Listening to Channel 9 on September 11, 2001

Amazing read, and thanks for bumping it up Swiftman... I never came across this post before... thank you Putt4eagle for your story!

The September 11, 2001 experiences of the OP were imbedded in a larger thread that discussed overall Channel 9 appreciation. In light of the subject matter, I've decided to move those posts to the "Fun Things Heard on Channel 9" thread.

Thanks for your understanding,

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United Mileage Plus Forum

Very good story. I think everyone will remember what they were doing that day. I was flying a trip during all this. I still remember the chilling ACARS message we got to defend the cockpit at all costs to included deadly force. I remember flyign with the crash axe in my hand, with the jump seat up and locked at the cockpit door. I remember moving the marines we had onboard up to FC and the FC folks back to the back to defend the cockpit. I remember how confused ATC was, and how they and the company lost track of where we were when they had us land in a little field in the USA. Yep, it was a stressful day for us up front flying a potential guided missle not knowing what in the heck was going on.

I think the two memories I most remember though, is first hearing ATC coming over GUARD frequency declaring that the US had implemented SCANTANA which is reserved for war, shutting down all navaids and ATC. I had learned about this in my military career and never really thought about it. Very chilling. Second big memory, how the crew and passengers and the town we were in all pulled together and worked to make all the lives disrupted better. We didn't buy a meal or drink while we were there thanks to the town, and the passengers and crew got together for meals and stuff during the day. It was one of the worst days of my life, but also 4 days filled with some of my greatest memories, as weird as that is.

Always remember those who lost their lives so that we may hopefully avoid the same situation in the future.

Good thread.

AD

I'm not sure I agree it is appropriate to place this in "FUN things heard on channel 9"

Maybe just me.

aluminumdriver, great post!^ Gave me chills....

No spanking; just a request to please re-read my post and also note the title of this thread. To be clear - the posts previously in this thread that were not related to 9/11 have been moved to the other thread. This thread has been re-titled and re-focused on 9/11. Thanks for giving me a chance to clarify; perhaps a Private Message in the future to avoid off-topic conversation on-line, please.

Thanks.

To AD, that's a great story, but like lucky definitely sends chills down your spine. I am curious though, how much did you guys know in the cockpit about what was going on. I'm guessing you knew that planes had been hijacked and used as weapons, but did you know what had been hit, etc.. This is all assuming that you don't mind answering; if you do, don't worry about this post.

wow -- amazing story by the OP. Thanks so much for highlighting this thread today.

AD:

Wow! Thanks for your point of view about that day. I'm wondering if you might care to elaborate on this:

bolding mine

Were the people in the town paying your bar and restaurant tabs or were they inviting folks into their homes for meals, etc? I had heard of this (being invited to private homes) happening with the folks who were diverted to Newfoundland for a few days. My dad always says "most people are pretty nice". That terrible day brought out the best in many people.

Cheers,

yrf

Wonderful, touching, and poignant section of the story.

Thank you for sharing.

We were getting some ACARS messages that a plane had flown into the WTC. We were thinking it was a small plane or something, but then I pulled up the weather and saw it was a crystal clear day. I started to feel something bad stirring. We ended up getting lots of traffic from the company quickly and started working a divert plan. As we were working this out we got a message of another jet crashing, multiple hijackings taking place and to defend the cockpit. That was when everything happened very quickly. I can't go into where we went, but it happened VERY FAST!

Yes, the town we were in opened up everything for us. The hotels helped us get rooms, but local folks were offering their homes to stranded passengers. Like I said, it was sureal, but one of my best memories was how everyone just really pulled together as Americans.

Thanks as well AD. I've read many passenger accounts, but never a pilot one.

Just curious, did you and/or the company have any say as to the choice of airport that you diverted to? Or did ATC give you a specific airport to land at, no questions asked?

Thanks for the answer AD. I can't imagine what it was like in that cockpit. I'm glad you guys have nerves of steel though.

I was lucky to have arrived in my home city at about 6am that morning starting a scheduled 15hr layover. If I had been on any other trip I would have been stuck away from home until the airspace system reopened instead of watching it all unfold with my wife and 1yr old son.

I had gone to bed and was listening to the radio to go to sleep. When they said that a second plane hit the towers I got up. I stayed up most of the day even though I had ben up since mid-afternoon the previous day.

Fantastic post.

THANK YOU.