What frightening experiences have you had?

[GJABS]

2. Flying in a small propeller aircraft (think it was a Fokker F50) approaching Heathrow too close behind a 747. The turbulence caused by the 747 made the aircraft first flip 90 degrees on its right side, came straight and flipped immediately 90 degrees on its left side. Right above the houses of parliament

Ah, the joys of wake turbulence. Pretty cool that you were allowed into the Class A airspace (as it then was) over central London - I'm jealous
Oh, and with apologies to Stan Boardman: That Fokker was a Messerschmitt!

[courtg9000]

Let me see,
nearly dying in the back of an ambulance
Being caught in a hotel fire
Nearly falling off the roof of a 10 storey building while doing a survey

[MyUserName]

My wife's family have a genetic quirk which can stop their children ingesting proteins. Her sister died of it when she was a baby.

When she was pregnant with our first we told the pediatrician and she took all the notes etc. but we did not know very much. The doctors were not sure exactly what had happened with her sister or how likely our kids were to have it. A week or so later we were at the hospital and mentioned it to another doctor. They told us not to worry and genetic knowledge had come on in leaps and bounds over the passed few decades.

We though no more about it.

2 weeks before the due date the pediatrician phoned me and asked about the tests. I did not know what she was talking about. She had explained that she had arranged for us to have a genetic test every 2 weeks through the pregnancy to check for any issues. I had not idea what she was talking about and told her that another doctor had told us not to worry about it. The pediatrician asked how this guy knew whether this condition was one we could treat if he did not actually know what it was? I didn't know. A doctor had told us not to worry so we hadn't worried.

There was a long silence and eventually she asked if she could phone me back later.

I literally stood next to the phone staring at it for about 20 minutes. I could tell by the way she had suddenly become so composed that the pediatrician was panicking.

She phoned back and explained that there had been some kind of communication breakdown and we should have been tested every 2 weeks throughout the pregnancy and now it was too late to do anything. She had arranged 5 days in the hospital and our daughter to be tested every 4 hours to try to catch any issues. I asked what they were going to do being as we had no idea what the condition was or whether it could be treated at all, she just said she did not know but they would do everything they could.

I have had people threaten me with guns, knives. I have a broken bottle so close to my eye that I felt my eye lash brush it when I blinked. I have lost control of my car at 70mph but those 20 minutes staring at that phone is the stuff nightmares are made of.

[Paralytic]

Let me see,
nearly dying in the back of an ambulance
Being caught in a hotel fire
Nearly falling off the roof of a 10 storey building while doing a survey

And what a day that was!

[ladymuck]

...
Nearly falling off the roof of a 10 storey building while doing a survey

My brother watched a chap step back off one of the buildings in Canary Wharf. He completely forgot he was at the top of what would become Barclays and, after fitting a piece of the airconditioning vent, stood up, stretched, stepped back.

I think he was clipped in (I don't recall mention of any further grim details) but totally a brown trouser moment for everyone up there.

[courtg9000]

My brother watched a chap step back off one of the buildings in Canary Wharf. He completely forgot he was at the top of what would become Barclays and, after fitting a piece of the airconditioning vent, stood up, stretched, stepped back.

I think he was clipped in (I don't recall mention of any further grim details) but totally a brown trouser moment for everyone up there.

Mine was slightly different. I was with a surveyor checking a hotel for potential expansion. I was rather close to the edge and had a Menieres drop attack. I was concussed and had to be helped back from the edge while concussed and with a small head injury. This was shortly before they found out I had Meniere's disease. All of the medics involved had a fit.

[vwdan]

Too many to mention when you've owned a motorbike for most of your adult life.

Haha, oh yes! Last time out before lockdown [whatever number it is now], a little rusty in hindsight I hit some mud on a road at, uh around 70mph office. Lost traction on both wheels - from the accounts of those behind, it looked even worse than it felt! To be honest, for me, it was over and done before my conscious caught up!

In answer to the question, without wishing to get too heavy and the ending is fine: After my sons first open heart surgery at a few days old we'd just settled him into ICU and had gone back to our room for a shower. Had probably been gone....15 minutes, and we get a mobile phone call requesting our urgent presence. Got there to find him already being operated on, open heart, in ICU due to a critical drop in blood pressure - beyond that, I actually can't remember anything. I remember being told/asked to sit down as I looked faint.

The rest is just this weird blur like you get after a heavy night. I believe it was about 20 - 30 minutes while they fixed a serious internal bleed. Never reacted like that to anything in my life, but that moment knocked me about.

(He's fine now! Two open hearts and a cardiac catheter down! A few more to go!)

[Andy2]

I have had people threaten me with guns, knives. I have a broken bottle so close to my eye that I felt my eye lash brush it when I blinked.

who are you? crocodile dundee ?

[vetran]

I was climbing little Chamonix in the lakes, I slipped and nearly emasculated myself on a obelisk like rock below one leg either side crown jewels in the middle , half inch further forward I would sing castrato.

I burnt my fingers on some lamb chops I was cooking, next day I was climbing a small Tor about 50 feet and nearly got to the top however there was a pinch hold near the top, my belay wasn't paying attention, my grip failed and the ground came to nearly meet me. I looked up to see my belay hanging over the edge with his newly lit fag swearing his head off. Hanging upside down laughing at my belay while I was 10 feet off the ground looks odd.

[Gibbon]

Many things (including the dreaded "you have cancer", yes that blunt) but the one that continues to give me the hebe jebes is having to decide whether to shoot some silly tw*t who had forced his way past the unarmed guard. I made the right choice!