posted on October 11, 2001 03:21:43 PM new
I'm seeing news and topics here about another strike possibly. I would like to know the state my fellow poster's reside in, so I can ask if everyone is alright IF we are attacked again.
posted on October 11, 2001 03:40:39 PM new
Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, NC here, (in the middle of HOOAH land, LOL). Not too worried about us...but I have friends and family on both coasts, in the middle of the country, Alaska and Hawaii.
posted on October 11, 2001 03:49:04 PM new
What's round on the ends
And hi in the middle?
What is it do you know?
Round on the ends
And hi in the middle
O-HI-O - that's my riddle!
Northwest Ohio close to the Indiana border. I'm a buckeye, I am!
posted on October 11, 2001 03:50:52 PM new
Super idea! I may not post often but feel like 'almost' all of you are friends! I am in Melbourne, FL near Patrick Air Force Base and Kenndy Space Center!
posted on October 11, 2001 05:04:10 PM new
I move around a lot. Last week, I was in a state of depression, followed by a state of confusion. Then I was in a state of total denial for awhile.
But I live near Boston, Massachusetts....
Barry
---
The opinions expressed above are for comparison purposes only. Your mileage may vary....
posted on October 11, 2001 05:49:48 PM new
Ontario, Canada
Just barging in here, because I wanted all to know that we are very much affected by all of this North of the border.
I though I would pass this on to everyone...it's a little late, but I just received it in from my father this morning, and I thought the letter was great. It was written by a flight attendant on board a Delta plane that was sent back to Newfoundland, Canada, on the morning of Sept. 11:
"We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North
Atlantic and I was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest
break. All of a
sudden the curtains parted violently and I was told to go to the
cockpit,
right now, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that
the crew
had one of those "All Business" looks on their faces. The captain
handed me a printed message. I quickly read the message and realized
the importance of it. The message was from Atlanta, addressed to our
flight, and simply said, "All airways over the Continental US are
closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport, advise your destination."
Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately without suggesting
which airport, one can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly given
up control of the flight to the captain. We knew it was a serious
situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly
decided that the nearest airport was 400 miles away, behind our right
shoulder, in Gander, on the island of New Foundland. A quick request
was made to the Canadian traffic controller and a right turn, directly
to Gander, was approved immediately. We found out later why there was
no hesitation by the Canadian controller approving our request. We, the
in-flight crew, were told to get the airplane ready for an immediate
landing. While this was going on another message arrived from Atlanta
telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. We
briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went about our
business 'closing down' the airplane for a landing. A few minutes later
I went back to the cockpit to find out that some airplanes had been
hijacked were being flown into buildings all over the US.
We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the passengers
for the time being. We told them that an instrument problem had arisen
on the airplane and that we needed to land at Gander, to have it
checked. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander.
There were many unhappy
passengers but that is par for the course. We landed in Gander about
40 minutes after the start of this
episode. There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground
from all over the world.
After we parked on the ramp the captain made the following
announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these
airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. But the
reality is that we are here for a good reason." Then he went on to
explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There
were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander was 12:30
pm. (11:00 AM EST)Gander control told us to stay put. No one was allowed
to get off the aircraft.No one on
the ground was allowed to come near the aircrafts. Only a car from the
airport police would come around once in a while, look us over and go on
to the next airplane. In the next hour or so all the airways over the
North Atlantic were vacated and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes
from all over the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags.
We were told that each and every plane was to be offloaded, one at a
time, with the foreign carriers given the priority. We were No.14 in the
US category. We were further told that we would be given a tentative
time to deplane at 6 pm. Meanwhile bits of news started to come in
over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that
airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into
the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones but were
unable to connect due to a
different cell system in Canada. Some did get through but were only
able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines
to the US were either blocked or jammed and to try again.
Some time late in the evening the news filtered to us that the World
Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had
resulted in a crash.
Now the passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted
but stayed calm as we kept reminding them to look around to see that we
were not the only ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes
with people on them in the same situation. We also told them that the
Canadian Government
was in charge and we were at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM,
Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11PM, the
next morning. That took the last wind out of the passengers and
they simply resigned and accepted this news without much noise and
really started to get into a mode of spending the night on the
airplane.
Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed;
medicine, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their
word. Fortunately we had no medical situation during the night. We did
have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY
good care of her.
The night passed without any further complications on our airplane
despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the
morning of the 12th we were told to get ready to leave the aircraft.
A convoy of school buses showed up at the side of the airplane,the
stairway was hooked up and the passengers were taken to the terminal
for "processing" We, the crew, were taken to the same terminal but were
told to go to a different section, where we were processed through
Immigration and customs
and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we were
isolated from our passengers and were taken in a caravan of vans to a
very small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where our
passengers were going.
The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross told us
that they were going to process about 10,500 passengers from all the
airplanes that were forced into Gander. We were told to just relax at
the hotel and wait for a call to go back to the airport, but not to
expect that call for a while. We found out the total scope of the
terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV,
24 hours after it all started.
Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering things and
enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they just
knew that we were the "Plane people". We all had a great time until we
got that call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made it to the
airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta
at about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1
hour and 30 minutes.) But that's not what I wanted to tell you. What
passengers told us
was so uplifting and incredible and the timing couldn't have been
better. We found out that Gander and the surrounding small communities,
within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all the high schools, meeting
halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all
these facilities to
a mass lodging area. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping
bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer
taking care of the "GUESTS". Our 218 passengers ended up in a town
called Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There they were put
in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women only facility,
that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly
passengers were given no choice and were taken to private homes.
Remember that young
pregnant lady, she was put up in a private home right across the
street from a 24 hour Urgent Care type facility. There were DDS on call
and they had both male and female nurses available and stayed with the
crowd for the duration.
Phone calls and emails to US and Europe were available for every one
once a day.
During the days the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion"
trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some
went to see the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh
bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and
brought to the school for those who elected to stay put. Others were
driven to the eatery of their choice and fed. They were given tokens to
go to the local Laundromat to wash their clothes, since their luggage
was still on the aircraft. In other
words every single need was met for those unfortunate travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. After all that,
they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single
one missing or late. All because the local Red Cross had all the
information about the goings on back at Gander and knew which group
needed to leave for the airport at what time. Absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They were swapping stories
of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. It
was mind boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party
flight. We simply stayed out of their way. The passengers had totally
bonded and they were calling each other by their first names, exchanging
phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And then a strange
thing happened.
One of our business class passengers approached me and asked if he
could speak over the PA to his fellow passengers. We never, never,
allow that. But something told me to get out of his way. I said "of
course". The gentleman picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what
they had just gone through
in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had
received at the hands of total strangers. He further stated that he
would like to do something in return for the good folks of the town of
Lewisporte.
He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15
(our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide a
scholarship for high school student(s) of Lewisporte to help them go to
college. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers.
When the paper
with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers
and addresses, it totaled to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The
gentleman who started all this turned out to be an MD from Virginia. He
promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on
the scholarship.
He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate
and ask them to donate as well.
Why, all of this? Just because some people in far away places were
kind to some strangers, who happened to literally drop in among them?
)
