Dr.Ells

The past few days have been filled with memories and ceremonies, and it feels like yesterday sometimes, but it is 20 years. As others here have written, I have never seen the footage from that day, and only a handful of photographs. Because I was already living back in Morris County, New Jersey, by 2001, our local television stations all were knocked out when the towers collapsed, and I’ve made a concerted effort to never watch the video footage, as it is too devastating just imagining it. (For many months afterwards, I had a lot of fear when planes flew overhead, especially when I was out on a run.)

In my childhood town, we lost over 100 citizens that day, because it is due west of lower Manhattan, and many people worked at the World Trade Center. At Mass that week, it took our priest nearly an hour to read the names of the deceased parishoners. It was devastating. Although 20 years have gone by, I still recall that day in vivid memories. My boyfriend at the time nearly lost his father in one of the towers, and no one can explain his blessed luck. His family was miraculously fortunate, and in the end, while always being mindful of our sorrow and grieving, it is also important to try to be grateful for miracles and good things, too.

As I sit near the former shadows of the World Trade Center, now lit by beams of hopeful light, I feel strengthened and enriched by my amazing friendships across the globe. It is the Poles that connect us all, and I am so grateful for having had the chance to meet millions of people while I was on my quest to become a CO/UA million miler. Each mile and smile is a precious part of my life. Here’s to all of our international friendships!!!! With love to all.

lincolnjkc

I was a senior in High School on 9/11/2001 so I don't have nearly the real world connections some do -- but had it not been for that event at that time I may have pursued a career in aviation. An older cousin narrowly avoided being on one of those flights for reasons I don't recall.

I think the industry has generally tried to downplay it--i get that--scaring passenger isn't good for business.

I'm sure I've flown on 9/11 a few times before, but I'm in flight now and this just feels so different and routine at the same time. My wife and I are currently a bit west of Ireland on 919 LHR-IAD... One of the flight attendants just got on the PA, reminded us all of the event and requested a moment of silence at 9:03 EDT.

That hit me really hard. Talking with my friends at CLE on the start of this trip who were working tht day seemed...abstract? Remote? But hearing a that PA from a FA has made my eyes water more than a little.

JHake10

I was only in 7th grade when the attacks happened but being from The Bronx with a parent who worked in Manhattan is was a surreal day. 20 years and it seems like yesterday sometimes.

J_Stroming

Whenever I meet someone who was also in Manhattan on 9/11 (I was a sophomore in high school) we always feel a unique bond….everyone who was downtown or in midtown remembers dust….tons of dust….on people, buses, cars all heading away from downtown. It’s a surreal feeling to see people and cars covered in dust while the rest of the surroundings (buildings, phone booths, streets, etc) looked completely normal. And it’s completely true…the only vehicles heading the other direction were fire trucks and police vehicles.

On my long walk uptown I walked past tons of people crowded around cars with all 4 doors open, blasting the news so people could know what was going on (this was pre-smartphone). Many people just standing around on street corners, because they had no way to leave the city and nowhere to go. My father left me a message on my voicemail…”Do not walk through Times Square or Lincoln Center…get home as quickly as you can”. So many memories and stories from that day.

aberkowitz79

Like many others I read this every year- I believe I first discovered the thread sometime in 2012/13. It brings me comfort, but also a good cry- which is needed.

On 9/11 I was 3 months into my career post-college, working in midtown Manhattan. I remember getting the first call from my friend that planes had hit the towers. I remember the phones started to ring non-stop around me as colleagues received similar calls. I remember watching the first tower fall on TV (we didn't have a good view down 6th). I was sitting at my desk, head in hands, and an acquaintance I barely knew, "adopted" me for the day and told me she had a friend's place to go to. I remember being on 6th avenue and seeing the 2nd tower burn- we looked away for 20 seconds, and when we looked back it was gone. I remember hearing jets flying above, and people diving behind rocks in central park. I remember when I went home much later times square was desolately empty, and I remember seeing the smoke from the ferry I had to take back to NJ. I remember when I finally got home, after a boat ride and a 5 mile walk, downing most of a bottle of wine and going to bed with all the lights on- my roommates weren't home and I didn't want to be alone in the dark. I also remember 9/12, when after binging news for 2 hours I had to turn the TV to HBO because that was the ONLY channel not covering the tragedy and I needed a break. Amazingly nobody close to me died, but there were multiple close calls.

Everybody has a story of the day. One that hit me hardest came 5 years later. I was scuba diving in Lake Tahoe on 9/10/06, learning to dry suit dive, with an instructor and another gentleman 15 years older than I. The instructor and I were reflecting on our experiences- turns out the older gentleman had been in airline operations based out of ORD (for either United or American) but had previously been at EWR. He tried to tell his story, but it was still all too fresh and he couldn't say a lot, he just cried. The pain of losing friends and colleagues and just how personal he took the attack. I was young, had less miles under my belt, and until then I never quite appreciated just how deeply the day cut within the airline families.

climmy

This post and thread have always been one of the most riveting in all of FT lore.

It always saddens me and takes me back to those days and my travels in and around that time.

The only thing that cheers me up is Eightblack's legendary "Pear shaped mileage run" saga. That brings me back from the ledge.

Don't know if it's against Ft guidelines to post a link to another FT thread? I don't think so.

Thanksgiving 2010 MR Going Pear Shaped... - FlyerTalk Forums

If you are newer to FT and haven't read that one, get a good laugh.

elitefreak

I realized that I never shared what turned out to be an extremely eerie moment on 9/11 as I waited in a long line to take off from EWR for ORD. Somewhere in that queue was UA93 . . .

Anyway, as we approached the turn to take off, the pilot came on the intercom. Now, I have never head a pilot come on and make an announcement at this point of a flight before or after any flight. So he comes on and announces, "Folks, if you are sitting on the right side of the plane you will get an amazing view of the New York city skyline". We all know what the NY skyline looks like and it is beautiful indeed, but nobody blinked. Little did we realize that perhaps 30 minutes later, that iconic skyline would be scarred and changed forever.

I still get chills telling this story and wonder why the pilot decided, on that fateful day, to make what seemed like a random announcement that turned out to portend the horrific events of the day to come.

rittenhousesq

The time has come for the yearly bump of this thread! The memories of that day remain vivid!

COA777

I was living in Washington, DC at the time and drove home from work that morning with my girlfriend back across the Potomac to Arlington. Smoke billowing up from the Pentagon and fighter jets streaking across the sky that night and quite a few more in the nights that followed. Going to work the next day and in the subsequent weeks was surreal. Patriot missile batteries on the side of the road, National Guard troops at intersections, and bomb-sniffing dog checks of my car through two different perimeters before I could get to work. I had the occasion to pay respects to family members of the Flight 93 victims a week or so later, and will never forget the faces of the little children who accompanied their surviving parent. Hard to believe they are all grown adults now. Never forget.

bmwe92fan

I post the same thing each year -- I was in flight when it all happened -- when I Landed in DTW and nothing worked I didn't think anything of it -- meanwhile my wife and kids were panicking trying to figure out what flight I was on that day and if I went down -- as of course I was connecting on UA -- such an awful day. I hope we never forget the feelings of that day -- or how we took care of each other for a long time -- was amazing to experience as awful as it was -- made me a better person in every way....

My return back via rental car was the dumbest thing ever - decided to cut through Canada to get back home as it was quicker lol -- what an idiot!

elitefreak

It's 5 years since 9/11 and I took the time (finally) to record the events of that day (EWR - ORD, taxied along with UA93 in a long delay - which changed history). I'd like to share one small piece of my memory with you.

One particular aspect of that day will never escape me. I've flown so many times before 9/11 (and since), and yet this has never, ever happened to me. You know how, if you are flying over the Hoover Dam, the captain may (or may not) get on the PA and mention the cool view to you. Well, on 9/11/01, as we approached the last moments of our taxi to take off from EWR, the captain gets on the PA and says "For those of you seated on the right side of the plane, you will have a great view of the New York skyline". Has ANYONE ever heard an announcement like this? Of course, we all knew very well what the NY skyline looked like, and nobody bothered to waste their time catching a glance (on that beautiful cloudless blue day). Little did we realize that, around 30 minutes later, the skyline would never be the same . . .

I wonder if that pilot remembers his announcement, and later wondered why he made such an announcement . . .

KansasMike

We were in Palm Springs and had to drive back to Wichita.

But, back in ICT, there was a fascinating story occurring: an El AL flight had to land there and its pax were in terror thinking we were a bunch of rednecks who would blame them and Israel for Sept. 11.

I interviewed a couple of the people involved and wrote a story for my blog: MSE Creative Consulting Blog: September 11: When Israel Landed in Wichita

FriendlySkies

I’ve only been here for thirteen years and this is the first I’m hearing of El Al coming to Kansas. Thanks for sharing, fellow Kansan.

Another sad anniversary reading this post. I visited a memorial last night and can still clearly picture the day after twenty one years.

PATRLR

I was at a conference in Anaheim. Woke up and checked my e-mail and responded to one from my boss who immediately called me and told me to turn on my TV which I did in time to see CNN flip to footage at the Pentagon which had just been hit. But this post isn’t about my trip that September, it’s about the trip that thankfully didn’t happen.

At that time I had been traveling a lot (like 50%+ of my time on the road). On certain trips, typically conferences that I was doing quite a bit of, I would have my family come with me to minimize my time away from them. My role at these full-week conferences was very busy over the opening weekend when I would be involved in setting up and also teaching a full-day seminar on Saturday or Sunday. Typically I would have them come out mid-week after most of my commitments were done and we’d stay a few days after the event. Being a UA 1K with oodles of miles to burn, I usually had my family fly on award tickets. Back then the award pricing model favored lightly loaded flights to use the fewest miles. A nonstop from BOS to LAX on Tuesday morning would have been the perfect flight (always tried to book nonstops so my wife didn’t need to deal with connections and the young child). I’m not certain, but, I’d be surprised if I didn’t look at UA175 when we were discussing/planning this trip.

But my daughter had just started kindergarten. We debated pulling her out but decided there would be other, better trips to pull her out for. She was in a private school and we didn’t want to start off our experience there by pulling her out for the 2nd week, even if it was just kindergarten. I thank God every time I think of 9/11 that we made the decision to keep her in school.

Back to my story that day – once I learned what was going on, I immediately called my wife. No answer, the phone just going to voice mail. For hours. Now I am panicking – did they decide to come anyway and surprise me? Longest day of my life and felt so helpless. Later in the afternoon I finally got ahold of her.

One other memory – I flew back home on Saturday. I don’t think I’ll ever forget just how eerily quiet LAX was. Hardly any talking and those that were speaking were whispering. It was like being in a library.

johnsmith

Wanted to bump this -
I just left EWR to fly to Logan this am - security in EWR terminal A was rough and a bunch of people were complaining. Few remembered why today would be a day to shut up, observe why and thank everyone for 22 safe years.