After flying over 2,000 flights and 3 million miles, I am revealing my worst flight experience and scariest flight ever. It was onboard a Siberia Airlines IL-86 from Novosibirsk to Beijing in 2004.

Ilyushin-86 is the first wide body airplane from the Soviet Union and it was the second four engine wide body airplane built in the world, preceded by the Boeing 747. The IL-86 is powered by 4 Kuznetsov NK-86 engines, these engines are underpowered and limit the range of IL-86 with full payload. The IL-86 has unique pull down stairs, which eliminates the need for airport infrastructure to board the plane. There are two decks, passengers board and store their luggage on lower deck before proceeding to their seats on the upper deck. There are no overhead bins in the centre, which gives the cabin a more spacious feel.

There was a potential bomb threat on my IL-86 flight in September 2004 in Russia. During the boarding, 2 suspicious men went to the bathroom and then requested to leave the airplane after boarding. Russia was in a state of high alert during that period as the flight took place just after the Beslan School siege, in which 300 lost their lives and over 700 more were injured.

Security forces came onboard with sniffer dogs to search the plane and passengers were sent back to terminal for additional security and interviews. After 3 hours we were cleared for take-off on the same plane, without the 2 suspicious men onboard. The IL-86 flew below a low weather pressure system over Siberia and shook violently all the way during the 4 hour flight to Beijing. This was probably the only time I wanted to leave a plane early.

Footage used in the video from the following channels. Check out their channels:

Loran: https://www.youtube.com/user/Chefsalat76
TivatCZ: https://www.youtube.com/user/TivatCZ
Report Aero: https://www.youtube.com/user/uueevid
Ёжичек: https://www.youtube.com/channe....l/UCwKbg4a5DobHJQ8Ec