Have you ever experienced abject fear?

It happened to me for an hour when my bro decided to drive off on a bike suddenly. It took about an hour to find him and my parents called the cops and everything, man was I worried!

It seems like I should have, and most likely did, but I can’t think of when.

My greatest fear did not involve a child, it happened in the air. I was on final approach into teterboro now at about 100 feet in overcast and mild wind conditions. Without warning my port engine quite. Alarms went off but still I have trained one engine landings extensively, never the less you imagine my feeling at that point.
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The terrible vertigo happened when we were hit by cross wind and the king yawed about 15 degrees to the left, but we were still flying straight. I could tell because I could see the runway lines, the rudder was not having any effect… too much rudder could make me overcompensate… dangerous situation. The problem was… I was facing slightly left, and still flying straight.
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When your brain gets conflicting signals from your senses, you get extreme vertigo and a strong urge to upchuck as well as dizziness. All this happened in about 10 seconds, felt like an hour. I should have throttled up to climb… but could not release wheel. I should have radioed the tower…
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Then the king just straightened itself out and I landed long… almost running out of runway. The tower WAS stunned! Before we even rolled to a stop I lost my cookies. By the time I opened the door they had an emergency vehicle alongside and a tow shortly after that. It took a couple of hours before I could stop shaking.

It has happened to me with my younger sister. She would always forget to tell me or my mother where she was going and we were very often frantic wondering where she was. She would usually be a few meters away playing in the bush (There was a forest right behind our backyard). We were always so mad at her when we found her. Especially that one time we called the police….

@Tomfafa Nice story. I’ve been there. Which “king” were you flying? I’ve never found such a situation to be abject fear. My training has always “kicked in” in emergency situations. I’ve never been fearful until long after it was over. When I thought I had lost my son, it was FAR worse than any situation I’ve ever experinced in an aircraft. Please understand, I’m not minimizing your experience. But, I’ve dropped ALL 400 series cessnas, and a 208 or two, onto runways in the midwest US with so much induction ice that there was no way for a go around. Never approached the fear that I had lost my son.

Yes. I was sailing on an oil tanker with my husband and there was a fire in the engine room. Those 20 mts were the worst in my life.

@UScitizen A beautiful 1990 350 with pro line class cockpit, so good equipment. It came as part of the sale of my company in 02. I’ve put 164 hours on her. P&W and NTSB investigated thoroughly… my story got around. Ground control was stunned speechless. The only incident I ever had with her. The only incident I EVER had. I must say the king is truly a great plane… if I put 24” wheels on her, I can land just about anywhere. I also have a stearman 75 biplane with a radial engine, and a legend sport. I have about 200 hours total.

I’ve had that kind of fear a few times. Once, when I got a call that my husband had been in an accident and was being taken to the hospital by ambulance. They wouldn’t tell me anything about his condition, so my imagination was on overdrive until I got to the hospital. I found him in the ER, and will never forget the sight of him surrounded by doctors and nurses, covered in blood, with that brace on his neck. One of the nurses immediately told me he was going to be fine, but it took a while before I started to believe her.

Another time, I “lost” my daughter at the farmer’s market. She was 9 at the time, and asked me if she could go buy the eggs while I stood in another line with my boys. I said yes, and off she went. A few minutes later, I went to the booth where we normally buy eggs and didn’t see her. The man at the booth said he hadn’t seen her and hadn’t sold any eggs to little girls. This was only a few feet from where I’d been standing in line. For about two minutes I frantically looked all over. Other people were trying to help too, and I was about to call the police. Then I saw her skipping happily toward me across the town green, eggs in hand. She’d gone to a booth on the other side of the market to get eggs. I was so relieved I was about to cry.

This past fall, I also “lost” my six year old son at a fair. I sound like such a bad mom! I ran into a friend, and when I stopped to say hi, my son hid behind me. He didn’t want to talk to the friend’s daughter, who has been saying she wants to marry him since they were three. He absolutely hates to be around this poor little girl. We chatted for 30 seconds, and when I turned around my son was gone. He wasn’t just hiding behind me, but had completely walked off. This fair is huge and very crowded. I had my daughter with me, and the two of us were in a panic trying to find him. Unlike the farmer’s market, which isn’t very big or crowded, a crying kid at the fair wouldn’t stand out so much. It took about five minutes to find him, but felt like an eternity. I finally spotted him not far from where he’d walked off, looking like he was about to cry. There was a man talking to him, saying, “What does your mom look like?” My son wouldn’t talk to him. He told me later, “I didn’t mean to lose you, but I really don’t want to marry Lexy! I did what you said though and stayed in one spot and wouldn’t talk to anyone or go anywhere with anyone.” He was partly right. I’ve told the kids it’s ok to talk to strangers for help but to never ever ever go anywhere with a stranger. Again, I was so relieved to find him. I have very strict rules about the kids running off in public places, so packed everyone up and went straight home. Still, that was so scary. The things that run through your mind are terrible. :(

Yes I’ve had the same experience. When I came home from school one day and found my mum lying on the floor next to her bed in a pool of vomit. I was in such shock I just stood there, it was hard to descibe what I felt but was certainly one of those stomach churning experiences I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

@UScitizen – Same with me. I lost sight of my daughter for about 30 sec in my sons elementary school gym. I was nuts. But I didn’t feel the fear until after I found her.

when I was a kid I was in curacao trying to buy some weed and we gave a local kid a ride- he stuck a gun in my face and robbed us- I didn’t realise until much later I had wet myself- then later when I was older and had twins when they were small and would run off in a mall-another time I was flying a cessna 150 with a broken gas gauge over water looking for a small beach airport in the dark and almost ran out of fuel

Yes. I fell down a flight of concrete steps and fractured a vertebra in my spine. I was rushed to hospital by ambulance strapped to a spinal board, and for about an hour, I was unable to move my legs. That was the longest and most terrifying hour of my life.

@trailsillustrated A cessna 150 is good for a couple miles before it realizes it’s out of gas.
@downtide That must have been terrifying!
So the story I’m taking away from this good Q is… don’t have kids!

@UScitizen I flew my stearmen under the brooklyn bridge in march ‘09… the FCC had 4 (four) pics of me… clearly. Angel wings got my license back for me after 3 months.

@Tomfafa The message you received was not transmitted. There is nothing here about ”...don’t have kids” (sic). If there is a message, it is watch your children like a hawk would watch his prey.
... Flying under the Brooklyn bridge was a dangerous and irresponsible act. If it was only a 90 day suspension, you deserved it and got off lightly. Regardless of your skills as a pilot, your judgement would rule out having me in your right seat. Good judgement is 90% of the safety equation in the airplane.