As a long term passenger, I can re call two, though on the first I was very young, and only remember bits, but my parents filled in the other bits I had forgotten. The second I was older, and travelling with my Dad returning to Europe from Chile via Disney Land as a treat, rather than my normal route with BCAL via BA, Rio, etc to school in the UK.
The first incident was in the early 60,s flying from Rome back to UK and involved an evening take off in a prop which I think would have been a Vanguard, the airline was BEA, and I think Flight BE193 from Malta to London via Rome on a Sat. I can not remember and both my parents are dead, but did some checking on old time tables today (in Tier 3 and its pouring down !) and I think this would be it, as we arrived back at LHR in the early hours. There was a large Thunderstorm to the West of Rome moving East and my father thought the flight maybe delayed as a result. However we were boarded, and engines started and we taxied out, but noted that a Swiss and Air France flights had returned to the gate, however we continued, and lined up for take off. We waited for some time, and then set off. I had a window seat, and commented to my father about the "pretty sparks" coming off the wing (St Elmo's fire) which gradually covered the whole wing as we climbed, as the plane bucketed and reared through the sky, with a number of screams, and the smell of vomit coming around the cabin, and visibly onto peoples clothes. It appeared to last for at least an hour, before some sort of smoothness returned, and engine had been feathered. On the flight my mother helped some of the passengers and crew with some injuries sustained, as she was a nurse, and even helped subsequently hand out medicinal Brandy, and light food for those who felt like it. During all this there was no word from the flight deck, until about 2hrs into the flight when the captain came on, who my father thought was called Biggleswade . He apologized for the "lively departure" but then went to say it "was not as bad as flying over Berlin in the winter 43/44 " and that was it ! That was the last we heard from him until we landed. My mother subsequently received a Postal Order and letter for £5 from the airline for her help, and service post looking after people.
The second incident involved CAT over the US in an Air France 707 which left numerous people injured, and a trashed interior, with flying CC and food carts and passengers, which lasted for about 5 min, but was a bit like flying in the NASA Vomit Comet at the time. The pilot declined to divert, and continued to Paris, where we were met by numerous ambulances, as there had been considerable broken bones. I always keep my seat belt on ever since, (though the 380 Bar on EK does negate that
) and have stayed away from Air France ever since as a result.
The interesting point, is that I have flown many thousands probably millions of miles since, in many 3rd world countries, with less well known carriers, as well as lots of LH flying, and yet these are the two incidents which caused me most concern, though my father said that in the first I was quite excited with the lightening and sudden drops, but probably too young to appreciate the danger. The second I could appreciate the danger, and see what was happening (as I was about 9 years old) but had a faith in the A/C (707) as that had become my chariot on the BCAL route from Santiago back and forth to school in UK, and I just could not believe it could crash. This flew in the face of the statistics of the time, as numerous ones were doing exactly that, including a large number of Air France ones !. But the real point is how safe flying actually is now by comparison with those times, when relatively few people flew, but the accident rate was quite high. I know my Mum was always concerned (she told me later) when packing me back off to school, as I was an only child, (my older brother had died just after being born), but she never showed it at the airport.
Happy landings to all in the coming year
Cheers
Mr Mac