- Dec 5, 2003
- 21,709
- 10,721
I am posting this letter because it is the 1st report I have read about what really went on during the evacuations from an airline perspective.
THIS POST IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A RAH-RAH POST ABOUT DELTA
Names have been omitted.
Last weekend I was unexpectedly involved with Delta in the Hurricane Katrina evacuation from New Orleans and wanted to share my experience and observations with my fellow retired Delta pilots.
Friday, Sept. 2nd, I was in the GO (Delta’s General Offices) changing some of my insurance when I remembered a request that ABC (use caution when responding to requests from ABC ) posted on the DP3 website requesting volunteers to man the phones for a few hours in the Operations Control Center (OCC) to help our fellow employees affected by Katrina. Since I was in the neighborhood, I went to the OCC and was wandering around trying to find the right volunteer desk when a call came in from someone (I believe the Air Transport Association) asking if and how many aircraft Delta could provide for the evacuation. They said the commitment would be for 30 days with the government being able to cancel with a 24 hour notification.
ABC --the Manager of Charter Operations (I don’t think she had been to bed since the original evacuation flight--24 hrs before), the Manager of the OCC and other people I didn’t know conferred for about 20 seconds and then said Delta would provide six aircraft and crews. None of the people involved mentioned that we were broke or asked if Delta was going to get paid or how much---rather it was that people were hurting and Delta would help.
I told ABC that I was a retired L-1011 pilot and part time pharmacist at Walgreens and asked if she needed help. She said she needed protective medical gear for the crews flying into New Orleans and had been having trouble trying to get the supplies. I called the District Office of Walgreens in Atlanta and told them what we needed. They called back within 5 minutes and said they would provide what ever and as much as we needed for the crews and were at that very time beginning to pull all the rubber gloves, masks and antibacterial cleansers from the shelves in several of their stores and boxing them for the flight to San Antonio (I have been blessed to have worked for two awesome companies.)
Arriving in San Antonio (SAT) early Saturday morning with the crew medical supplies, I called ABC at the OCC and asked her where she wanted them. She then told me that they had major problems with transportation because the transportation company was using their vans for FEMA and asked if I would rent a 15 passenger van and start driving. I have to admit that as I climbed in the van I thought to myself; my company may go broke, I may lose my pension and I have just put a $3,800.00 charge on my AMEX card---I am not improving my position!
Driving the “evacuation transport†gave me the opportunity to see and talk to a lot of the onsite Delta people sent to Texas to support the airlift. There was maintenance, ACS, charter coordinators, CSA’s, ticket counter staff, ops people, station manager’s staff, flight crews and others that I may have forgotten. Most of the Delta people had been up for two days with only 1-2 hours sleep and were exhausted. There was a constant flow of Delta people between the SAT airport, Kelly AFB and the XYZ Hotel. During this time the airlift was constantly changing, as evacuation sites filled up, requiring the Delta people, although totally exhausted, to turn on a dime.
In the latter part of Saturday afternoon the Lackland Evacuation Center (Kelly AFB) started to fill and flights began to be sent to Austin. In the early hours of Sunday, Texas decided they could not take any more people and the OCC moved to open the New Orleans to Atlanta (Dobbins ARB) air- bridge. This necessitated getting everyone up (many who had just gotten to bed after being up for two days) to board a ferry flight departing at 6:30AM to Austin to pick up the evacuation aircraft for the flights to New Orleans. The company boarded more food for the evacuees than these aircraft have probably seen in the last five years and then we were off to MSY.
Before going to Texas I had been watching a lot of the news coverage so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect in the disaster areaÂbut I wasn’t anywhere close to reality. It was like trying to get your arms around hell. Even though I had spent 30 years flying into New Orleans (MSY), I had trouble picking out landmarks on our arrival because of all the water and missing buildings. The only thing that looked the same was the runway. The inside of the terminal looked like it had been sacked. It was strewn with trash and discarded personal items and it seemed like feces was everywhere because of the people being sick. There were dead bodies in the lobby waiting for refrigerated trucks. It was worse than anything I have seen in 3rd world countries when I was flying “The Flying Hospital†L-1011 aircraft Âand we saw some bad stuff.
Bad as the material damage was it didn’t compare to what the people went through. When we arrived, the recovery effort was in full force with people being pulled off of rooftops and out of the water by the helicopters. The helicopters were then making parallel approaches on both sides of runway 27 and landing about every 20 seconds---the operation was massive.
After landing the people were immediately brought to the airport. After a cursory security check they were boarded on our aircraft. Probably 95% of the evacuees had never flown before. It is almost impossible to describe the terrible shape they were in. An hour before they got on our airplane most of these people were on rooftops or in the water and many had not had food or water for up to five days. All the evacuees had a dazed lookÂit was like they were looking through you. One man boarded in just his boxer shorts (all he had left.) Many people were barefoot An elderly crippled man had the bottom 12 inches broken off of his artificial leg and was hobbling trying to walk. People were boarding with dogs of various sizes--most with only a piece of rope around their neck. One 80 year old grandmother had climbed to 3 different roof tops to be rescued.
As the people got on they continually asked us where we were taking them. Many of the people had been separated from their families and were asking if we had any knowledge of their relative’s location and wanted to give us their phone number in case we had their family on another flight. Several of the evacuees with mental conditions who had not had their medications for several days were going through an additional hell. It broke everyone’s heart to see any human being in this shape Âlet alone Americans.
Toward the end of our boarding the 2nd Delta aircraft pulled in behind us. As we taxied out through all the military traffic and took off with our load of people and animals we resembled Noah’s ark more than an airliner. It would have been appropriate for the inscription that is on the Statue of Liberty to have been painted on the side of our aircraft.
On the flight to Dobbins ARB the smell in the cabin was almost unbearable. These poor people had been pulled from filth and had not had the opportunity to clean up, When we tried to cool the cabin down to help with the smell, people started shivering because most of them were sick and in some stage of shock. As we were dropping into Dobbins and the evacuees were looking out the window at their “new home.†I wondered what they were thinking.
In contrast to the confusion in MSY, the folks at Dobbins were “standing tallâ€. The governor came on board and made a short PA welcoming them to Georgia and telling them they were our new “brothers and sisters†and we were going to put our arms around them and help them repair their lives. Hopefully, as they walked down our steps to the ramp they were walking into a better life.
As turmoil has swirled around our airline, I had often wondered what it is like there now. As a retiree, I felt like I could walk around the tent and hear the noise but I didn't know what was actually happening inside. Many of you have expressed the same thoughts. I have often wondered if the people still think the same way we did Âdo they share the same set of traditions and values we had when we worked for Delta. Iif I went back to work, would I recognize my company.
Through a fluke, I was fortunate to spend three days inside the tent interfacing with employees from a cross-section of departments, from management down. I have confidence that what I saw was the average Delta employee and not an anomaly. Let me assure you, you have done a good job of handing down the traditions and values of Delta to this 3rd generation, just as the 1st generation handed them down to us. What I saw were Delta people working, caring and giving to others---just like “the old Delta†I knew. I saw management committing resources. OCC people working to exhaustion (hopefully ABC has been to bed by now.) Pilots waiving their contract so as to keep flyingÂ; doing whatever it takes to get the people to a safe place.
Flight attendants possibly exposing themselves to Hepatitis-A and dysentery by hugging the evacuees and helping them to walk as they boarded---while not wearing the available rubber gloves---because they did not want the evacuees to think we regarded them as aliens or outcasts. Because of the kindness, gentleness and respect shown to the evacuees by all Delta employees, be it ground personnel, mechanics, customer service, charter coordinators or flight crews the evacuees, were being given back a sense of human dignity on their long road to recovery.
Through out this operation the quirky, irreverent Delta sense of humor that we all loved was alive and well and got us through some rough spots. I still chuckle when I think of Walter Goodwin (was a manager in the Atlanta Chief Pilot’s Office for many years and now a charter coordinator) looking over at me with a big grin at some point in the chaos and saying, “Mattingly, it took us 31 years but we are finally getting some work out of you.†Gosh I miss those times.
Just before we took off for Dobbins, I was standing on the ramp at MSY and could not help but notice how the two tall B-757’s tails carrying the bright Delta colors stood out amid a mottled sea of green, grey and brown military aircraft and debris. They must have looked like two beacons of hope to the evacuees as they boarded.
It’s easier for a company to be generous and compassionate when the company is doing well and making money, but it is a true test of a company’s character to offer to take care of the less fortunate when that company itself is bleeding to death and in need of life support. Standing on that New Orleans ramp and looking up at those two Delta aircraft, I experienced the same overwhelming feeling of pride in what Delta stands for as the day I first pinned a set of Delta wings on that black and gold uniform. Know that the Delta heart - Âits employees--is as strong and good as ever.
In some ways we are akin to the evacuees as they face an unknown future, for we as Delta employees are also looking at uncertainty as we enter this new phase of our corporate lives -- Bankruptcy. Hopefully God will look on Delta and her people with the same compassion that we extended to the refugees in New Orleans.
I pray that God will take special care of each of you as we begin this uncharted flight!
CDE
Captain, L-1011 (Retired)
P.S. I may be wrong but I believe that Delta operated more evacuation flights than any other air line.
If anyone else has other airline specific stories about the evacuation efforts, please post them.
THIS POST IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A RAH-RAH POST ABOUT DELTA
Names have been omitted.
Last weekend I was unexpectedly involved with Delta in the Hurricane Katrina evacuation from New Orleans and wanted to share my experience and observations with my fellow retired Delta pilots.
Friday, Sept. 2nd, I was in the GO (Delta’s General Offices) changing some of my insurance when I remembered a request that ABC (use caution when responding to requests from ABC ) posted on the DP3 website requesting volunteers to man the phones for a few hours in the Operations Control Center (OCC) to help our fellow employees affected by Katrina. Since I was in the neighborhood, I went to the OCC and was wandering around trying to find the right volunteer desk when a call came in from someone (I believe the Air Transport Association) asking if and how many aircraft Delta could provide for the evacuation. They said the commitment would be for 30 days with the government being able to cancel with a 24 hour notification.
ABC --the Manager of Charter Operations (I don’t think she had been to bed since the original evacuation flight--24 hrs before), the Manager of the OCC and other people I didn’t know conferred for about 20 seconds and then said Delta would provide six aircraft and crews. None of the people involved mentioned that we were broke or asked if Delta was going to get paid or how much---rather it was that people were hurting and Delta would help.
I told ABC that I was a retired L-1011 pilot and part time pharmacist at Walgreens and asked if she needed help. She said she needed protective medical gear for the crews flying into New Orleans and had been having trouble trying to get the supplies. I called the District Office of Walgreens in Atlanta and told them what we needed. They called back within 5 minutes and said they would provide what ever and as much as we needed for the crews and were at that very time beginning to pull all the rubber gloves, masks and antibacterial cleansers from the shelves in several of their stores and boxing them for the flight to San Antonio (I have been blessed to have worked for two awesome companies.)
Arriving in San Antonio (SAT) early Saturday morning with the crew medical supplies, I called ABC at the OCC and asked her where she wanted them. She then told me that they had major problems with transportation because the transportation company was using their vans for FEMA and asked if I would rent a 15 passenger van and start driving. I have to admit that as I climbed in the van I thought to myself; my company may go broke, I may lose my pension and I have just put a $3,800.00 charge on my AMEX card---I am not improving my position!
Driving the “evacuation transport†gave me the opportunity to see and talk to a lot of the onsite Delta people sent to Texas to support the airlift. There was maintenance, ACS, charter coordinators, CSA’s, ticket counter staff, ops people, station manager’s staff, flight crews and others that I may have forgotten. Most of the Delta people had been up for two days with only 1-2 hours sleep and were exhausted. There was a constant flow of Delta people between the SAT airport, Kelly AFB and the XYZ Hotel. During this time the airlift was constantly changing, as evacuation sites filled up, requiring the Delta people, although totally exhausted, to turn on a dime.
In the latter part of Saturday afternoon the Lackland Evacuation Center (Kelly AFB) started to fill and flights began to be sent to Austin. In the early hours of Sunday, Texas decided they could not take any more people and the OCC moved to open the New Orleans to Atlanta (Dobbins ARB) air- bridge. This necessitated getting everyone up (many who had just gotten to bed after being up for two days) to board a ferry flight departing at 6:30AM to Austin to pick up the evacuation aircraft for the flights to New Orleans. The company boarded more food for the evacuees than these aircraft have probably seen in the last five years and then we were off to MSY.
Before going to Texas I had been watching a lot of the news coverage so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect in the disaster areaÂbut I wasn’t anywhere close to reality. It was like trying to get your arms around hell. Even though I had spent 30 years flying into New Orleans (MSY), I had trouble picking out landmarks on our arrival because of all the water and missing buildings. The only thing that looked the same was the runway. The inside of the terminal looked like it had been sacked. It was strewn with trash and discarded personal items and it seemed like feces was everywhere because of the people being sick. There were dead bodies in the lobby waiting for refrigerated trucks. It was worse than anything I have seen in 3rd world countries when I was flying “The Flying Hospital†L-1011 aircraft Âand we saw some bad stuff.
Bad as the material damage was it didn’t compare to what the people went through. When we arrived, the recovery effort was in full force with people being pulled off of rooftops and out of the water by the helicopters. The helicopters were then making parallel approaches on both sides of runway 27 and landing about every 20 seconds---the operation was massive.
After landing the people were immediately brought to the airport. After a cursory security check they were boarded on our aircraft. Probably 95% of the evacuees had never flown before. It is almost impossible to describe the terrible shape they were in. An hour before they got on our airplane most of these people were on rooftops or in the water and many had not had food or water for up to five days. All the evacuees had a dazed lookÂit was like they were looking through you. One man boarded in just his boxer shorts (all he had left.) Many people were barefoot An elderly crippled man had the bottom 12 inches broken off of his artificial leg and was hobbling trying to walk. People were boarding with dogs of various sizes--most with only a piece of rope around their neck. One 80 year old grandmother had climbed to 3 different roof tops to be rescued.
As the people got on they continually asked us where we were taking them. Many of the people had been separated from their families and were asking if we had any knowledge of their relative’s location and wanted to give us their phone number in case we had their family on another flight. Several of the evacuees with mental conditions who had not had their medications for several days were going through an additional hell. It broke everyone’s heart to see any human being in this shape Âlet alone Americans.
Toward the end of our boarding the 2nd Delta aircraft pulled in behind us. As we taxied out through all the military traffic and took off with our load of people and animals we resembled Noah’s ark more than an airliner. It would have been appropriate for the inscription that is on the Statue of Liberty to have been painted on the side of our aircraft.
On the flight to Dobbins ARB the smell in the cabin was almost unbearable. These poor people had been pulled from filth and had not had the opportunity to clean up, When we tried to cool the cabin down to help with the smell, people started shivering because most of them were sick and in some stage of shock. As we were dropping into Dobbins and the evacuees were looking out the window at their “new home.†I wondered what they were thinking.
In contrast to the confusion in MSY, the folks at Dobbins were “standing tallâ€. The governor came on board and made a short PA welcoming them to Georgia and telling them they were our new “brothers and sisters†and we were going to put our arms around them and help them repair their lives. Hopefully, as they walked down our steps to the ramp they were walking into a better life.
As turmoil has swirled around our airline, I had often wondered what it is like there now. As a retiree, I felt like I could walk around the tent and hear the noise but I didn't know what was actually happening inside. Many of you have expressed the same thoughts. I have often wondered if the people still think the same way we did Âdo they share the same set of traditions and values we had when we worked for Delta. Iif I went back to work, would I recognize my company.
Through a fluke, I was fortunate to spend three days inside the tent interfacing with employees from a cross-section of departments, from management down. I have confidence that what I saw was the average Delta employee and not an anomaly. Let me assure you, you have done a good job of handing down the traditions and values of Delta to this 3rd generation, just as the 1st generation handed them down to us. What I saw were Delta people working, caring and giving to others---just like “the old Delta†I knew. I saw management committing resources. OCC people working to exhaustion (hopefully ABC has been to bed by now.) Pilots waiving their contract so as to keep flyingÂ; doing whatever it takes to get the people to a safe place.
Flight attendants possibly exposing themselves to Hepatitis-A and dysentery by hugging the evacuees and helping them to walk as they boarded---while not wearing the available rubber gloves---because they did not want the evacuees to think we regarded them as aliens or outcasts. Because of the kindness, gentleness and respect shown to the evacuees by all Delta employees, be it ground personnel, mechanics, customer service, charter coordinators or flight crews the evacuees, were being given back a sense of human dignity on their long road to recovery.
Through out this operation the quirky, irreverent Delta sense of humor that we all loved was alive and well and got us through some rough spots. I still chuckle when I think of Walter Goodwin (was a manager in the Atlanta Chief Pilot’s Office for many years and now a charter coordinator) looking over at me with a big grin at some point in the chaos and saying, “Mattingly, it took us 31 years but we are finally getting some work out of you.†Gosh I miss those times.
Just before we took off for Dobbins, I was standing on the ramp at MSY and could not help but notice how the two tall B-757’s tails carrying the bright Delta colors stood out amid a mottled sea of green, grey and brown military aircraft and debris. They must have looked like two beacons of hope to the evacuees as they boarded.
It’s easier for a company to be generous and compassionate when the company is doing well and making money, but it is a true test of a company’s character to offer to take care of the less fortunate when that company itself is bleeding to death and in need of life support. Standing on that New Orleans ramp and looking up at those two Delta aircraft, I experienced the same overwhelming feeling of pride in what Delta stands for as the day I first pinned a set of Delta wings on that black and gold uniform. Know that the Delta heart - Âits employees--is as strong and good as ever.
In some ways we are akin to the evacuees as they face an unknown future, for we as Delta employees are also looking at uncertainty as we enter this new phase of our corporate lives -- Bankruptcy. Hopefully God will look on Delta and her people with the same compassion that we extended to the refugees in New Orleans.
I pray that God will take special care of each of you as we begin this uncharted flight!
CDE
Captain, L-1011 (Retired)
P.S. I may be wrong but I believe that Delta operated more evacuation flights than any other air line.
If anyone else has other airline specific stories about the evacuation efforts, please post them.
