Listening to Channel 9 on September 11, 2001
Sep 10, 2016, 9:18 pm
#197
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: PHL, EWR
Programs: UA Gold; AA; Amtrak Select Plus;HH Diamond;Hyatt Disc;Hertz PC; Total Wine Grand Reserve!
Posts: 2,400
Every year, as we approach this date, I turn to the UA forum here on Flyertalk, as I know this thread will have been bumped. Reading the OP always brings tears. What a day that was.
Sep 10, 2016, 11:19 pm
#200
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MRY - CNX - TXL
Programs: UA 1K / *G / Marriott PE / Expedia Gold+ / Hertz PC
Posts: 7,058
I read the OP with such speed and "what happens next??" I actually forgot for a second I was on FT reading and it wasn't a Dan Brown novel.
My story is nothing like the others here. I think I fall in the middle of the generations where I was old enough to remember flying and travel pre-9/11 but wasn't old enough to be out traveling for work or doing the 100+k years I do now.
I remember around '92 flying HNL-SFO with my grandparents and going through security with metal ninja throwing stars I bought on the trip. The security guard said I had to give them to my grandpa to hold for the flight.
I remember going to SJC and waiting at the gate in the mid-90s when a cousin was arriving back home from studying abroad.
As for the morning of 9/11 I remember my Mom waking me up saying "they're attacking us!!" My initial reaction was farm workers. My family's business is agriculture and growing up there was a time when labor unions were protesting and we actually had police with riot gear (big plastic shields) at our house and some facilities.
I walked into the living room and looked at the TV for a minute and went back to my room. It wasn't until later that I went over to my friend's house (who was going to be my roommate on college) that we were watching TV and trying to look things up online.
Within a week I was moving down the coast to go to UC Santa Barbara. My Mom freaked out as we pulled up to my dorm, the Francisco Torres "twin" towers that sit 12 stories or so on the edge of Isla Vista right next to the Santa Barbara airport.
I had never been to NY until 7/1/06 which was my flight there to find an apartment. It was the 5 year anniversary a 2 months later that I then heard the stories first hand from people who were in the city that day. The following 9 years living in NY I would come across people with closer and closer stories to the day. On some anniversaries I remember I would opt to walk or take a taxi instead of the subway.
The only eerie feeling I could have in NY was when Sully put the plane down in the Hudson. The company I was working for at the time had a few people who had worked downtown during 9/11 and as the first bits of info (I think I first saw on Twitter) rolled in I remember two of them who has both worked together then became silent and pale.
I've not flown domestically on 9/11 but (before I was a FF'er and tracking stuff) I think it was a trip to Paris in '10 that I flew to Berlin on 9/11. I never told my Mom. To this day no matter if it's a 45 min flight from MRY-LAX or CNX-BKK and she knows I'm flying she will demand that I text her when I land. Sometimes I don't tell her when I'm flying on little hops or have a flew flights in a few days (intra-EU) because I don't want her to worry.
Thank you to FAB, LarryJ and others in this thread who have also posted first hand "industry" accounts in keeping the oral history alive.
Tomorrow I'll be at SFO picking up a friend as his A380 arrives from CDG.
My story is nothing like the others here. I think I fall in the middle of the generations where I was old enough to remember flying and travel pre-9/11 but wasn't old enough to be out traveling for work or doing the 100+k years I do now.
I remember around '92 flying HNL-SFO with my grandparents and going through security with metal ninja throwing stars I bought on the trip. The security guard said I had to give them to my grandpa to hold for the flight.
I remember going to SJC and waiting at the gate in the mid-90s when a cousin was arriving back home from studying abroad.
As for the morning of 9/11 I remember my Mom waking me up saying "they're attacking us!!" My initial reaction was farm workers. My family's business is agriculture and growing up there was a time when labor unions were protesting and we actually had police with riot gear (big plastic shields) at our house and some facilities.
I walked into the living room and looked at the TV for a minute and went back to my room. It wasn't until later that I went over to my friend's house (who was going to be my roommate on college) that we were watching TV and trying to look things up online.
Within a week I was moving down the coast to go to UC Santa Barbara. My Mom freaked out as we pulled up to my dorm, the Francisco Torres "twin" towers that sit 12 stories or so on the edge of Isla Vista right next to the Santa Barbara airport.
I had never been to NY until 7/1/06 which was my flight there to find an apartment. It was the 5 year anniversary a 2 months later that I then heard the stories first hand from people who were in the city that day. The following 9 years living in NY I would come across people with closer and closer stories to the day. On some anniversaries I remember I would opt to walk or take a taxi instead of the subway.
The only eerie feeling I could have in NY was when Sully put the plane down in the Hudson. The company I was working for at the time had a few people who had worked downtown during 9/11 and as the first bits of info (I think I first saw on Twitter) rolled in I remember two of them who has both worked together then became silent and pale.
I've not flown domestically on 9/11 but (before I was a FF'er and tracking stuff) I think it was a trip to Paris in '10 that I flew to Berlin on 9/11. I never told my Mom. To this day no matter if it's a 45 min flight from MRY-LAX or CNX-BKK and she knows I'm flying she will demand that I text her when I land. Sometimes I don't tell her when I'm flying on little hops or have a flew flights in a few days (intra-EU) because I don't want her to worry.
Thank you to FAB, LarryJ and others in this thread who have also posted first hand "industry" accounts in keeping the oral history alive.
Tomorrow I'll be at SFO picking up a friend as his A380 arrives from CDG.
Sep 11, 2016, 2:59 am
#202
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: West coast
Programs: UA 1K, A-List
Posts: 13
you have to go under the discontinued programs. here it is. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-504-3772.html
Sep 11, 2016, 12:08 pm
#204
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 8,994
Hard to believe this was literally half a lifetime ago for me now (I'm 30 years old). Was just starting sophomore year of high school in the NYC suburbs when this all happened.
Sep 12, 2016, 7:25 am
#205
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 957
I knew Jeremy Glick on UA 93 from college. My daily commute into NYC was through the WTC, usually arriving around 9:15 and then catching the subway to get into the office a little after 9:30. My first son was born in the moring hours of 9/12, and since early stages of labor were starting I didn't go into work that morning. I lost more than half a dozen friends in the towers, several of which were close. My son has 3 friends who never met their father.
I flew on 9/11/02 from CHS-EWR, and I vividly recall the palpable tension in the air the whole flight. We were told shortly after takeoff to use the restrooms if needed on the short 1:30 flight, since nobody would be allowed out of their seat the final 45 minutes.
This was the first time I've seen this thread, and like most others it brought chills to my spine. The one thing I will never forget is that it proved to many of us that there are far more good and wonderful people in this world than anything else.
I flew on 9/11/02 from CHS-EWR, and I vividly recall the palpable tension in the air the whole flight. We were told shortly after takeoff to use the restrooms if needed on the short 1:30 flight, since nobody would be allowed out of their seat the final 45 minutes.
This was the first time I've seen this thread, and like most others it brought chills to my spine. The one thing I will never forget is that it proved to many of us that there are far more good and wonderful people in this world than anything else.
Sep 12, 2016, 9:50 am
#206
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: SoCal to the rest of the world...
Programs: AA EXP with lots of BA. UA 2MM Lifetime Plat - No longer chase hotel loyalty
Posts: 6,698
I flew twice on 9/11/11 then on 9/12/11
Was in Germany for work, flew early in the AM from Frankfurt to Paderborn, had a 3 hour meeting and flew back to Frankfurt, got to the Sheraton at FRA (the older one if you recall across from T1) went to my hotel room to work with CNN on and saw it unfold as most of us did.
Was in utter shock - called friends in NYC to make sure they were ok (most were lower manhattan) - called up the few UA FA's I personally knew - all were OK but shaken - one would never fly again.
Then called my boss, recalling he was flying from Boston to California today (San Jose - when AA flew BOS-SJC). His wife called me asking info on if I knew what flights he was on as he switched things the night before. Get hold of him 30 min later - he's in O'Hare - just landed - mentioned some ATC issue - filled him in as no one on his flight yet knew. The silence said it all as he glued around a screen in ORD (Remember CNN airport network). He grabs a rental car like many did that day far from home - took 3 others back to Boston - people he didn't know. Driving until the early AM to get home.
I flew the next AM (No flight stop in the EU as long as destination wasn't North America or THRU North American airspace) , Frankfurt to Paris/Orly (when LH still flew ORY and CDG before only flying to CDG only) - I had two days earlier grabbed one of the last seats and this was to be a fairly full flight. Come 9/12, it was me, the two pilots (who met everyone as we boarded), the 4 LH FA's and 4 other passengers. The purser I knew from my many (40+) flights out of FRA in the last 6 months. He was in disbelief of the last 18 hours, he said friends were calling in sick and that many flights that day were like ours, heavily cancelled numbers and lots of crew working US/Canada flights he knew who were stuck where they were.
Arrived in ORY to a quiet - not bustling airport - colleague picked me up and we spent the next few hours driving to a customer listening to the radio reports one day after 9/11
Went to the UK two days later and camped there for a bit - I was in the middle of a relocation back from Europe (based in the UK) back to the US, was asked if I wanted to stay and open our Munich office vs relocating and doing a domestic US job (one that would require 70% travel) - I decided our way of life as a frequent flyer would NEVER be the same and that maybe it was best to remain in Europe (my tan complexion was another reason)
One week later was asked by Company if I can make it back to the Bay Area to do so for a few weeks - do it based on when you can get a flight. UA was my Airline, flew 150-200K miles a year on top op another 70K+ a year just on LH back then. Decided that based on my ethnic background that I need to find a way home that didn't involve me potentially not getting on a flight (call it what you want). Ended up flying LHR-DUB-LAX on Aer Lingus - precleared US entry in Dublin with no issues. Uneventful flight - sharp contrast to co-workers flying UA and AA via LHR who said the security checks were insane and the profiling by the LHR security contractors was over the top.
Less than 5 years later,
I'm arriving LHR from SFO (UA 930) - land and the connections center is closed (flying onward to STR/Stuttgart) - While waiting in line for the insane exit control/passport as everyone even connections is being sent there - I learn on a slow blackberry connection to BBC news of the liquid bomber plot. Catch a friend in the same line who is travelling with someone using crutches - airport police flag him to go to the medical lane and take "companions" with them - they tag me along and the 40+ min exit turns out to take only 5 min. Once outside LHR T3, Go to T2 and LH says "we don't know when we can fly - and when you can we are hearing NO carry ons at all" - well this makes me uncomfortable if they have a plot and don't know if it still remains.
Decide to just get out of here, call a family friend in the UK, send him an MMS photo of my credit card and ask him to book me the next Eurostar to Paris - tell him give me an hour 30 to get to station but that's good enough. He does that - call my corp travel agency - they are aware of the situation and switch my flight from LHR-STR to CDG-STR.
Get to Eurostar - that time still Waterloo - uneventful - full trains - but NOT yet kicked in to people flying - SWITCH to Eurostar. Sat next to a Vietnam Airlines Captain (Ex-Pat Brit who was to commute to work the CDG VN flight) - who was doing the same as me - was supposed to fly to CDG but was now taking the train to get to CDG. Spoke a bit about today and his 9/11 experiences (was an early VN ex-pat crewmember - didn't affect him directly but lots of friends stranded who worked for CX and BA). Got to Gare Du Nord and we shared a cab to CDG. Made the STR flight and was an hour 30 late to my meeting - shocked co-workers who thought I wouldn't make it.
The colleague I met in LHR arrivals/passport control was to go onto MUC, took him two days to get out of LHR and continue that - zero chance of getting any seats out on Eurostar for days.
9/11 forever changed how all of us on this site deal with travel, some of us have given up on it ever being pleasant and are surprised when it is now. The little surprises make a difference. Though we've worked around some of the pain (e.g. TSA PreCheck, etc), etc) there is always the risk of things happening that aren't expected; e.g. the BRU and IST attacks. We remain vigilant but we don't all give up - for those that just want to stop dealing with this - it's understandable. We remember those we've lost - many here know people affected directly by 9/11 - loss of life among passengers, crew and those on the ground. Our hearts are heavy every 9/11 and whenever another incident happens.
Was in Germany for work, flew early in the AM from Frankfurt to Paderborn, had a 3 hour meeting and flew back to Frankfurt, got to the Sheraton at FRA (the older one if you recall across from T1) went to my hotel room to work with CNN on and saw it unfold as most of us did.
Was in utter shock - called friends in NYC to make sure they were ok (most were lower manhattan) - called up the few UA FA's I personally knew - all were OK but shaken - one would never fly again.
Then called my boss, recalling he was flying from Boston to California today (San Jose - when AA flew BOS-SJC). His wife called me asking info on if I knew what flights he was on as he switched things the night before. Get hold of him 30 min later - he's in O'Hare - just landed - mentioned some ATC issue - filled him in as no one on his flight yet knew. The silence said it all as he glued around a screen in ORD (Remember CNN airport network). He grabs a rental car like many did that day far from home - took 3 others back to Boston - people he didn't know. Driving until the early AM to get home.
I flew the next AM (No flight stop in the EU as long as destination wasn't North America or THRU North American airspace) , Frankfurt to Paris/Orly (when LH still flew ORY and CDG before only flying to CDG only) - I had two days earlier grabbed one of the last seats and this was to be a fairly full flight. Come 9/12, it was me, the two pilots (who met everyone as we boarded), the 4 LH FA's and 4 other passengers. The purser I knew from my many (40+) flights out of FRA in the last 6 months. He was in disbelief of the last 18 hours, he said friends were calling in sick and that many flights that day were like ours, heavily cancelled numbers and lots of crew working US/Canada flights he knew who were stuck where they were.
Arrived in ORY to a quiet - not bustling airport - colleague picked me up and we spent the next few hours driving to a customer listening to the radio reports one day after 9/11
Went to the UK two days later and camped there for a bit - I was in the middle of a relocation back from Europe (based in the UK) back to the US, was asked if I wanted to stay and open our Munich office vs relocating and doing a domestic US job (one that would require 70% travel) - I decided our way of life as a frequent flyer would NEVER be the same and that maybe it was best to remain in Europe (my tan complexion was another reason)
One week later was asked by Company if I can make it back to the Bay Area to do so for a few weeks - do it based on when you can get a flight. UA was my Airline, flew 150-200K miles a year on top op another 70K+ a year just on LH back then. Decided that based on my ethnic background that I need to find a way home that didn't involve me potentially not getting on a flight (call it what you want). Ended up flying LHR-DUB-LAX on Aer Lingus - precleared US entry in Dublin with no issues. Uneventful flight - sharp contrast to co-workers flying UA and AA via LHR who said the security checks were insane and the profiling by the LHR security contractors was over the top.
Less than 5 years later,
I'm arriving LHR from SFO (UA 930) - land and the connections center is closed (flying onward to STR/Stuttgart) - While waiting in line for the insane exit control/passport as everyone even connections is being sent there - I learn on a slow blackberry connection to BBC news of the liquid bomber plot. Catch a friend in the same line who is travelling with someone using crutches - airport police flag him to go to the medical lane and take "companions" with them - they tag me along and the 40+ min exit turns out to take only 5 min. Once outside LHR T3, Go to T2 and LH says "we don't know when we can fly - and when you can we are hearing NO carry ons at all" - well this makes me uncomfortable if they have a plot and don't know if it still remains.
Decide to just get out of here, call a family friend in the UK, send him an MMS photo of my credit card and ask him to book me the next Eurostar to Paris - tell him give me an hour 30 to get to station but that's good enough. He does that - call my corp travel agency - they are aware of the situation and switch my flight from LHR-STR to CDG-STR.
Get to Eurostar - that time still Waterloo - uneventful - full trains - but NOT yet kicked in to people flying - SWITCH to Eurostar. Sat next to a Vietnam Airlines Captain (Ex-Pat Brit who was to commute to work the CDG VN flight) - who was doing the same as me - was supposed to fly to CDG but was now taking the train to get to CDG. Spoke a bit about today and his 9/11 experiences (was an early VN ex-pat crewmember - didn't affect him directly but lots of friends stranded who worked for CX and BA). Got to Gare Du Nord and we shared a cab to CDG. Made the STR flight and was an hour 30 late to my meeting - shocked co-workers who thought I wouldn't make it.
The colleague I met in LHR arrivals/passport control was to go onto MUC, took him two days to get out of LHR and continue that - zero chance of getting any seats out on Eurostar for days.
9/11 forever changed how all of us on this site deal with travel, some of us have given up on it ever being pleasant and are surprised when it is now. The little surprises make a difference. Though we've worked around some of the pain (e.g. TSA PreCheck, etc), etc) there is always the risk of things happening that aren't expected; e.g. the BRU and IST attacks. We remain vigilant but we don't all give up - for those that just want to stop dealing with this - it's understandable. We remember those we've lost - many here know people affected directly by 9/11 - loss of life among passengers, crew and those on the ground. Our hearts are heavy every 9/11 and whenever another incident happens.
Aug 31, 2017, 7:25 am
#207
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
OP - thank you for posting. incredible OP & thread.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/flyer...l#post21392789 >
recently got flyer for this in the mail >
airandspace.si.edu/events/911-perspectives
airspacemag.com/daily-planet/911-takedown-never-happened-180955222/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/flyer...l#post21392789 >
How many of you know Retired UAL Captain John Penney? Maybe you even followed the fun he had for many years as the pilot of "Rare Bear" in the Reno Air Races … or maybe he told you the story of his MiG Masters business … I shared a "management cubicle" with John Penney and Jason Dahl at the United Flight Training Center before I retired and got to know both of them pretty well. Well, This is the story of another member of the Penney family; John's daughter Heather, and the story of her harrowing experience on the morning of September 11, 2001.
PS: When you are finished reading below… , this tells the "Rest of the Story":
PS: When you are finished reading below… , this tells the "Rest of the Story":
Presenters: Heather "Lucky" Penney and John Penney
September 7, 2017 | 8:00pm
DC National Air and Space Museum
webcast on Air and Space Live.
moderated by the Museum Deputy Director Chris Browne, who was the manager of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on September 11, 2001.
September 7, 2017 | 8:00pm
DC National Air and Space Museum
webcast on Air and Space Live.
moderated by the Museum Deputy Director Chris Browne, who was the manager of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on September 11, 2001.
airspacemag.com/daily-planet/911-takedown-never-happened-180955222/
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Aug 31, 2017 at 8:54 pm
Sep 11, 2017, 1:05 am
#209
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 706
First time seeing this post
Still remember my Company was running a trade show near Boston airport that day and I lived in Framingham. I drove to the hotel in the afternoon and Masspike was free. All government employees were back home. No one cares about what the trade show was about and were just following news on TV.
My parents were trying to call me from Hong Kong and couldn't reach me until 11am. Phone lines were too busy.
CNN website was running a text version only. There were just too many hits.
My Bay Area coworkers decided to hire a tour bus back home from Boston and it took them 5 days.
Still sadden by the lost of lifes and the world changed on that day.
Still remember my Company was running a trade show near Boston airport that day and I lived in Framingham. I drove to the hotel in the afternoon and Masspike was free. All government employees were back home. No one cares about what the trade show was about and were just following news on TV.
My parents were trying to call me from Hong Kong and couldn't reach me until 11am. Phone lines were too busy.
CNN website was running a text version only. There were just too many hits.
My Bay Area coworkers decided to hire a tour bus back home from Boston and it took them 5 days.
Still sadden by the lost of lifes and the world changed on that day.