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PHD. MBA. MHS. Type rated on A350, A330, B777, B747-400, B747-200, B757, B767, B737, B727. International Airline Pilot / Author / Speaker. Dedicated to giving the gift of wings to anyone following their dreams. Supporting Aviation Safety through training, writing, and inspiration. Fighting for Aviation Safety and Airline Employee Advocacy. Safety Culture and SMS change agent.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

9-11: In Memory Of...

Delta Flight 15

I'm sure many of you have read the following story. With help of my friend it's been verified as true, and was written by a Delta Air Line's flight attendant following 9-11.

A story worth reading that proves during times of great tragedy we all have a choice as how we deal with the circumstances thrown our way. The power of compassion is powerful.



Please enjoy the story... 


"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 , Newfoundland.

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 aircraft. 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 MATCHabout 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 like 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."  


Enjoy the Journey...

you never know when it will be cut short.

XO Karlene

20 comments:

  1. Gander May be something you say or hear over the radios but it comes to show that a name or a face has a much deeper meaning. The self sacrifice the locals gave to the travelers was paramount on many levels. These acts of kindness was a part of humanity that superseded the inhumane acts by the hijackers. Most of all the greatest act is to give back in appreciation for what others have done for you i.e., with the fund for Delta 15.

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    1. Jeremy, you said it so perfectly. The sacrifice, care, love, humanity, and gratitude that was shown came full circle. Hopefully we can remember these things without the tragedy on the front end.

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  2. Amazing story. I'm not just saying Canadians do this best (as an example of residents taking stranded drivers/travellers into their homes after a massive snow storm shut the highway down a couple of years ago) but humans. Humans have that potential to be and do good to other fellow humans in need. And it makes me appreciate being alive in this World right now despite the things that create frowns.
    It could never be more true. You don't know when it may be cut short and That has been the lesson being taught to me over again over the past several years.

    Enjoy the journey...together! Whomever that may be with.

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    1. I agree with you Ramiel. Canadians do a wonderful job of giving. But it can be anywhere in the world. We can all take the time to extend a helping hand.

      Yes... enjoy that journey together! Thanks for your comment.

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  3. These are the kinds of stories we need to see in the news. A truly amazing story of one of the many kind communities that opened their doors during those fateful times.

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    1. I wish we had more stories like this in the news. It could become contagious. Imagine if...
      Thank you for your comment.

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  4. Such a beautiful story and it really describes the kindness that lies within so many human beings when others try to take our freedom from us.

    I can't remember where I saw the photo, I'm sure it is on airliners.net somewhere, but it was a from a passenger's point of view. This was of course the early days of IFE and personal video screens by each seat, and one passenger took a photo of the moving map on his screen, as the plane took a u-turn over the Atlantic. It was closer to Europe than to the US so the plane turned around, and you could see the trail of the plane as it took the u-turn. I guess it shows just where that plane was when it received the news about the attacks. It made an everlasting impression on me, and on every 9/11 I still see this picture in my head (my google-skills are lacking, I can't seem to find the picture again amongst thousands of pictures on airliners.net)

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    1. Ceclie, I can totally imagine the impression that u-turn would make. I don't know if there isn't a person who doesn't have implanted in their memory what they were doing at the time.

      I can still see the video in my mind of the planes hitting the towers. I try to focus on the kindness in stories like this. It makes life so much better.

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  5. Such a beautiful story out of such tragedy. It is a wonderful testament to the human spirit.

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    1. Thanks for your comment Heather. It truly is a testament.

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  6. Wow! It was good to read a story like this. I'd heard of the hospitality of Gander during 9/11, but never read a first-hand account. So many countries and communities stood with us on those days. It's a good thing to see such gratitude returned.
    9/11 is still very real and traumatic for me. I normally avoid much of the retelling of stories because of the emotional connect, so I haven't heard many of the more pleasant stories. Mahalo for sharing.

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    1. Thank you so much for your comment. I too have a hard time with the retelling of the painful stories. They keep the pain alive. Stories like this make us remember that there is good in this world.

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  7. You should have provided a "two-tissue tear jerker" alert for this one.
    Great story.
    thanks

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    1. Funny. Yes, I should have. I'm glad you liked the story!

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  8. Fantastic story, Karlene! It is truly uplifting, the true spirit of humanity on display. I know what great capacity some people have for others having lived through a flood and the experiences we shared as military pilots after this incident. The Red Cross is an amazing organization filled with volunteers. Thanks for sharing this!

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    1. Thank you Todd for reminding us about the Red Cross and all those volunteers that make a difference. I can only imagine what you and all the military pilots went through. Thank you!

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  9. Wow, I didn't know about this story. So heart warming, the best of humanity on display by the Canadian hosts and the kind gestures of the Americans..after all that horror, true humanity emerged among common people. Perhaps some of these travellers have become fast friends, new bonds created out of en extra-ordinary event.

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    1. Capt. Anup, yes, I am sure they created a bond like no other. I wonder if they'll have a reunion one day. This was very heart warming for me too. Thank you so much for the comment.

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  10. Karlene's story made me proud to be a Canadian. Actually, I'm a transplant and one of the reasons why I moved to Canada was expressed in her story. I'd like to add that a similar thing occurred on that fateful day here in the Vancouver area where I live. In a typically Canadian fashion, the media did not publicized it widely, let alone internationally. And the American president at the time famously failed to mention or thank for the assistance and generosity of the Canadian people and government. Again in a typically Canadian way, we just laughed and did not make a big deal of it. I hate to even wonder what would have happened if Canada kept its airspace closed as well.

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    1. You should be very proud to be Canadian.

      If I've learned one thing from being a wife and a mother, is that when we do things from the compassion of our hearts... we must remember is that we didn't do it for thanks. We do it because we want to.

      That always helps when I give and someone forgets to say thank you. I refocus on my motives. It was for giving.

      But on the other side of that coin. We must all remember who our President was at the time. And all I can say is that I'm not surprised, and apologize on behalf of our country. You guys ROCK!

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