in 2002, we attempted to land at Cleveland Hopkins airport and was in final desent and actually hit the runway and went back up into air and ended up in Pittsburgh, we were told that when they hit the runway, a TORNADO WARNING had been issued for Cuyahoga county and they did not want to take any chances…2 hrs later we went back to Cleveland…on Continental Airlines
I was going into KCLE, into 6L. The winds were 330 @ 25, it was the middle of winter and snowing about 2"/hr. EVERYONE was holding. I was a freight pilot, so I’m going to land. I was doing an IOE for a new hire, and thought I show him how it’s done. I had the GS and LOC pegged all the way down, I must have had 30 degree of correction. I broke out of minimums mashed the rudder to the floor and milked it onto the runway. As soon as the nose touched the runway the aircraft weather vaned into the wind and was now sliding down the r/w sideways. I must have to much time in boats b/c the first thing I did was push up just the left throttle. Now I’m pointing down the r/w but being pushed to the side. OK this is bad. Pushed both levers up and pulled back, I was about blue line -10. As we lifted off on the stall horn I heard “thump thumb.” Now we’re going up but the gear won’t go up.
After landing we find the gear wells packed with snow. I assume we hit the snow drifts on the side of the runway. It is by the grace of God I didn’t cartwheel that a/c down the runway.
Lessons learned and relearned.
If everyone is holding b/c of winds so should you.
When the r/w is covered with snow a gentle touch down is bad, plant it!
never show off for the new guy
carry clean undies, just in case
fly the a/c to the ground and on the ground.
I remember that landing every time I fly an ILS and esp. in the winter.
That’s my scariest landing, but I’d like to hear others as well. We can all learn from each other.
I remember a cargo plane (DC-9, maybe?) crashing while trying to land in a snowstorm at CLE in the early 90s–the a/c ended up flipping over, and I’m pretty sure both pilots were killed. I’d bring up a link, but for some reason I can’t get on the NTSB’s website right now (brings up a stupid “Search” page every time).
The “stupid search page” can be your friend. Is this the flight you were talking about: DC-9-15 of Ryan International at CLE on 2/17/91?.
That’s the one…I guess it was trying to take off in a snowstorm, not land.
Anyway, the problem with the “search” page is that I am sent back to it every time I click on the links it provides. I haven’t tried it since my original post; maybe there was a glitch that now has been fixed.
I works for me now.
My worst attempt was as a passenger in the last minute DEN to EGE when ASE was suddenly closed. The jet was scratched and we acquired a prop. All luggage was diverted to a Denver warehouse or perhaps even Hong Kong for a few days. The airport was about 90 degrees inside with hundreds of passengers twice as hot under the collar. After 6 different stories at 6 different checkin desks at the gate, we departed for EGE in a blizzard, the last flight out. The blizzard was in the mountains, not at DEN. Descending into EGE was zero visibility, for passengers anyway. The turbulance was not butterflies in your tummy, but brick walls and – I’m not kidding - tushy in the air with seatbelt cutting into hip bones. Many inflight “lose your cookies here” bags were utilized by several passengers and the air in the plane was not pleasant. Finally, we touched down after the brave pilot located the runway after 2 circles around. To top off the “excitement,” the plane fishtailed during braking. Upon stopping at the gate, a little girl across from me said to her mom (in the silence), “Mommy, I threw up!!” Everyone on the plane broke into laughter.
The only airline agent in the airport informed me upon landing, just prior to my making my lost baggage claim with the only other employee in the building (besides the car rental guy who was just leaving), told me my pilot was “THE ONLY PILOT WILLING TO TRY IT.” And she really did use the words “TRY IT.” 
Got luggage 2 days later delivered to the door in tact. Our ski resort got 5 feet of snow that night so it ended with a happy story.