My parents had retired and moved to Florida in 1974. My father had passed away unexpectedly in March 2001 and my mother was dying of cancer (she died in November 2001). My sister and I were alternating weeks to be with her. I was on B6 Flight 17 (JFK-FLL) that morning. As an aside, I still have my BP. We left the gate on time (8:30 AM). We were #2 for takeoff when the Captain got on the intercom and said that if we looked out the windows on the left side, it appeared that the World Trade Center was on fire. We took off and flew over the Upper Bay over Governors Island where we had a clear view of the WTC.
I had the AVOD on CNBC by the time we overflew the area and heard the early comments about a plane crashing into the tower. My initial reactions were interesting. I remembered when I was a child in 1945 and a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building on a foggy night. I also remembered what it was like when I worked on the 103rd floor of 1 WTC in 1975. I had an office overlooking the Hudson River and Upper Bay and watched the aircraft flying by below me all day long. I left that job in 1976 and my former employer (The Federal Home Loan Bank of NY) moved to 4 WTC location after the garage bombing in 1993 when everyone had to walk down. The space was later occupied by Cantor Fitzgerald and that is where the aircraft hit 1 WTC.
Our flight continued and I watched CNBC as the second plane hit 2 WTC. Just after we passed DC, the plane hit the Pentagon. When airspace was shut down we landed at RDU. I was fortunate enough to snag a rental car and drove to our NJ home via Roanoke, I-81 and I-78, knowing that I’d never be able to get through on I-95. There was no traffic on the road and I made the trip from RDU in just under 8 hours. Fortunately, I had an automobile charger for my cell phone and was able to stay in touch with people.
Even though the George Washington Bridge and others were closed to traffic, I was able to drive my rental car to JFK the following day to retrieve my truck and the firefighting and EMS gear I always have in it. At the time I was a Commissioner of our Fire District on Long Island (where we also live) as well as a Past Chief of the Fire Department, and was able to get the necessary clearances to travel since we were still on standby if needed.
Due to my having being a volunteer FF for many years on Long Island, I knew many NYC FF’s who died that day. Just as tragically, I know many of them who have died and others who are slowly dying of the respiratory injuries they incurred after working the site both on that and future days. Sadly, they are treated like dirt by New York City.