This is not political, it is
about 9-11 and believe me you want to read this.
Here is an amazing story
from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11 incident:
*****
"On the morning of
Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the
North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the
cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that
the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain
handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and
simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to
commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your
destination."
"No one said a word
about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to
find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was
400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route
change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted
immediately--no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was
no hesitation in approving our request.
"While the flight crew
prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling
us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word
came in about the hijackings.
"We decided to LIE to
the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a
simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in
Gander, New Foundland to have it checked out.
"We promised to give
more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the
passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander.
Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST.
"There were already
about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken
this detour on their way to the U.S. 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. The reality is that we are here for another reason."
Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the
U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed
passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.
"The Canadian
Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the
aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts.
Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the
next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up
with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial
jets.
"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 U.S. were either blocked or jammed.
"Sometime 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. By now the
passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention
frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the
window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only
ones in this predicament.
"We had been told
earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time.
At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the
next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned
themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to
spend the night on the airplane.
"Gander had promised us
medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true
to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did
have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good
care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable
sleeping arrangements.
"About 10:30 on the
morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane
and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs
and then had to register with the Red Cross.
"After that we (the
crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small
hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red
Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had
about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced
into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted
when the U.S. airports opened again, 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 had lots
of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely
friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed
their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty
good time.
"Two days later, we got
that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were
reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the
past two days. What we found out was incredible.
"Gander and all the
surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all
high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They
converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded
travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows
set up.
"ALL the high school
students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the
"guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte,
about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up 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 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 facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and
female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.
"Phone calls and
e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day.
During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some
people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes
in 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 schools.
People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful
meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes,
since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single
need was met for those stranded travelers.
"Passengers were crying
while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports
had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a
single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the
information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which
plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They
coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.
"When passengers came
on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by
name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who
had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked li ke a chartered party
flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers
had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging
phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
"And then a very
unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he
could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that.
But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the
mike. He 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 continued by saying that he would
like to do something in return for the good folks 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 college scholarships for the high
school students of Lewisporte. 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, the total was for more than
$14,000!
"The gentleman, a MD
from Virginia, 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. As I write this account,
the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in
college education.
"I just wanted to share
this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of
hope to know that some people in a far away place were kind to some strangers
who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the
world."
*****
In spite of all the rotten
things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are
still a lot of good and Godly people in the world and when things get bad, they
will come forward.
