Have you forgotten?

[BoilerUP]

Six years later....the effects on our country, industry and careers are nearly immeasurable.

What was everyone doing the morning of September 11th, 2001? I had just started school at Purdue...and remember no contrails under the most beautiful, blue fall sky I'd ever seen.

 

[Rerouted]

I was walking across the ramp at HPN, just north of NYC watching a Phillip Morris Gulfstream abort right after the first building was hit. It's hard to describe the looks on the faces of my fellow instructors who were returning from their morning flights - these guys saw the whole thing. One actually passed the first jet as it headed down the river. It was a horrible morning - I knew many people in those buildings.

 

[John Pennekamp]

I was on reserve and crashing with my sister in downtown Atlanta. I was about to get in the shower and she called in a frenzy to tell me a plane hit the WTC. I thought she was talking about the Georgia World Conference Center and a Cessna. Then I went and turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit.

Later that day, I just had to get out so I went for a bike ride downtown. It was unbelievably quiet. No planes overhead, and few people downtown. Rumors were also flying that downtown Atlanta and/or the CDC were targets. Downtown was mostly evacuated. It was really strange. It was like the end of the world.

I commuted back then, and didn't make it home for over a week (and ASA kept us on reserve "just in case"). I recall the approach into my home airport, and seeing the fall leaves turning colors. For some reason I was thinking that I didn't think I'd see that again. I felt lucky to be alive.

 

[DX Rick]

I was laying in bed all hung over.
I woke up to my mom yelling that a plane had just flown into the WTC. I woke up and said "They shouldn't be doing that"

I got up, watched the second plane hit. Laid infront of the TV all morning and watched it on Fox News.

Come lunch time I went to Portillos and it was the only time ever, I was the ONLY person in the drive thru lane.

 

[captainv]

I was in a LR-31 en route from ATL-DCA. Abeam RDU, center asked all airliners to check in with company as they'd had reports of a hijacking. We tuned up an AM radio station on the ADF and heard about an airplane described as a twin hitting the WTC. A few minutes later, word came that the other tower was hit and both were airliners. We passed the info along to ATL center, at the time they weren't aware.

Everyone going to NYC was given a hold and told to divert. We continued for DCA. Abeam RIC, we were told DCA was shutting down (we figured it was a precaution) but that IAD was still open. My boss decided he'd rather return to ATL than miss his meeting, so we turned around. Just as we began to climb, we were given a choice of RIC or ROA. Before we could even talk about it, we were told to proceed to ROA. Bunch of RJ's on the ramp. Walked into the FBO and saw replay of the towers coming down. We were in shock, i guess, nobody in that FBO said a thing.

Went to a hotel, avoided a local reporter looking to talk to pilots, and spent 5 days there until we were released to fly again....

 

[capt. megadeth]

We just aborted on 31C at Midway for an EFIS screen going blank, taxied into the gate and were discussing this with maintenance. Our FA comes up and says "Someone just said that a plane hit the WTC". My first thought was that it was a little airplane. A few minutes later we heard ATC talking about that they were shutting down the airports for a national emergency. We went into the pilot lounge and about 30 Chicago Express employees watched the horror unfold on TV.

I still just can't believe my eyes whenever I see a video of that 2nd plane hitting the building.

 

[John Pennekamp]

Come lunch time I went to Portillos and it was the only time ever, I was the ONLY person in the drive thru lane.

That right there is a sign something is terribly wrong. I once waited almost an hour for a hot dog and a beef at lunchtime on a weekday.

 

[PCL_128]

I was working for GIA at the time, and I was scheduled to instruct in the sim at about noon. Woke up that morning and turned on the TV and walked into the kitchen to fix some cereal. I vaguely heard some talk about a "small plane" hitting a building, but I wasn't paying much attention. Finished pouring the cereal, walked into the living room and looked at the TV just as the second plane flew into the WTC. I canceled all of my students' lessons and we spent the day at the training center with about 50 of us huddled around the TV, still not quite able to believe it.

I certainly haven't forgotten. I plan on watching United 93 again tonight when I get home from work. If you haven't seen that movie, then you should.

 

[Long Time Gone]

We were living North of Orlando at the time. On our way to Disney to meet up with some out of town friends who were playing tourist, when the first one hit. The second hit as we were pulling into Disney. We were putting our pup German Shepherd into the kennel at DisneyWorld when the first tower fell. Since we were there quite often with our pup, they knew us on a first name basis and asked us if we wanted to watch the TV behind the desk. I still remember the faces of the Disney employees in the kennel as we watched it live on TV.

We continued into the park and met up with our friends. We walked around the park, and couldn't help but looking more up at the sky for aircraft than trying to enjoy ourselves. My wife knew that I was expecting one to hit Disney, since it's usually full of people.

After the second tower fell, and the other aircraft hit targets, Disney decided to shut down all of the parks for security reasons. It was at the time only the second time in the history of Disney that they shut down the park, the first being a hurricane that was projected to hit Orlando in 2000.

 

[FMEpilot]

Just getting out of bed for my 9:30 lab, went on my pc to read the news... "Plane hits world trade center, more to come..." Turned on my TV and saw the second plane hit.

 

[DX Rick]

We just aborted on 31C at Midway for an EFIS screen going blank, taxied into the gate and were discussing this with maintenance. Our FA comes up and says "Someone just said that a plane hit the WTC". My first thought was that it was a little airplane. A few minutes later we heard ATC talking about that they were shutting down the airports for a national emergency. We went into the pilot lounge and about 30 Chicago Express employees watched the horror unfold on TV.

I still just can't believe my eyes whenever I see a video of that 2nd plane hitting the building.

typical broad.

 

[Lav Service]

I was working on the ramp for FDX at GFK that morning. We had just launched our last 727 when the MX guys called on the radio and told us to come to the breakroom. We all stayed to watch the news coverage and then we started getting the diversions.

 

[blott]

I was enroute STL-FWA. ATC started sending planes to nearby airports. I asked what was going on-atc said national emergency due to events in NY and DC, they were shutting down the national airspace system.... that's all they would say. Spooky. I was waiting to see mushroom clouds. We were close enough to FWA so we were allowed to continue. At the gate a ramper climbed up the stairs on our SAAB and said terrorists were crashing planes into buildings. Walked into ops five mins before the first tower went down. Checked into the hotel, called friend to come get us, went to liquor store, went to sports store and got a frisbee-preceded to get hammered at the "frisbee golf" course in FWA. Stayed drunk for two days- cleared to fly again four days later. Terminated from CHQ a month later-out of seniority....

B

 

[Captain Morgan]

I was on my way to go surfing with my cousin. We strapped the boards down on the car and we headed out for some Jack in the Box Breakfast Jacks when we turned the radio on. We just sat in the car listening while parked at the beach. We didn't feel much like surfing. We drove back and were glued to the TV for the rest of the day.

CM

 

[FoxyWhiskey]

9/11/2001

I was a couple of weeks into my senior year of college and working on my Comm-Multi. I was up EARLY feeding my 15 month old son breakfast in San Diego. My military flyboy husband (who watches the news before work at O'crack thirty) told me I'd better come and take a look at the television.

The 3 of us sat there in amazement as we watched the second plane hit. No words to describe that moment except purely horrifying. One of those times when you just know that life as you once knew it was never going to be the same.

And yes, very eerie to not see big beautiful airplanes flying into SAN those following gorgeous San Diego mornings. I will never forget.

-FW

 

[CrownandCoke]

was sleeping in my dorm room at UND when I got a call from my mom saying she was in New York and just saw an airplane hit the tower. I turned on the TV and saw the footage of the second airplane hitting the tower. I was about three lessons away from my first solo, and thought my aviation career was over. Sat with a bunch of other aviation students and just watched TV coverage all day. Talked to my cousin in Chicago who was working in the Sears Tower at the time, and right in the middle he said "I gotta go." I freaked out, thinking Chicago had been hit. Turned out they were just evacuating the building.

Never, ever forget.

 

[used & abused]

I had just dropped my youngest son off to pre-school and came back home and made a phone call to a girl friend. I turned on the TV and was flipping thru the channels,as we talked so the volume was low on the TV. I started watching the news without realizing it was the news. I said to my friend "This is a sick movie thats on this channel." she asked what was going on and I said "They just showed a airplane smash into the WTC." Then I turned up the volume and it all hit me at once as to the reality that was changing our lives at that moment.

 

[JSky26]

I was a sophomore in high school at the time...

During the passing period from 1st to 2nd, rumors started spreading about a "small plane" hit a skyscraper in NYC. When we got to 2nd period we turned on the tube and watched in horror live as the second airplane hit the WTC. It was dead quiet in the room. My teacher told us right then and there, "Where you are, who you're with, right here and right now, you will never forget this moment for the rest of your lives..."

How right was she...it's etched

Some parents started pullng their kids out of school and eventually by lunch time they cancelled classes for the rest of the day.

RIP - Never Forget 9/11!

 

[Razorback Flyer]

I was instructing in LIT at the time. I came in about 30 minutes before it happened to do some ground school. My student and I were loitering about, when the director of training came in and said someone had flown into the World Trade Center in NY. We turned the TV on, and a crowd gathered.

Our tv was then right next to the parts deparment at the FBO. You could hear they were watching as well. Then came the absolutely sureal moment when the second plane hit. You could hear the panic in the broacasters voice as it approached. I heard a lady in the parts department scream when it hit. I got a knot in my stomach and a chill came over me as all of us began to realize that this was no accident.

LIT then became a very busy airport, as quite a bit of DFW traffic was nearby. I would guess we got somewhere in the neigborhood of 30-40 planes in the next hour. They shut down runway 18 to park about 10 American MD-80's and 727's. It took a while for all of them to de-board and shutdown, but by early afternoon the airport was strangely quiet.

Some of us went driving around the airport to see what all was parked at the terminal late in the afternoon. As we drove to the east side the aiport, we spoted an aircraft cruising at high altitude above. It had been strange seeing an empty sky all afternoon, which made the presence of this one aircraft seem even stranger. We knew it was either Air Force 1, a decoy, or military.

How do you sum up what you feel about an event like that? I remember talking to family as events unfolded - saying that this was the Pearl Harbor of our age. A day that would always live in infamy, and one we would always rember - where we were, what we were doing, and who was with us.

May God bless those that were taken from us that day.

May he forever condem those who would murder or inflict suffering in his name, no matter what tounge it may be spoken in.

Never forget

 

[Dude]

Got out of the sim at 10:30 CT. Walked out of the box to hear about a hundred cell phones ringing and was told to leave the property. Really sobering to not hear anything...........no cars, no people, and certainly no airplanes. It took a minute to figure out the scope of what just occurred but when that came it scared the ca ca out of me. I long for the nation we were the months following that day. My good friend was bringing a 777 home and was given all kinds of crazy instructions from ATC and given morbid and odd messages from dispatch over ACARS only to find out later that he was suspected of being on a strategically chosen aircraft to be hurled into another target. Every time I hear his story it gives me the chills.

 

[91100 100 set]

I was in the Hampton Inn in BUF. Scheduling had tried to reschedule me and my crew to fly early that morning, but they were unsuccessful in reaching all of us, so we got to sleep in. I woke and turned on the TV shortly after the towers fell. My company overnighted 20-25 crewmembers in BUF at this time, and we all started to gather in the hotel lobby, talking, discussing, and generally grieving. Somebody asked another guy what he was gonna do for the rest of the day, and he said "I guess there's nothing to do but go drink...". I'm still not sure why, but this really bothered me. I didn't know what else to do, but it seemed like he was treating the unexpected time off as an opportunity to go party. But everybody was in some state of shock and was reacting in their own way.

Over the next 24 hours or so, the company kept telling us to basically stand by, as they were trying to come up with a plan of action once the airspace was reopened. By 3pm on the 12th, they were releasing people and telling them to get themselves home however they could. Get a rental car on your own and we'll reimburse you later. So I rented a car and drove home to Syracuse with three other people. I ended up getting home two hours earlier than my original trip.

I did my next trip the next Sunday (I think). Everything was very strange. Everybody moved at half speed. The planes were empty. The memos came at us faster than we could read them. And it's never been quite the same since.

 

[landlover]

was in in brooklyn, watched them both fall live from the brooklyn promanade right across the river. less then 3 miles away. I love NY more then ever! went to my moms house after called my two uncles that are FDNY, called my grandpa who was an Ironworker, worked on the WTC start to finish. tried to coem to terms with my skyline being ruined. I still looks wrong 6 years later.

 

[BushwickBill]

I was living on the S/V Alvei. We were on a small island near Va'Vau, Tonga when the towers fell.

I had lived and worked on Alvei for about 8 months and was feeling pretty good. After being out of the country for about 2 years I had forgotten many worries from home. I think at one point I forgot what month it was. We had just compleated an easy passage from Western Samoa to Tonga and were enjoying our time on V'Vau greatly. We would spend a few days in the main port at anchor and then go to an outer island for a couple of days. After three days of swiming, diving and even a session swiming with humpback whales we sailed back to Va'Vau.

Upon our arrival in Va'Vau one of the locals rowed up to us and was very upset about something. Usually they try and sell you stuff. But this guy was standing in his skiff waving his arms and shouting. I was on the fordeck making sure the anchor set but I caught what he was saying. "The airplanes are flying into the big house!" It didn't make any sense but as soon as things were set the entire crew went ashore. We all went down to the paradise hotel. It was the only place with satalite T.V. we had missed the second tower hit by almost 48 hours.

We all just stood there shocked. The whole weight of the world just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was really angry too.

Later during out passage to Fiji I was listening to the news on the shortwave radio that I normally only used to get the time for navigation. We were are fairly convinced that things were going to get like WW3 bad. I guess it was a lack of perspective but a lot of us were convinced that it would get a whole lot worse. There was a lot of hysteria. One megyacht crew was keeping full tanks at all times regarless of cost. I guess the owner wanted to use the yacht for a sanctuary incase it was time to leave the northern hemisphere for a while.

Strange days....

 

[Jack Mehoff]

i'm thinking of the scene in Little Nicky where hitler gets his daily punishment of a HUGE pineapple shoved up his a-hole.

One can only hope something similar has played out for those murdering cowards.

 

[John Pennekamp]

tried to coem to terms with my skyline being ruined. I still looks wrong 6 years later.

Agreed! I used to stand on the roof of the TWA hangar at Kennedy and watch the sun come up and the light move across the Manhattan skyline. I always loved how the Twin Towers shined as the morning sun hit them. The skyline looks like a kid who lost a tooth now.

 

[belchfire]

I had gone to the west coast to see my folks after the end of my sequence on the east coast. Bleary-eyed from my 4 days of commuer pilot sequence hell, a night of travel and only 4 hours of sleep I entered the living room as one of the endless replays of the first tower collapsing started, viewing at the TV nearly edgewise. I said something to the effect of "They botched that implosion-hell, that didn't look old enough to need to come down...where is it?"

Mom-as only a mom could command-said "you need to shut up and sit down and see this."

Aw, holy ********************!!!

 

[30West]

And now, we have the TSA.....

 

[atrdriver]

Was waiting for a CRM class to start right next to the ATL airport. ASA refused to release us from the class until well after 1pm, which was after all the planes had returned to ATL that were going to. When we walked outside the airport was dead quiet. Even the DAL TOC was silent. It was the most eerie thing I have experienced, having ATL being totally silent.

Always remember where you were and how you felt that day. For about 3 months we actually came together as a country. Look at us now. That almost makes me as sad as what happened that beautiful morning.

 

[Slim]

I was at home, waiting to start IOE. My wife called from work telling me to turn on the news and hung up. I saw the second plane hit and the towers fall. Then, I heard about AA 77 hitting the Pentagon.

I recognized the flight number and was afraid some of my former coworkers were on that flight. Two days later, I found out I was right.

Capt. Chic Burlingame and F/A Michelle Heidenberger were on that flight. I went to Burlingame's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in November, 2001. I don't ever want to attend a full military honors funeral at ANC again, for someone I know.

I remember seeing this on a bumper sticker a long time ago..."Fergit? HE11 NO, I aint never goin' to fergit!"

 

[COOPERVANE]

I was cleared for takeoff with my first student of the day. At about 30 kts, the tower told us to abort. I'll never forget my students face cause I used to tell him that you won't get an abort unless something was REALLY wrong with your airplane (fire/missing wing) We were told to go back to the ramp.

We all just wanted to escape after watching hours of coverage so we went out and got real drunk. Never wanted to nuke somebody so much in my life