We were on a flight from PHL to IAH. First plane hit just over CLT, and soon we were diverted to Birmingham, AL. I remember making a PA to the folks that the world was going to be a different place. Little did I realize how much!! Just got into Ops at the station, and saw the towers fall on TV.
Where at US AIrways were on on 9/11?
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We were on a flight from PHL to IAH. First plane hit just over CLT, and soon we were diverted to Birmingham, AL. I remember making a PA to the folks that the world was going to be a different place. Little did I realize how much!! Just got into Ops at the station, and saw the towers fall on TV.
I was a relatively new Saab Captain based in JFK. Got an early reserve call to do a DCA turn, a place I had never flown into due to the fact I had previously been based in ORD, MIA, and DFW. Having spent much of my youth in upstate NY, I kept remarking to the FO how incredibly clear it was...the visibility was almost unlimited. Landed in DCA, down loaded, reloaded and took off to the North. About half way back the center controller said, "NY isn't taking hand-offs, why don't you start considering where you might like to divert to". For some reason, I got it into my head that the radar must have been down in NY's airspace because that would explain the inability to accept in-bounds. The dispatcher agreed with my choice of HPN, thinking when the airspace reopened we could be one of the first to get a clearance into JFK. I requested that from Center and he replied, "No, you can't get any closer to NY than you are right now so start doing 360s and let me know where you want to go. We were almost over Philly so I requested a divert there. He gave us a vector in the right direction and as he handed us off he said, "I'm not sure what's going on but it has something to do with the World Trade Center". Again with the radar thing, I said to the FO, "do you think NY has a radar on top of the WTC? That doesn't make any sense." After landing, we were waiting for a gate when the FA told us a Jumpseating AA pilot in the back with a smart phone had gotten a news story about a plane hitting the 1st tower. Like most reasonable people, we couldn't wrap our heads around the idea that a some Cessna had flown into a building in NY. Shortly after that we were assigned a gate from OPs and we parked. The agent said something about Hijacks and the 2nd plane hitting the tower. By now my cellphone was useless because all the lines were swamped but my voice messaging was filling up with calls from worried friends and family. I called it from a land line and changed my message to say, "It's Sept. 11 and I'm safely on the ground in Philly. Please leave a message and I'll call you when I can". We remoted the aircraft to make room for more diverts and came back to watch the 1st tower fall on a TV in Ops. Later, I stood out on the silent ramp, looked up at the clear, blue, aircraft-less sky, and thought to myself, "Holy ####! From this day forward, commercial aviation will never be the same. My future children will never enjoy the ease of air travel the way I did."
God Bless America
God Bless America
SS255
Veteran
I was at a conference in Brisbane, Australia. I was at a big dinner, which was running pretty late into the night, when somebody got a call on his cell phone that two planes hit the WTC. Like everyone else, two Cessnas came to mind. I went right to sleep when I got back to my room, and did not bother to check e-mail or turn on the television.
The next morning I called my voicemail when I awoke, and heard the global announcement that "due to today's national tragedy, the company will be closed," followed by a voicemail from my assistant, in tears, telling me what had happened. To top it off, Ansett Australia folded that day (September 12 by the time I awoke and heard about 9/11), and I was flying Ansett on September 16 to Sydney, to catch my UA flight back to LAX. Our corporate travel department's computer showed that Ansett was still flying, and they refused to re-book me. They did not consider me stranded. I was in a sheer panic about how I was going to get home. It was very frightening to know that the U.S. sealed its borders, and I was on the other side. I kept calling our corporate travel department nonstop, and they finally were able to confirm Ansett's demise, and got me on the very last seat in business class (per our company policy) on the direct flight on Qantas via Aukland.
Our flight was delayed by 10 hours, and I arrived home late that Sunday night, thoroughly exhausted, to find cars driving with flags. It was great to be home, but I knew that life would never be the same.
This morning, I went out for my early Sunday run. At 6:45AM, I rounded the corner of Burton Way and Rexford Drive, and saw fire trucks, uniformed personnel, and a crowd. I had stumbled upon the unveiling of the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden. It was a solemn yet beautiful ceremony. The centerpiece of the garden is a piece of twisted steel from the WTC, surrounded by a plaque containing the names of all who lost their lives that day. There is also a stone statue of the Twin Towers behind the steel. I encourage all of you who find yourselves in Beverly Hills for pleasure or during a layover to make it a point to visit the 9/11 Memorial. It's right behind City Hall.
The next morning I called my voicemail when I awoke, and heard the global announcement that "due to today's national tragedy, the company will be closed," followed by a voicemail from my assistant, in tears, telling me what had happened. To top it off, Ansett Australia folded that day (September 12 by the time I awoke and heard about 9/11), and I was flying Ansett on September 16 to Sydney, to catch my UA flight back to LAX. Our corporate travel department's computer showed that Ansett was still flying, and they refused to re-book me. They did not consider me stranded. I was in a sheer panic about how I was going to get home. It was very frightening to know that the U.S. sealed its borders, and I was on the other side. I kept calling our corporate travel department nonstop, and they finally were able to confirm Ansett's demise, and got me on the very last seat in business class (per our company policy) on the direct flight on Qantas via Aukland.
Our flight was delayed by 10 hours, and I arrived home late that Sunday night, thoroughly exhausted, to find cars driving with flags. It was great to be home, but I knew that life would never be the same.
This morning, I went out for my early Sunday run. At 6:45AM, I rounded the corner of Burton Way and Rexford Drive, and saw fire trucks, uniformed personnel, and a crowd. I had stumbled upon the unveiling of the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden. It was a solemn yet beautiful ceremony. The centerpiece of the garden is a piece of twisted steel from the WTC, surrounded by a plaque containing the names of all who lost their lives that day. There is also a stone statue of the Twin Towers behind the steel. I encourage all of you who find yourselves in Beverly Hills for pleasure or during a layover to make it a point to visit the 9/11 Memorial. It's right behind City Hall.
signals
Veteran
I worked second shift(3-11:30) woke up and turned to Today and saw the first tower on fire. I thought they were showing a repeat of 93 when suddenly a plane ran into the second tower. Then events unfolded. The real action started at the anthrax(white powder) scare began! Sugar on the floor, toilet paper powder, and any white substance would be a call to crash rescue. Funny now but not at the time 
Iclubbabyseals
Veteran
- Jul 22, 2011
- 793
- 350
Agreed, "our troops" had no bullets.
