For someone who already didn’t like heights to begin with, like late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, the incident was about as terrifying as it gets.

While flying somewhere over northwest Wyoming in the late 1990s, a latch on the door of the small, state-owned plane Thomas and then-Gov. Jim Geringer were flying on came open. 

Thomas was already no fan of flying or heights, and Geringer told Cowboy State Daily that when the door latch popped open, Thomas “about lost it,” considering he was already “a little nervous and a little squeamish” about flying.

“Don’t blame him,” Geringer said with a chuckle.