This incredible story is from a
flight attendant on Delta Flight 15:
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,
Newfoundland, 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 US.
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 US. 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 US 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 US 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 about 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.
“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.
Let’s not forget THIS fact.
This is one of those stories that needs to be shared. Please do so…
Source: www.tpnn.com
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