A Year Ago - Remembering Flying on 09/11

[Freightdog75]

Never Forget!!!!! God bless you all, and God bless AMERICA!!!!

 

[banned username 2]

Monday evening, September 10, 2001 I flew into Newark in an AA F-100. Heading for Falcon 50EX recurrent like I had many times before. We got into EWR just after a line of heavy storms had passed, a cold front was passing and the sky was clearing. Tomorrow was going to be a beautiful day, or so I thought.

Tuesday Morning, up early to catch some breakfast at the Concierge Lounge at the Glenpointe Marriott... I sat eating my breakfast with a great view of Manhatten, it was one of those crystal clear autumn mornings. I check my watch, 7:30am, time to fight the traffic on 17 to get to Flight Safety...

8:00am class begins... The instructor is a familiar face... I have know Mickey for years, since my Falcon 20 days... Good guy... Class starts after we joke a bit and exchange greetings... Nothing too exciting, Chapter 2, the Electrical System... for the millionth time... "When's Lunch?" I think to myself quietly...

At about 9:00am one of the girls from the front area comes running down the hall and says a plane hit the World Trade Center... We all look at each other and figure someone in a Cessna or Piper hit the building, "Probably some nut case commiting suicide" we joke... "Break Time" Mick says and we all decide to go up front to see what is going on...

The local news station is on, we all stand there in disbelief of the images of the blazing building, we quickly realize this was larger than a Cessna, much larger. Standing in puzzlement, we can't figure out how a plane of this size hit the building on a crystal clear day. We didn't know what type of plane it was, but assumed something the size of a Corporate Jet... Maybe a Hawker or something...

We are all mezmerized by the live footage from the news helicopter on the TV, this building was in bad shape, "How are they going to get that out?" someone mumbles from behind me.

9:03am: As we are watching TV there is a quick glimpse of a large 737-looking aircraft that enters the right side of the screen, as soon as it hits the building the TV we are watching goes to static. "Was that a re-run?" someone shouts... Someone else says "Yeah, it had to be a rerun, they must have caught the whole thing on tape"... I turned around to about 10 people watching and said "If it was a rerun, why was the building on fire BEFORE the plane hit?" Everyone fell silent... A quick scramble through the stations and we get CNN on, images of both buildings blazing hit the screen, everyone gasps... This wasn't an accident, not even close.

The Center Manager tries to marshall everyone back to their classrooms. We go back in and try to discuss what we just saw... At about 9:45am I get a text message from a buddy back home that the Pentagon has been hit, I tell Mick... Class Dismissed... We find ourselves out in the lobby again watching TV...

I call my wife, who was in a breakfast meeting, I told her to get home and stay home. She asked what was going on, they hadn't even heard. She was so preoccupied with her meeting that I don't think she totally understood the gravity of what I was telling her.

I go back to the TV, watching the images of two enormous skyscrapers engulfed in smoke and fire. You can see people jumping from the upper floors.

A little while later, people are on the roof of Flight Safety, you can see Manhatten from there. Also from the back corner of the sim bay, there is a stairway with a large window that looks out over Manhatten. People are flocking to see the smoke which is only a couple miles away.

I call my wife again, making sure she is on her way and trying to fill her in on the events that are occuring here. At 10:05am while I am on the phone with my wife, the South Tower collapses. Someone comes running down the hall screaming "The building collapsed!" I tell my wife I love her and quickly end the call. I run to the TV to see the huge cloud of dust created by 250,000 tons of building falling in on itself. My God, I think... there is no way everyone got out of that building.

10:10am... I am standing, staring at the odd view of one World Trade Center building standing. It looks very strange, all alone, shrouded in the dust & ashes of it's sibling. This doesn't seem real, is this really happening...

10:20am I decide to head to the back sim bay on the upper staircase which lends a perfect view of lower Manhatten. I am standing there with another student, speechless. He looks at me, his face is expressionless, he looks like a mummy... After a minute, he slowly walks away like a zombie. I find myself standing there alone, watching this horror unfold. I ponder to myself about the fate of the North Tower as I stand and watch it burn. "Is this one going to fall too?" I think to myself. I check my watch, 10:28am. As I look back up, I see a puff blow out in a ring around the North Tower, the tower begins it's journey down. I am standing there, helpless, watching a thousand people die, instantly before my eyes in real-life, real-time. I have never felt more alone, or helpless in my life. I stood silently in disbelief for what felt like an eternity. My silence was broken by an announcement over the intercom system notifying us we must all leave the building immediately, the center was closed until further notice.

I spent the rest of the day either glued to my TV or in the Concierge Lounge at the Glenpointe Marriott staring at the smoking rubble in lower Manhatten. Highway 95 outside the hotel is deserted. The George Washington Bridge into Manhatten is closed and the road is blocked, not a car in sight. There isn't even any traffic on the local roads. It reminded me of sceens from the Stephan King movie the Langoliers. This thriving metropolis was a ghost town. Only an occasional Police Cruiser is seen. The sky was empty, the roads were empty, the world had changed, forever.

It is a day I will never forget. It is a day that no American should ever forget. It is a day that will define our history and shape our future, and our childrens future.

God Bless America and all those who perished in the senseless events of September 11, 2001.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

check out this pirep

Baltimore MD (Baltimore-Washington Intl) [BWI]: pilot report
at VCNTYBWI at 6:38am EST (1138Z), at 2,000 feet a ML7 reported sky scattered cirrus, weather flight visibility 10 point, temperature 20°C ... we will not FORGET 9/11

 

[dispatchguy]

I have my own memories of 9/11/01.

I was still in ground school at American Eagle dispatch, in OJT portion for Executive airlines. For us, the normal show time for day shift was 0300, but my OJT trainer and his wife had plans for the night before, so he did a trade and we had an 0800 show time that morning. I thought, cool, now I get to sleep in and feel human at work.

I woke up that morning in DFW and looked outside at the severe clear weather and thought that it was going to be a great day.

Get ready, and head into work. A radio show I have listened to for ever it seems (since high school) is on a DFW radio station, Bob and Tom - nothing like juvenile humor before heading into work.

Right when I pulled into the AA Flight Academy parking lot, Kristie, their news girl on B&T said that a newsflash had come across that a plane, size unknown, had crashed into one of the towers of the WTC. My immediate thought was a C172 or something of similar size went no-gyro in hard IFR and bounced off one of the WTC towers.

I log in and the first thing I do was type SLS*LGA, the SABRE command to display the sequence for LGA - it was 10 and clear. Hmmm, something's not good. I do the same for JFK, HPN, ISP, EWR and BDR and all were the same, 10 and clear.

About this time, the midnite shift for AA Dispatch is getting off shift, and one of them comes thru the Eagle SOC and stops by and talks to my trainer, and sez that somethings up with AA11 - that the Center Manager for AA SOC has locked the flight records out in SABRE right when he was walking out. I relate what I heard on B&T and we all look at each other with a holy-$hit.

Rocky, the dispatcher working the early morning Caribbean operation, gets a call from a friend of his saying that smoke is coming from a trade center tower. The printer spits an ATCSCC message about a ground stop for NY and DC centers from all centers.

A flight from ORD ACARSed his dispatcher telling him of the ground stop, when ATCSCC issues the following:

ATCSCC ADVZY 031 DCC 09/11/01 GROUND STOP ALL DEPARTURES
DESTINATION AIRPORT: ALL
FACILITIES INCLUDED: ALL
EXPECT UPDATE: 1500Z
REASON: DUE TO NATIONAL EMERGENCY, GROUND STOP ALL
DEPARTURES REGARDLESS OF DESTINATION........REPEAT
GROUND STOP ALL DEPARTURES

Since I wasnt signed off yet, I couldnt jump in and help. Rocky and my trainer called all of the caribbean flights and told them to land short, and stay out of San Juan centers airspace - since it was now closed. I called the stations and told them, to the limit of what we knew, that no one was going anywhere today.

My most vivid recollections of what I did that day was entering endless numbers of flight cancellations into SABRE for the Caribbean operation.

I still have the messages which shut the NAS down - tattered, but very important.

ATCSCC ADVZY 036 DCC 09/11/01 FDC SPECIAL NOTICE

DUE TO EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES AND FOR REASONS OF SAFTEY(SIC). ATTENTION ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATORS, BY ORDER OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION COMMAND CENTER ALL AIRPORTS/AIRDROMES ARE NOT AUTHORIZED FOR LANDING AND TAKEOFF. ALL TRAFFIC INCLUDING AIRBORNE TRAFFIC ARE ENCOURAGED TO LAND SHORTLY, INCLUDING ALL HELICOPTER TRAFFIC.

AIRCRAFT INVOLVED IN FIREFIGHTING IN THE NORTHWEST US ARE EXCLUDED. PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE OVER THE EMERGENCY FREQUENCIES, AND VOR VOICE.

111505

May the crews and victims rest in the most peaceful of peaces, and may we NEVER EVER FORGET.

 

[EagleRJ]

LGA KLGA 111430
111355
111351Z 34009KT 10SM FEW010 SCT250 22/13 A3013 RMK A02
SLP204 FU FEW010 FU PLUME SW DRFTG SE T02220133


JFK KJFK 111430
111355
111351Z 35007KT 10SM FEW010 SCT250 23/13 A3014 RMK A02
SLP205 FU FEW010 FU PLUME DSNT NW DRFTG SE T02280133




Never Forget

 

[flipflyr]

09-11-01

09-11-01

It was a beautiful morning in Newark that morning. We had a 6:15 AM report time that morning, which meant an early wake up call by most peoples’ standards. On the van ride to the airport, I thought about our long duty day ahead: EWR-DAY-IAH-CAE...

Everything was normal that morning when we got to the airplane. The appropriate checklists were run and we taxied out from the old "D-pad" in EWR (now terminal C-3), around the corner, Bravo short of Mike. One word described the sunrise behind the World Trade Center that morning - magnificent. The Captain and I mentioned how we should have had a camera to capture the sunrise that morning (consequently, since then, I carry a camera in my flight case for "moments” like this).

We flew an uneventful flight to Dayton. Unbeknownst to us, the first plane had probably already hit the World Trade Center. We had arrived early, so the crew and I decided to walk around the terminal for the 10-15 minutes we had before our "long" flight back to IAH.

Another normal takeoff out of DAY on our way south. Right around PXV, we heard a United flight mention on center frequency that they would be diverting to Indy. Not something you hear every day - in the back of my mind I wondered what happened on their flight. Not long after that, a Northwest plane mentioned that they would be diverting to Indy as well. Hmmm. The Captain and I wondered if there was maybe weather in Chicago or Memphis?

What happened next forever engrained in my mind that I was part of the history of what happened that day. The center controller broadcasted, "Attention all aircraft..." (at this point I thought it was just a normal/typical Center Weather Advisory - boy was I wrong), "all aircraft in the air on frequency, by order of the FAA, must find the nearest suitable airport and land."

I was the non-flying pilot on this leg, so I sheepishly asked, "Does that include Jetlink xxxx?"
ATC replied: "Are you in the air?"
US: "Yes"
ATC: “Are you on this frequency?”
US: “Well… Ya”
ATC: "Then… Yes..."
US: "Mind if we ask why?"
ATC: "Due to terrorist activity at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon"

That's when a chill hit my entire body. We could have one of those "b-words" on board the plane. We called the flight attendant and she said everything was normal in the back.

From where we were, it looked like the closest place was BNA (Nashville, TN). We notified ATC of our intentions and they initially gave us a vector to the west to "fit us into the flow" for BNA. As we started turning back in the right direction, we get a SELCAL from dispatch, and they wanted us to divert to Memphis, TN.
Little did we know that Memphis was the most diverted-to airport in the United States.

We were one of the last flights into the airport, and there were more airplanes than I had ever seen all at one time at an airport. We had about 15 planes lined up on rwy 18C/36C. All of us did not know how the logistics were going to work on how to deplane our passengers. The ramp area was full. The gates were full...

After we were lined up in our temporary parking spot, I turned on my cell phone. Right at that point, my phone rang. It was my cousin who I don't talk to very often. He told me what happened. I was speechless. BOTH towers collapsed? The Pentagon's on fire? No way! I just saw the sunrise behind the twin towers this morning! After that phone call, the little envelope indicated I had VM. Wow. 7 messages. Messages from family and friends back in California - they all knew that I fly to the Northeast frequently, and they were all calling asking if I was all right.

I called my dad first. Now mind you, I've never heard or seen him cry in the 27 years that I had known him, but he cried on the phone that day. He thought I was THAT plane that hit. More phone calls returned... More bittersweet sighs of relief.

"Ding-dong" – the flight attendant calls us. Seems we have a guy from the FAA in the back that would like to talk to us... We jokingly thought - great, on top of all this we're gonna get ramp checked too? He was on the horn with his bosses and didn't tell us anything new - planes hit the WTC and Pentagon, and they think another just crashed near PIT.

Amazing. We were part of history that day.

It was surreal returning to EWR 2 weeks later. The twin towers were how I helped find the Newark airport! All we saw was smoke coming up from where they were...

For those people that have never been to NYC or seen those towers, images on a television don't do it justice. If you've never been there or seen them, I can understand how easy it is to forget what happened on that fateful day. As for me, I will NEVER FORGET...

Here's to all the souls lost that day. Thank you for your courage.

For all the people that continue to live life normally in the shadow of terrorism. Thank you for your courage.


WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

 

[Publishers]

That Morning

That morning i was sitting at my home office talking with a person in Newark about drug and alcohol testing. He clued me in that a small aircraft had hit the Trade Center.

When I turned it on, it took less than 5 seconds to know that whatever hit the tower was not a small aircraft. As the second aircraft hit, I knew we were under attack and had a good guess from whom.

Ironically while there was little information on TV about the aircraft in PA, I checked web sites near the area and found a report of the crash.

In a little less than two minutes I had determined that:
My magazine was probably doomed--- it lasted a few more months.
The airlines would not come out of this the same
That terrorism would dominate our future thinking
That there would be terrific umemployment in our industry
The countries economy would sink further.

In short, major life changes for many.

Hopefully we learned.....

 

[Dizel8]

I was still asleep, had an afternoon show, when my friend woke me up in the crashpad. He told me, an aircraft had hit the WTC. Of course, I went "yeah right", but he was insistent. So I went to sit on the couch and was watching the smoke billowing out, when the second airplane hit. It did not take us both long to figure out, that this was no accident.

I climbed up on the roof and could see the smoke with my own eyes, pouring out of the two buildings.

Needless to say, we know the rest of the events.

What I am left wondering, is why people would hate the USA so much, that they would commit such atrociate acts. I do not wear blinders, I understand that our policies are sometimes predicated on what is beneficial to us, but we also send our women and men to fight for freedom. We have people in Afghanistan, trying to create a democracy. People in Iraq, trying to give those people a choice. We strive to give the people the right of free choice and democracy, the ability to raise their families in a world free of hatred. Yet, our soldiers are being killed on an daily basis.

I get tears in my eyes, when I watch movies like Saving Private Ryan andf BlackHawk down.Yeah, I know its Hollywood, yet in the stories are the truth. These people fought for causes that we know to be right, yet they are still hated by some. We send our men and women into combat, for what?

I am left with the thought, that some people do not wish peace, that they will not be happy untill we have Islamic rule, oppression of ideas and all the "infidels" are dead.

Well guess what Osama, if you are such a brave man, why dont you name a time and a place. I would take pleasure in ripping your head of and shoving it up your arse.

 

[Northern Lights]

3 years now

Here we are three years later. The origional post is now two years old, but I think that it is a good one.

Never Forget 9/11/01 What a day that was.

 

[SKC]

The most sureal thing about the whole event from my seat in dispatch that day was the two hours after the ground stop was issued. Sitting at my desk watching the ASD slowly go from 5000 a/c, to 2500 a/c, down to the last aircraft in the entire country. Knowing that for the first time since the early 1900s no civilian aircraft were aloft. Strange feeling to say the least.

[this viewpoint is aside from the obvious]

 

[Airpiraterob]

that night i got very very drunk.

the next day after my hangover i was driving to the store. drove past 4 motorcycle intensive gentlemen wearing their leather vests and tattered jeans and chains and cigarettes with beer bellys way out there for inspection. they were waving american flags and holding up a very large sign stating, " For those that care, NUKE-EM ! "....this was spotted near the wal-mart.

2 days later they let commercial traffic fly again and i was up that evening.....dead silence on the frequency. dead still in the air. no weather. no traffic or moving lights of any kind. i wasnt sure if i was actually at work or looking at a picture of work at home.

everyone loading/unloading at the destination was walking around numb....in a trance. unfortunately that week lee greenwood saw his second career begin with his two-hit single wonder.

that weekend i got very very drunk again.

 

[ArcticFlier]

Bump................................




AF

 

[ArcticFlier]

Bump................................




AF

...........again. It's been five years.

 

[TrafficInSight]

I was sleeping when the alarm clock went off. My local morning DJ who is usually funny says ".... this will be like asking 'Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?'"

Odd... I hit the alarm shutoff, roll out of bed and head to the computer, my normal source of news.

CNN website, down. Google, down. Yahoo, down....

very VERY odd.

www.fark.com, of all places, is up...

As it loads my blood runs cold, as I slept the world has fallen apart around me. Four airplanes? The world trade center? The Pentagon? All aircraft grounded? What the hell is going on here?

I look at the clock, 9:30am pacific time.

I wake my roommate because we have class together at 10:00 and I wake my fiancee and tell her what's going on... she doesn't say much.

What do we do? stay home? go to class? We decide we can't do much by staying at home except watch the horror over and over again so we head for class. We need contact, confirmation that we aren't dreaming. Once we get there the instructor gives a short speech which I can't remember, and sends us home. The campus is being evacuated.

I drive to the airport, I sit, I watch.

Nothing happens. No one moves. It's like a moment frozen in time.

I call my mom and dad and tell them I love them.

 

[BRA]

I actually went looking for this thread just now. I figured it would be around somewhere. It's one of the best ones i have ever read.