flights.Had someone try to bring a live chicken on board, had someone try to cook with stereo and last but not least, someone tried to bring their dead grandmother on board in a garment bag.
Walked into the flight deck and the pilots were showing each other the various nicks, cuts and scratches they’ve gotten from banging into stuff while trying to get into their chairs, pilot turns to first officer and says “yeah this thing is a real death trap!” Didn’t realize I was there to let them know we had commenced boarding and passengers were walking directly behind me down the aisle. Thankfully I don’t think anyone overheard his comment.
Loading a bag on the plane and it was humming and there was a small vibration to it…you can only guess what we thought it was but it ended up being an electric toothbrush…. Body parts scattered on the runway (some homeless guy snuck through the security fence on the runway and that was the end of him… 2,000lbs of fish eggs being shipped in from Alaska… While pushing the plane back out of the gate, pilot accidentally stepped on the brakes, plane lunges to a stop, flight attendant broke her hand and wrist & passenger ends up with concussion from bag that fell out of the overhead… Having to help clean up the waste, blood and fluids from a flight that landed which a lady gave birth inflight…. One of my employees getting electricuted when lightning came out of nowhere and struck the tail of the aircraft he was loading… Airport evacuation after a laptop battery exploded in the security line and everyone thought someone had a gun. People started running down jetways and onto the ramp area. We got under our desks and locked doors thinking someone was shooting at people…
The suitcase with a carving knife, a ouija board, and a copy of “Helter Skelter” in it.
I worked part time loading bags when I felt one vibrating. I followed protocol and notified my supervisor. He pulled the bag and had it x-rayed while the plane was held in place. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. A bunch of people missed their connecting flights because a d***o was accidentally turned on. Next few times it happened, I loaded it right along side the others. I figured that if it was a bomb that was vibrating, we were all dead already.
Pulled flight control computers and smacked them on the ground to reset cards then reinstalled and told the pilot he was good to fly.
A snowsweeper on fullblown fire with explosion on the runway.
OK I don’t work in the airline industry, but I flew in Alaska flight last month and after half an hour on the tarmac, the captain gets on the intercom and says hey between me and the first officer next to me we don’t have enough hours to fly this model of plane. We’re gonna have to wait and call another pilot.What the actual f__k?!?  How do you schedule people that can’t fly the plane I mean that is their one and only job?
I once loaded the cargo hold of a private A320 to the brim with bottled water
Captain a bit of a rager. Agent is new or something and can’t connect the jetbridge to the plane, pax super mad. No one answering on ops. Captain eventually jumps from the open boarding door into the JB and proceeds to scream at the jetbridge driver. He calmed down eventually.
Don’t work in the airline industry but the flight was delayed since the pilots didn’t get there in time. When the pilots arrived they were all laughing and bragging how much they drank last night and how they barely remember it. Was a bit scary but at least planes almost fly themselves nowadays
An A380 pulling into a closed bay while we had the air bridge in pieces
Not me but my friend is a commercial pilot and he was flying from Dublin to NYC, said half way through the flight the engine fire light came on and they were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, panic stations ensued but turned out it was a guy smoking a cigarette in the toilet and it triggered the engine fire light. Mentioned the guy got in pretty serious trouble over it.
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