9/11/01 Remembrances

Yeah, I think the most embarassing happened to me. They didn't tell us what was going on at first and the teacher turned on the tv in some cuban channel where a women was speaking. I tought Cuba was attacking us or something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
 
Oh I know the feeling!

It was the day when aviation went from "passion" to "job" from all of the resulting changes.
 
I know. I was feeling so good about things when I headed into the shower that morning. It was a gorgeous early morning in La Jolla, which is an absolutely gorgeous town, and I had the surf crashing into the shore when I was jogging and the smell of the sea was so refreshing. I was feeling great.

Then all that went right out the window when I figured out what was going on. I think I sat in front of the TV for like ten minutes before I really understood what was happening.
 
What I don't understand is why we as friends and families can't go to the gate anymore post 9/11.

How exactly does that prevent terrorism cause you have to have a ticket to board the plane.

So the chance of someone running on the plane is slim to none. Besides most planes are hikaced in the air not on the ground.

Just scan and check friends and family as closely as you would ticketed passengers.

Does this actually keep people safe and planes from being hijacked...if so let me know cause I have no clue?

I was at PHX Friday night about 5pm for over an hour waiting for a friend to fly in on NWA the plane was late. I was sooooooooo bored. And it is a carnal sin for me to be bored at an airport.

P.S. I was looking for you and Kristie Doug.

P.S.S Brian what airport is that in your avatar?


Matthew
 
Personally, I think that preventing non-passengers from the secure area was because security was such a cluster "expletive" that decisions were made to keep down traffic thru the screening area.
 
I was on a golf course in Michigan. I had just gotten back from Operation Southern Watch, and was just relaxing on some well earned compensatory time. I headed for the front nine, and as I was nearing the road I noticed the gas station across the street had jumped their gas up to 3.50 cents per gallonbastards). I really had no clue what the hell was going on, until I got to the club house. Then my phone started ringing off the hook!! Needless to say, 3 days later I was patrolling the sky over NYC/Pentagon/, and 2 weeks later I was in Afghanistan enduring 17 hour flights, and talking to MikeD
 
I was in 9th grade when it happend, fresh out of 8th grade. I remeber waking up to a glommy OVC day in SO CAL, and watching the news as I got downstairs to our family room. It was on NBC I think it showed the pictures of one of the Towers on fire and also the second one. I thought it was an uncontrolled fire or bomb. Then on the way to school I heared that it was two planes that crashed into the building, and I felt terrified. I went to school and we watched the news coverage in one of the open classrooms, and there I saw the towers crumble and I was in disbelief. I thought it was out of a movie or something, since I did go to a catholic school durign my 9th and 10th grade, we prayed for the victims and for our nation in all of my periods. My dad picked me up from school at 3pm , he worked in Downtown LOS Angleles and they sent them off early I looked outside the window of our explorer it was sunny out I said to myself soo many peopel died on this beautiful afternoon....
 
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P.S.S Brian what airport is that in your avatar?

Matthew

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Boca Raton Airport, FL (KBCT)
 
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What I don't understand is why we as friends and families can't go to the gate anymore post 9/11.

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I think it's because if you think that security is a pain to clear now, just wait until all the friends and family want to get in there!
 
I will never forget that say. I was in biology lab as a Freshman in college and we were missing a supply. Our prof went to go get it and had run into someone that was watching it. She came back intot he room told us to stop what we were doing, clean up and go back to our rooms. She didn't tell us anything else, but it was really weird since this was a prof that owudl hold us over forever if things werent done perfectly shed make us redo them. When I got back to my dorm every room was open on my floor and each persons tv was on, so we had every possible station covering it. I went to a small school and we had some people on our floor that had relatives working/traveling in nyc. They were flipping out because they couldn't get ahold of family. Then a rumor started about Chicago being the next target and things went from bad to worse. All the malls were closed, public buildings evacuated, it was insane. I can't even imagine what it was like in NY.
 
This was simply the worst day of my life.

I was in my car driving on I95 heading over to the airport (FXE) for my early morning flight on my way to becoming a private pilot. Life was really good at the time, just got out on the Army, finally flying and really enjoying life. I remember turning on the radio and hearing about the first tower. At first, I thought it was a prank so I tuned another station and that's when the world as I knew it changed right in front of my eyes. I called my wife she was still sleeping and she couldn't believe it. Tried calling my father in N.Y. but couldn't reach him.

Got to school and see every student pilot, flight instructor and staff in shock. I didn't say a word. From that point on I really don't remember much but I made it to the airplane and did one of the most detailed preflight ever done. My instructor and I were ready to taxi when the flight ops guy comes running out of the building and tells us "Park the plane, a plane just hit the Pentagon!" That's when it downed on me that we were under attack.

The drive home wasn't the same. I remember passing by FLL and seeing everything paralyzed. That's when the tears started.

The tears haven’t stopped since.

I've had 3 friends so far die in this war. I really hope nobody forgets September 11th of 2001.
 
This was my freshman year at U-M, and I had an early class. I woke up and on my way back from the bathroom the girl across the hall from me was like did you see what happened, I said no, i just woke up, what's going on? and she said that someone bombed the world trade center. I watched tv for a few mins in her room before going back to mine to get dressed. As I was getting dressed the station that I was watching was talking to someone at the pentagon, and as they were talking to that person (live) the pentagon was hit. That was pretty scary. I went to class like normal, where everyone was sitting watching the tv in the lecture hall. We proceeded to have class and on the way out rumors started flying about classes being cancelled. I went over to the information desk to ask about it and found out that all classes had been cancelled for the day. I went back to my room to find my roommate in tears because she couldn't get a hold of either of her parents who took the train into NYC from NJ and their stop was the WTC. They both ended up being ok, but I spent the day glued to the TV. That night there was a huge candle light vigial organized and over 10,000+ people packed the center of our campus. It was scary and sad and very moving. I kept that candle for the rest of the year.
 
I was in my office and was just returning from the fax machine. Along the way, I passed one of the corner offices of a partner in the law firm and in his office, there was a gathering of people around a television.

The sight in and of itself was not odd except for none of the people worked together. It was a collection of folks from all four corners of our floor... and I knew the partner was away on business.

So, I walked in and asked what was going on.

"A plane flew into the World Trade Center" came the answer.

I said "Sh*t! What a horrible accident."

About that time, the screen showed the second plane hit and I said "Oh! there's the replay!"

Everybody started yelling "THAT'S NOT A REPLAY!! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!"

I said "We're under attack".. and ran to call my wife.

I spen the day with the rest of the folks watching the horrible scenes on the television screen. At one point , I remember going to the window and looking out at the three 40+ story buildings in downtown and wondering if we were next.

Just to the west of the buildings, I could see TPA..... and noticed that nothing was coming or going. "I wonder if they'd close down the airspace???"

My answer came almost immediately as the newscaster broadcast that the entire U.S. airspace had been closed. I looked towards MacDill AFB and saw a lone, large plane taking off (Air Force 1) as it had stopped briefly after leaving Sarasota where Bush was addressing the second graders.

I looked out the other side of the building and saw SWAT team members on the roofs of the buildings with their rifles and full armor.

Scared the CRAP out of me. THIS is AMERICA??? I hope to never see that again!!!

Later, a girl came to work for us who had been in law school at the time. She was getting off of the subway about four blocks from the WTC when the second plane hit. She said she felt the heat of the blast and she was frozen.

She left NY a few weeks later.
 
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