Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11
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 MATCH about a 75
Kilometre 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 travellers. 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 kilometres 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 harbours. 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 travellers.
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.
"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
faraway 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 people in the
world and when things get bad, they will come forward."
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