>>From: Patti Jones ('60)
Date: 9/28/01

Subject: The Other Side of Things... [on 9/11/01]
By Nazim-Amin, is a Delta airline employee - one of the 
cockpit crew.

    We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over
the North Atlantic and I was in my crew rest seat taking
my scheduled rest break. All of a sudden the curtains
parted violently and I was told to go to the cockpit,
right now, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I
noticed that the crew had one of those "All Business"
looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed
message. I quickly read the message and realized the
importance of it. The message was from Atlanta, addressed
to our flight, and simply said, "All airways over the
Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest
airport, advise your destination."
    Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately
without suggesting which airport, one can assume that the
dispatcher has reluctantly given up control of the flight
to the captain. We knew it was a serious situation and we
needed to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly
decided that the nearest airport was 400 miles away,
behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the island of
New Foundland. 
    A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic
controller and a right turn, directly to Gander, was
approved immediately. We found out later why there was no
hesitation by the Canadian controller approving our
request. We, the in-flight crew, were told to get the
airplane ready for an immediate landing. While this was
going on another message arrived from Atlanta telling us
about some terrorist activity in the New York area. 
    We briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander
and we went about our business 'closing down' the
airplane for a landing. A few minutes later I went back
to the cockpit to find out that some airplanes had been
hijacked and were being flown into buildings all over the
US. We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the
passengers for the time being. We told them that an
instrument problem had arisen on the airplane and that we
needed to land at Gander, to have it checked. We promised
to give more information after landing in Gander. There
were many unhappy passengers but that is par for the
course.
    We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after the start
of this episode. There were already about 20 other
airplanes on the ground from all over the world. 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. But the reality is that we
are here for a good reason." Then he went on to explain
the little bit we knew about the situation in the US.
There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time
at Gander was 12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST)
    Gander control told us to stay put. No one was
allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was
allowed to come near the aircrafts. Only a car from the
airport police would come around once in a while, look us
over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or
so all the airways over the North Atlantic were vacated
and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over
the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags.
    We were told that each and every plane was to be
offloaded, one at a time, with the foreign carriers given
the priority. We were No.14 in the US category. We were
further told that we would be given a tentative time to
deplane at 6 pm. 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 US
were either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some time
late 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. 
    Now the passengers were totally bewildered and
emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept
reminding them to look around to see that we were not the
only ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes
with people on them in the same situation. We also told
them that the Canadian Government was in charge and we
were at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander
airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11
AM, the next morning. That took the last wind out of the
passengers and they simply resigned and accepted this
news without much noise and really started to get into a
mode of spending the night on the airplane. 
    Gander had promised us any and all medical attention
if needed; medicine, water, and lavatory servicing. And
they were true to their word.
    Fortunately we had no medical situation during the
night. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her
pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night
passed without any further complications on our airplane
despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About
10:30 on the morning of the 12th we were told to get
ready to leave the aircraft. 
    A convoy of school buses showed up at the side of the
airplane, the stairway was hooked up and the passengers
were taken to the terminal for "processing" We, the crew,
were taken to the same terminal but were told to go to a
different section, where we were processed through
Immigration and customs and then had to register with the
Red Cross. After that we were isolated from our
passengers and were taken in a caravan of vans to a very
small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where
our passengers were going. 
    The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people.
Red Cross told us that they were going to process about
10,500 passengers from all the airplanes that were forced
into Gander. We were told to just relax at the hotel and
wait for a call to go back to the airport, 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 enjoyed ourselves going around town
discovering things and enjoying the hospitality. The
people were so friendly and they just knew that we were
the "Plane people". We all had a great time until we got
that call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made it
to the airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM
arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1 hour
and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1 hour and 30
minutes.) But that's not what I wanted to tell you. What
passengers told us was so uplifting and incredible and
the timing couldn't have been better. 
    We found out that Gander and the surrounding small
communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all
the high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other
large gathering places. They converted all these
facilities to a mass lodging area. Some had cots set up,
some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL
the high school students HAD to volunteer taking care of
the "GUESTS". 
    Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called
Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There they
were put 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 given no
choice and 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 type
facility. There were DDS on call and they had both male
and female nurses available and stayed with the crowd for
the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and Europe
were available for every one once a day. During the days
the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion" trips.
Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and
harbors. Some went to see 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
school for those who elected to stay put. Others were
driven to the eatery of their choice and fed. They were
given tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their
clothes, since their luggage was still on the aircraft.
    In other words every single need was met for those
unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying while
telling us these stories. After all that, they were
delivered to the airport right on time and without a
single one missing or late. All because the local Red
Cross had all the information about the goings on back at
Gander and knew which group needed to leave for the
airport at what time. Absolutely incredible. 
     When passengers came on board, it was like they had
been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody else by their
name. They were swapping stories of their stay,
impressing each other with who had the better time. It
was mind boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like
a party flight. We simply stayed out of their way. The
passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each
other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers,
addresses, and email addresses. And then a strange thing
happened. One of our business class passengers approached
me and asked if he could speak over the PA to his fellow
passengers. We never, never, allow that. But something
told me to get out of his way. I said "of course".
    The gentleman 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 further
stated that he would like to do something in return for
the good folks of the town 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 a scholarship for high school student(s) of
Lewisporte to help them go to college. 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, it totaled to $14.5K
or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman who started all
this turned out to be an MD from Virginia. He 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. 
    Why, all of this? Just because some people in far
away places were kind to some strangers, who happened to
literally drop in among them? WHY NOT?

Nazim 

------------------------- 

    The following note was received from one of our
subscribers in Gander and I've chosen to re-print it as
received;
     It's been a hell of a week here in Gander. The
stories are amazing. We had 38 aircraft with a total of
6656 people drop by for coffee. they stayed for 3 or four
days. Our population is just under 10,000, so you can
imagine the logistics involved in giving each of these
people a place to sleep and hot meal three times a day.
Many of us spent our time bringing people home so they
could get a shower or, once the rain started on the third
day, driving them to the mall or sight seeing to relieve
their boredom. 
    The diversity of the people who have been in my car
and in my shower over the past few days is pretty wild.
You should have seen the look on my little girl's face
when three Muslim women came home with me for a shower.
With their robes, she could only see their faces, hands
and feet. Their hands and feet were coverd with Henna
Paint and two of them didn't speak English. There was a
King from the Middle East here. A British MP. The Mayor
of Frankfurt Germany, etc., etc.
    There were also immigrants from all over the world,
some of whom didn't have two pennies to rub together.
They all slept side by side in schools and church halls.
Except the Irish, of course! A flight from Ireland was
put up at a couple of local drinking establishments! The
Royal Canadian Legiona and the Elks Club.
    One woman here gave a driving tour to a fellow from
the US. When she brought him back to his gymnasium cot,
the exchanged cards. She looked at his and said, "So you
work with Best Western?" He replied, "No, I own Best
Western" You should have been here, but of course, there
wouldn't have been room.
    What an experience! 

Thursday, September 20, 2001 
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