LOL... welcome to the wonderful world of wind shear... if you think it's scary in a 777, try an approach in a Cessna 150 sometime in gusting crosswinds...

But it's important to remember that as long as the pilot is thinking ahead and is ready for it, and there's sufficient power available and a little room to maneuver, there's little cause for alarm. If they can't quite get lined up before they run out of runway, they can always go around and try again.

It's unlikely they really lost control at any point. Sometimes it seems that way because it doesn't help to fight the gusts too much; you have to ride it out to some extent, or you can make things worse by over-controlling.

I've been pretty lucky on airline flights, but I do recall one landing , in a 717, I think, where the crew was battling with a gusty crosswind at a fairly extreme angle on approach to KEWR. I was sitting way in the back, and I could see the fuselage twisting. I thought the baggage bins were going to start popping open...

But I wasn't afraid- it was a new plane, and they're designed to "give" a little. and whoever was flying that landing did a great job- got it on the runway firmly with plenty of pavement remaining.

As for my own windy-day landings: again, I've never really been afraid, although occasionally I've been a little... uncertain now and then.

On final in to Puerto Rico in an MD80 (IIRC)...  At about 2000 feet the plane suddenly dropped for a good three or four seconds, and I mean a near true 0G drop.  Stuff started getting really light and moving around in the cabin, I lost contact with my seat and was held only by my belt, passengers were screaming, etc.  The plane recovered with plenty of altitude and landed without incident.  Given the weather I saw in the area I'm guessing we got caught in a severe down draft.  Had we been lower it would have been a realy problem.

I've told my Charlotte story too many times, I can tell it again when I have more time later.

Once me and my bro were going to florida to visit our grandparents and it was raining and we touchdown HARD, bouncing at least 15 or 20 feet above the runway before settling back down.

My Grandfather has a story about landing in Reagan International (Washington DC)

He said they were on approach and they were flying through a really strong storm. He said the captain had to go around 4-5 times before being able to land. One thing he added in was that he said the first 4 times they were on approach, he said they were lead in by the ATC the wrong way (obbiously the captain musta maid an announcment), but finally on the last try, they were lead in the right way and landed.


Nick

Sean...you being "uncertain"...HMMM...I don't believe that.       

Doug...you of all people...being scared in an airplane...NAW...I don't believe that one either.      

My worst flight was during the mid-summer of 1967.  I was sitting in the right seat checking out a new Captain on the 1946 Douglas DC3. 
We had just left Vancouver Intl. (CYVR), were at our cruise altitude and making a full overnight stop at Calgary Intl. (CYYC).
On board besides myself was our newest Captain, our Flight Engineer, one male Steward and eighteen tradesmen (plumbers, carpenters, electricians) all sobering up and heading back to the oil rigs of Calgary.
By all calculations we felt we should be leaving the rain behind us when the pounding started.  I was reading a copy of "Ace McCool" in a copy of "Private Pilot".  This was one of my favourite articles and one of my favourite magazines.  I was startled, I looked up and all I could see was what looked like hail or ice hitting the windscreen.  The pounding was getting harder and louder as the ice was flying off the props and hitting the aluminum sides of the aircraft just behind us.
Before I could open my mouth the aircraft rolled left almost sixty degrees, I heard several screams through the headphones as the steward lost the coffee pot and hot coffee went all over him and the flight engineer.  I instinctively leaned forward to the left and down to add carb heat as I thought we had picked up carb ice, dam, my seat was too far back, I couldn't reach anything, then the aircraft veered up and right pushing me back into the right side of my seat and banging my right arm on the cowl flap controls.  I think I was still trying to figure out what to do with this magazine as I had just purchased it.  My right arm was numb, it was lacking sensation, maybe I broke it I thought. 
The DC3 rolled down and left almost ninety degrees now pushing me forward in my seat belt, I couldn't grab the flap or gear handle on the floor on my side as I still had the magazine in my left hand, you know I must have paid three or four dollars for that magazine back then, maybe that is why I held onto it or it could have been I hadn't finished my "Ace McCool" article.
But, I could clearly see our new Captain now, yes by gosh I thought, nicely pressed white shirt, four gold stripes, wow, (mine were covered and smeared in oil), he was even clean shaven and his black hair slicked right down with brylcream (hope that is how you spell it), he didn't have enough strength to hold in opposite rudder, he was perspiring, me, I couldn't move, maybe I should have let go of my magazine.
I looked at the instrument panel, the vertical speed was pegged down, the gyros had tumbled, the airspeed was all the way in the red, the altimeter, oh oh, the altimeter, dam we were rolling and only at nine hundred feet.
Yes folks we hit that rocky hill dead on.
I remember sitting on this large wet rock, just sitting there, so I finished reading "Ace McCool".
Oh, yes we were all killed, there were no survivors, well you didn't think there would be did you? 

Well guess I better mosey down to the barn and stand in the corner for a bit, I am sure there will be a few comments on this one.       LMAO

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Hi Mark
Loved to have been there for that one. 

One of my sons took me up in a Bell 47 he used to rent and we did auto rotations.  I could almost walk faster than that thing could fly I think. 

He took me up in the Sea King over Bedford Basin in Halifax, Nova Scotia and we did auto rotations and water rescues.  He had a wonderful crew, after the flight was over they took me to an old English Pub where there had to be nearly 100 different Ales and Beers.  You got to sample one small glass until you found one you liked.  They only served one type of food and that was hot roast beef on some bun that you dipped into a sauce.  Wonderful. 
We have been to Halifax twice since then and my other son and his wife have no idea where they took us.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

The scariest flight i've been on was a US airways Jetstream 31 or 41 (i think) for St. Louis to Knoxville. I was about 8 years at the time, now i'm fifteen.
We took off from Lambert-STL normally, but after around 10 or 15 minutes, the captain made an announcement and told us that there was something wrong with the right engine and we had to return to STL. To me it looked fine, spinning around and all.
But after about three minutes after he made the announcement, the engine stopped, right before my eyes. I got horribly scared of course, i had little knowledge about planes and thought we would drop straight to the ground. but, we returned to the airport and landed safely, though the pilots applied full brakes and made the fastest slowdown i've ever seen. And there, in the end of the runway, a couple of firetrucks were waiting for us. fortunately we didn't need them.

This is the only scary flight i've been on though, and i've been on many (atleast for a guy my age), around 90 flights.