Where were you?

[trev]

September 11, 2001 ??

I remember my alarm went off a little before 6 am that morning. I could hear the guys on the radio talking about a plane crashing into a building. I could tell immediately this was different. I jumped up and turned on the TV. By that time the 2nd plane was crashing into the towers. I stood in shock watching the coverage. I got my kids up and took them to elementary school at 8:45. As I drove in the parking lot and passed the other cars I could see different than normal looks on the all the parents faces. Serious, shocked, scared, nervous looks. The way I felt. The day continued, a handful of parents kept their kids home that day. By evening we were watching the sad events in tears and sorrow for what had happened.

[matteric]

In some chicks pants.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Happy Anniversary

[Goober McTuber]

The area that I covered (lower 2/3 of GA & some of N. Florida)

You were REALLY fat.

[The Seer]

Standing on a balcony in my skivvies in Puerto Vallarta watching the rain. Wifey had on the only English channel, CNN, and said "you should see this". Started drinking tequila very early that day. Had to get creative a few days later because no U.S. flights were coming into or out of Mexico. Flew to Tijuana (dumb fucking pilot had cockpit door open for whole flight) and walked across the border, took a cab to San Diego, hung out for a night, and Amtrak'd it back to Santa Clarita.

[Left Seater]

I doubt I could write a better post than I did on a previous anniversary, so here it is reposted.

Second worst day of my life. I was flying for my own company on that day and taking a group from Dallas to SoCal for a meeting and then return. We left Dallas shortly after 7:00 am Central time. Initial routing was north towards Lewisville and then a turn to the west. After reaching our cruising altitude of 40,000 plus, our lead attendant came up and told us that the passengers were all discussing an accident in NYC, in which a plane hit the WTC. We discussed how that could have happened even if the weather was horrible in NYC, which of course it wasn't. Just a few minutes later the lead let us know that another plane had hit the WTC. At this point we knew it wasn't an accident.

We, all planes in the air, were told to land at the closest suitable field even if it was behind us. This was repeated a few times and that raised a few questions. What was the definition of suitable? Clearly suitable meant having a runway that was able to handle type and weight, but did it mean a terminal, jetways, etc for the commercial types? Did it mean the Air Force base we just passed ten minutes ago. I immediately made the decision that we weren't going back to Dallas as that was going to be a mess with the morning bank in full swing at DFW, and they didn't need anyone else in that mix. We tried for a few minutes for further instructions while continuing to head west. Finally after what seemed like an hour, but was more likely a 7-9 minutes we were told commercial flights would be given priority to land at commercial fields. So we just held our course and looked for spots out in front of us.

The airports in our area were all in NM. ABQ was our first choice as it was a large city, both of us up front had been there before, and nice facilities for our passengers. Of course at the time we thought we would be on our way later that morning once they figured everything out. We requested and were granted a turn to the Southwest to head to ABQ. A few minutes later we were told to head to something closer since ABQ might be busy with launching the Airforce reserves from Kirtland which shares the same facility.

We crossed Taos NM off of our list as it had less than 5500 ft in length and was over 7000 ft in altitude. Angel Fire was slightly closer and 1000 feet higher in elevation but an additional 2800 feet in length and 25 feet in width and we were pretty heavy due to the fact we were tankering fuel, but that is a tricky approach to an uncontrolled field. So that was out. (Tankering, flying with enough fuel for the entire trip so as to avoid purchasing fuel at a higher price in CA. There is a tradeoff in that you are heavier so you burn more fuel early, but it can often still be a savings.)

So on to Santa Fe with its 8000 foot runway at 4000 feet in elevation and controllers. We landed and were directed to park on an out of the way spot which we didn't understand why at first, but became clear when United, Southwest and America West were all right behind us. We spent 4 hours on the plane before we learned we weren't going anywhere for the rest of the day. The next day our passengers headed back to Dallas via car and we settled in with the other flight crews and watched the world change before our eyes.

We spent 2 weeks in Santa Fe and I made two life long friends. One of those things where you go thru something with people and you almost instantly feel like you have known them for such a long time. Our story is similar to those around North America. One of the best is from Gander in Canada. 38 planes in all landed in Gander on 9/11 and 32 of them were wide bodies. A total of 6,600 people were thrust upon this small community who took them in and cared for them like they were family. Here is a photo of the airport in mid afternoon on 9/11.



Notice the planes parked on the far end of the runway also.

Here is the story of their reunion yesterday.

http://www.canada.com/news/9-11-anniversary/index.html

[Carr Guy]

Hey guys, I normally participate in the college football forum but I saw this discussion over here and I wanted to chime in. I just want to say that on this day it's important to remember the VICTIMS of 9-11. I know people like to think back about where they were, what they were doing and things like that, but please and don't take this the wrong way, but it's not about you. It's about the VICTIMS.

This day really hits close to home for me because my ex co-workers father-in-law passed away on 9-11. 13 years later, I still grieve with him.

So please rememebr to keep the victims in your thoughts as well as the victims families in your thoughts & prayers.

[Screw_Michigan]

This day really hits close to home for me because my ex co-workers father-in-law passed away on 9-11.

At Ground Zero or someplace else?

[Carr Guy]

He died of a heart attack shoveling snow.

[War Wagon]

We've remembered this day in history every year for the last 13, which is only right and proper. We should never forget what happened on 9/11/01. Our grand kids should never forget and neither should theirs.

I won't bore anybody (again) with what I was doing that day. It doesn't matter. To Carr Guy, we were all victims that day. To the smartasses, go fuck yourself. Seriously. You aren't funny in the least. Find another topic to jerk off in.

By evening we were watching the sad events in tears and sorrow for what had happened.

No tears here, just seething, apocalyptic anger. I remember Euroclone (at TNW, who was normally a bigger smartass than Marty and Goobs x 2) worriedly asking us Yanks not to do anything crazy, like turn the entire Middle East into a glass parking lot. At least not right away.

13 years later, that glass parking lot idea is seeming like a missed opportunity with a good excuse.

[poptart]

13 years later, that glass parking lot idea is seeming like a missed opportunity with a good excuse.

Isis (AQ, whoever) is not Islamic.

- Barry

[Goober McTuber]

He died of a heart attack shoveling snow.

Shoveling snow? In early September? Your co-worker's father-in-law was Santa Claus?

Fuck off, Whitey.

[mvscal]

He died of a heart attack shoveling snow.

Shoveling snow? In early September?

They got 20 inches or something in Wyoming last week.

[Moving Sale]

We've remembered this day in history every year for the last 13, which is only right...

13 years later, that glass parking lot idea is seeming like a missed opportunity with a good excuse.

Bush lives in Texas not the Middle East.

[Goober McTuber]

He died of a heart attack shoveling snow.

Shoveling snow? In early September?

They got 20 inches or something in Wyoming last week.

People actually live there?

[Goober McTuber]

Nice work with the ubb code, Einstein.