Being a pilot is probably the dream of every little kid. Who wouldn’t want to wear one of those awesome uniforms and look cool as you stroll through the airport. But there is more to being a pilot than just looking cool. It’s a lot of hard work. And even more than that, it’s a lot of responsibility. You have the lives of everyone in the plane in your hands. You have to be able and ready to react in numerous situations and take control of a huge machine that is barreling through the air going hundreds of miles per hour. Of course, being a pilot has a lot of perks. Typically it is a well payed job. Along with doctors, lawyers, and engineers it also tends to receive respect and prestige. Besides that, being a pilot allows you to travel around the world and see places that you otherwise would never see. One week you might be in Tokyo and the next week you’ll be in New York City. It doesn’t sound too bad right? Well, everything has its pros and cons. It just depends on who you ask about them. These are 25 crazy stories and anecdotes about pilots!
- Nobuo Fujita was one of the only Japanese pilots to attack the mainland United States during World War II when he dropped a couple bombs over Oregon. He returned years later to present his family's sword as an apology and was even made an honorary citizen of the city of Brookings.
- In 2012, the pilot of an Air Canada plane mistook the planet Venus for another aircraft and initiated a steep dive. 16 people were injured because they bounced off the ceiling and the pilot almost hit another plane.
- Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot saved hundreds of Vietnamese villagers when he landed his helicopter between a village and his own fellow soldiers. He then threatened to open fire if the soldiers didn't leave the villagers alone.
- Phil Rasmussen was one of the few American pilots to shoot down a Japanese plane during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was flying an obsolete plane in his pajamas.
- In 1997, Craig Button, pilot of an A-10 Thunderbolt II turned off his radio during training and flew hundreds of miles off course until he crashed into a Colorado mountainside. Nobody knows why.
- Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, served in WWII with a pilot named Kim Noonien Singh. Gene lost contact with Kim but named the villain in the Star Trek after Kim hoping that he would notice and get in touch.
- In 1956, Thomas W. Attridge's jet was shot down during a test flight. It was later found that he had run into his own bullets that he had just fired.
- In 1953, No Kum-sok, a North Korean pilot defected to South Korea with his MiG-15. He received a $100,000 reward from the US military thanks to Operation Moolah. This operation was an American led effort to acquire a MiG aircraft.
- During the Cold War, SR-71 blackbirds were tasked with flying over foreign ceremonies to create sonic booms when heads of state were greeting each other.
- Art Scholl, the pilot who did camera work for Top Gun died while filming when his plane couldn't recover from a flat spin.
- In 1994, the pilot of an Aeroflot flight (593) let his son sit at the controls while it was flying from Moscow to Hong Kong. The boy turned off autopilot and sent the plane crashing into the side of a mountain.
- In 1958, a pilot ejected from his F-106 when it entered a flat spin. He was surprised to see it come out of the spin and land itself in a cornfield. Today, the plane is known as the "cornfield bomber".
- Scott O'Grady, the real pilot on which the movie Behind Enemy Lines was based ended up suing Fox because they depicted him as a soldier who "disobeys orders and swears".
- 12 cyanide pills were located in the cockpit of the Enola Gay. The crew was instructed to take these pills in case the bombing of Hiroshima went wrong.
- In 2001, Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) was in a plane with his family when the pilot passed out. Rowan took the controls and slapped the pilot until the pilot woke up.
- In 2009, two Northwest pilots lost their licenses when they overshot their destination by nearly 200 miles. They only realized their mistake when the flight attendant asked them about landing. Apparently they were both on their laptops.
- Tex Johnson, a pilot who was demonstrating a Boeing 707 over Washington during the 1955 airshow, did a barrel roll. When the Boeing executive asked him "what the heck he was doing", he replied that he was "selling airplanes". He went on to do another barrel roll.
- In 1994, a FedEx jet was hijacked by a disgruntled employee. In spite of the crew receiving multiple hammer blows the pilot managed to fly the plane in such a way as to keep the hijacker off balance. He even flew it upside down. Eventually the crew managed to stop the hijacker and land the plane.
- Alexey Maresyev was a Russian pilot who was shot down by Germans in 1942. He crawled back to friendly territory for nearly 20 days through the snow. In spite of the fact that his legs had to be amputated. He then went on to fly over 80 more combat missions.
- US pilot James Risner managed to nudge his friends ailing aircraft to friendly territory during the Korean War. He used the nose of his own plane, something that had never been tried before.
- In 1959, a pilot ejected from his plane at 45,000 feet but flew straight into a thundercloud. The wind kept him airborne for 40 minutes and he had to even hold his breath so that he wouldn't drown.
- On 9/11, some fighter jets took off without any ammunition. The pilots knew that they may have to ram their jets into the hijacked airplanes and eject at the last minute.
- During World War II, Franz Stigler, a German pilot, refused to shoot down a damaged Allied bomber. Instead, he escorted it back to the English Channel and saluted the American pilot. Following the war, the two pilots developed a lasting friendship.
- During World War II, German pilots in Africa would attach coke bottles to the bottoms of their planes so that the coke would cool down and be ready to drink when they landed.
- In 1978, Frederick Valentich disappeared off the coast of Australia after describing a strange aircraft hovering over him. To this day no one is sure what happened.
Article published on http://list25.com/
