I was on a Braniff flight in Texas in the 70's and this guy landed the plane in a severe crosswind, we were sideways and the leading wing clipped a few runway lights. Afterwards he came out and apologized and shook every passengers hand.
The terrain in west Texas is flat and winds can be a tremendous problem.
I flew into Midland/Odessa Airport decades ago on American which is the worse flight that I was ever on. The pilot tried to land the passenger plane in rough winds and the plane was shaking and moving up and down and sideways. The passengers were screaming, crying and praying. The teenage female that was sitting next to me was sobbing, shaking and squezzing my hand with both of her hands as I held her. This teenage female was beyond being scared.
Before he could land the plane, the pilot put the engines to full power and went back around. If the AH of a pilot had not gone around, he would have crashed the plane for the right wing has more than thirty degrees pointed down toward the runway and would of scraped the runway.
The second attempt was rough but not as rough as the first and the pilot was able to land with the plane sideways which I could tell looking out the side window.
I calmed the young lady down and waited for the crowd to rush off the plane. There was plenty of yelling and cursing at the cockpit. The pilot did not exit the cockpit. I asked the stewardess the name of the pilot and she refused my to answer my request. This landing resulted in a compliant to the president of American Airlines. Did find out later that the pilot was suspended for not circling the airport until the dangerous winds subsided or fly to another airport to wait out the windstorm.
When I got off the the plane the teen's parents and the teen met me and the parents and teen thanked me for taking care of their daughter.
The second worse flight was when I was headed to El Paso and we were crossing over the Davis mountains when the fasten seat belts sign came on while I had entered a rear restroom and the plane hit turbulence and air pockets and the plane was shaking and dropping. I put both of my hands on the bulkheads and was finally able to zip up and made it to a rear seat and buckled in next to a stewardess. The plane made it quickly through the unexpected turbulence. Told the stewardess about the restroom and she locked it off. Felt sorry for the cleanup crew that had to clean that restroom.
I was flying back to DFW from Amarillo sitting next to a black player for the Cowboys. As we took off, the player grabbed the ends of two seat dividers and his knuckles turned white. He related to me that he did not like flying especially taking off or landing.
I was due to fly out of Albuquerque one summer with the plane loaded with vacationers. I gave up my seat and took a later plane. I do not like flying loaded planes especially during the summer with all of the vacationers that have excess luggage loaded with everything except the kitchen sink.
Flying can be an experience.
Texican....