Not directly ,but
 

I am a retired Detective ,one of my closest friends , a NYC police officer died that day in Tower #2 .

I'm a Muslim of Afghan origin and I had to quit my job at a Federal bldg cuz losers were harassing me so much with their ignorance and so called patriotism ...and I was 2000+ miles away from the crash sites.

2001 was before I started travelling often.
When it started, I was watching The West Wing on TV. During an ad break towards the end of the show, there was a news flash about the first plane. When the show ended, they cut straight to the news. About 2 seconds before the second plane hit.

Sorry to hear that. There are a lot of ignorant people out there.

I was one of only two people from my department that WASN'T in the air when the Towers were hit. Everyone else was on a plane to our yearly corporate meeting in Chicago, and they were diverted to Memphis.

I was working for a property management company on the 51st floor of a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere and was the only person around who knew how to turn on the big tvs in the conference room. The room was packed with my colleagues and when the Pentagon was hit someone said "what the hell are all of us doing here, this is a target if there is one in Houston" and everyone fled. Unfortunately the phones were going off the hook with building managers from all over the country trying to figure out what they were supposed to do - should they evacuate or tell everyone to be calm?

There was no one higher than the two of us in corporate communications to ask. We discussed it and decided to tell everyone to evacuate if they felt it was in their interests. The NY, LA, SF, Miami, Houston and Chicago buildings all shut down ASAP. Then I drove home through the worst traffic ever.

It was pretty terrifying since we really were a big fat target sitting out in the middle of no where and there were military helicopters flying by my window constantly. Scary horrible day.

Took my colleagues about 5 days to get home.

i was in miami when i got a panicked phone call from a friend in one of the towers. he was just dialing all his numbers trying to let people know he was ok and on his way out. i tried to call him back but did not get through. i called a mutual friend, in ny, to tell him about the strange call, thinking maybe he was in a car accident or something. my mutual friend asked me if i had seen the tv yet. i said no and turned it on. that's how my day started. i tried to contact friends that work in the city and some in the towers. it was pot luck getting through. i spoke to another friend who was in one of the towers as he was coming out. i lost 3 friends that day...

I lived in NYC at the time but was actually at AA headquarters for a big conference that day. I was blow-drying my hair in the room when I saw the news on the first plane. Went downstairs to breakfast and made them turn on the the TV in time to watch the 2nd plane hit. :shudder:

AA cancelled the conference and set up a huge screen TV so we could all watch the news.

My dad was in a meeting with Senator Leiberman and was kicked out of the building they were in when the Secret Service came to grab the Senator. He wasn't able to get in touch with family for several hours and my mom was hysterical since she thought he was in the Pentagon that day instead of the bldg he was actually in.

I lost several acquaintances but all my friends who worked in the towers got out safely.

We ended up driving home from Dallas. I moved to Madrid a few months later and was there when the trains were bombed - had coworkers on those too :(

I was immigrating into Canada from The Netherlands and my flight from AMS to YYZ was booked for Sep 11, 2001 (Canada 3000 was the airline).

We flew, and landed in Halifax instead of YYZ. While descending into Halifax we were told by the captain "There seems to be some kind of a problem in the US and we will land here in Halifax for about an hour. You will have to disembark, you can collect your baggage at the terminal and we will let you know when we will be on our way again".

I was looking out of the window and noticed that all the taxiways were filled with aircraft looking like a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on a highway. I knew that this was not usual.

It was only after we went into the terminal that we saw what was on the news. Only then did we know what had happened. Then we were told that we would not be flying for an indefinite period until th all-clear had been given.

We collected our baggage from the carousel. Oddly enough, out of the 17,000 or so people stranded that day in Halifax, we were the only people who were permitted to collect our checked-in baggage. All the others had their bags still in the planes and had to make do with the care-package brought out by stores, people, the Red Cross etc. containing underwear, sanitary towels, toothpaste, brushes etc.

One very unique experience I had was that I helped the immigration officers process my own immigration into Canada because the officials at Halifax were not used to anyone immigrating into Halifax. They just did not know what to do. Because I have this habit of researching anything important I knew what papers I would be expected to show, bring, sign, collect, etc.

It was funny - they had to search for one of the forms and finally found one in someone's desk drawer!

After that we were bussed to schools, community centres, gymnasiums etc.

It was then that I saw for myself what I had only heard about before about Canadians being friendly and helpful - they came out in droves and stared taking people, total strangers of any colour, into their homes. They said "Why do you want to sleep here on camp-cots? We have a spare bedroom / fully-furnished basement with a bedroom etc., come and stay with us comfortably, you can call your people and let them know you are fine, etc.

I spent three days with the most wonderful people. Their three kids (the oldest being 12 - a girl who wanted to be an undertaker when she grew up) spent the three days and nights with very little sleep, shunting between home and the community centre, running errands for the stranded people, taking food, coffee from their home etc.

When flights started leaving again, the mother and father started to drive back and forth to the airport to see which flights were leaving, who from those flights was staying in their basement, and driving them to the airport.

In the meanwhile the dad took us out on a 25 cent tour of Sackville, Halifax.

We flew to Toronto three days later and I anded where I was originally supposed to land, in a strange country where I knew not a soul.

Since then I have attempted to behave like Canadians and have also acquired Canadian citizenship myself.

Cheers

On September 11, 2001, Flyertalk had in the neighborhood of 5000 - 7500 members. The old threads really stand out when you consider that.

My sister called me at 8:45 that morning. She knows I fly and was nervous.

My house is located in a spot where LGA and HPN have arrival and departure paths. Not hearing any airplanes for several days was strange. When planes did begin to fly, it was as if the music returned to the skies.

Very sad day here in New York. Very sad. :(

This thread has an incredible story of someone who was not only on an aircraft on that day, but listening to channel 9 at the time of the attacks.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...11-2001-a.html

An amazing post.

+1. First time I've read it.

I remember being in high school at the time when the headmaster called us for a special assembly. I recall walking by my college counselor's office when his lovely aunt-like secretary told us to come in quickly. She usually had a tv playing local sports (MLB, NFL etc) near the doorway. We would often pause in the doorway to say hello, and catch a quick glance. But this time it was switched onto CNN. I don't remember her face, but I vividly remember the replays of the planes hitting either tower and how stunned we all were.

While the school day did finish as normal, all extra-curriculars were called off and I remember going to a bar with a friend in a hotel and just watching CNN and the replays again and again over some OJ with a friend. Others at the bar were hitting the sauce pretty hard.

I was a High School student in Mid-town Manhattan when 9/11 happened. I was on the roof of my school when I saw the first plane hit. My first reaction was "omg, that pilot must have been super drunk". I was in total disbelief that I just stood there looking at the WTC. I had a friend join me and we were discussing what could've happened when I witnessed the 2nd attack with my own eyes. I never felt so scared in my life. I felt the blood in me go cold. I knew this was no coincidence. I knew this was foul play. My eyes and mind will never forget what I saw that day. I won't forget the rampant rumors of terrorists destroying the Statue of Liberty and the copper polluting the Hudson. I won't forget Francis Perez, my good friend who went to Economics & Finance H.S. and perished that day while leaving school.

I will Never forget.

I was about 45 mins. from being stranded 400 miles from home. Arrived at OAK on 9/11 about 5:45 a.m. for the 7 a.m. 1 hr. UA Shuttle flt. to LAX for court hearings in dowtown L.A. Heard some radio talk in the off-airport parking lot shuttle bus about an airplane that hit the WTC. It was considered an aberrant small plane accident. Near the airport gate for my flight, there was a small bar with a TV set tuned to CNN and a large group was huddled around it. I knew the gate agent working the flight, and relayed info to him. (As he was in uniform and working, airline co. policy barred him from going over to the bar area.) We were about 15 minutes away from boarding when the full extent of the WTC incident was reported. Soon thereafter, the flight was cancelled, as were others about to leave OAK.

I made some calls to court colleagues in L.A. who believed that the court would soon be closed. It was and the cases rescheduled for about a month later. I believe that that was the first time that our court's calendar was cancelled. Along with other cancelled pax., we crowded into a parking shuttle back to the lot. I remember that the lot charged $2.50 for the 75 mins. of parking. I decided that the “Southern route” home to S.F. (across the San Mateo bridge, rather than the Oakland Bay Bridge) would be quieter and it was. Radio was speculating whether bridges and freeways would even remain open. There was little traffic on the way home. I was pretty much numb the rest of the day and the days after are now a blur.

I knew after 9/11 that flying would change forever and the next month, after an airline employee told me that a number of high-status flyers she knew were on a website called FlyerTalk, I checked it out and joined.

"I knew after 9/11 that flying would change forever and the next month, after an airline employee told me that a number of high-status flyers she knew were on a website called FlyerTalk, I checked it out and joined."

That is also how I came to FT. I just realized that we both joined in October, 2001.

I missed 9/11 - the date, that is.
 

I was in MCO for a trade fair. On Sept 10, I boarded AA from MCO to LAX connecting on QF to SYD. This was the second-last QF to leave LAX. I suppose we were around two hours past Hawaii when the tragedy occured. With the quirk that is the International Date Line, I left LAX on Sept 10, landed in SYD some 13 hours later on Sept 12.

Anyway, we were none the wiser until we landed in SYD. The captain requested everyone stay on board for an imminent announcement. They do that sometimes in Aussieland, but usually to announce some sporting victory. The closest I could think of was Hewitt winning the USA Open Tennis on 9th Sept. But that was old news.

Anyway, the captain announced about the Twin Towers being hit, Pentagon, etc. I recall pax on board just shaking their heads in disbelief. He further mentioned that, since the flight originated in NYC, there being quite a few NYC pax on board who might want to check on relatives, QF had ten or twelve staff standing by with open mobile phones ready for anyone wishing to call home.

During the (overnight) flight to SYD, i did not notice anything different on board, though the breakfast service was a little frostier than usual on QF.

When we dismebarked and collected our luggage, the large screens outside normally displaying arrival times were swtiched in TV mode showing a CNN (I think) feed of the tragedy unfolding. The cabbie gave me the morning's paper to read.

Anyway, after a couple of days in SYD, I had an AN flight to BNE to visit family. As fate would have it, it was the day AN ceased operations.... So I was stranded in SYD with a usless ticket. A friend working at QF kindly sold me a ticket on a QF flight, but only after ringing her on her personal mobile phone since the call centre was running hot trying to accommodate other pax of the 900 or so flights that AN usually operated per day. Still fate intervened again: QF refuellers and baggage handlers when on strike to show solidarity with their AN bruvvers. So I did get away from SYD, but with massive delays. QF Club was standing room only....

NG1Fan