9/11

[Wander00]

It seems impossible that it is 15 years today since the atrocity that was 9/11. The September 11 attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others. These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes, 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon. Being slightly parochial, 67 were British, one had been son-in-law of a colleague for just 3 months. Perhaps we should all pause for a while, remember the dead and injured, and the day that the world changed.

[Hempy]

It all happened in the early AM in Australia. I was up around 2:30am having to be in about 4 for a 4:30 briefing. I remember switching on the tv and watching it unfold live and thinking to myself at the time that the world will never be the same again.

And that was about right.

[Stanwell]

Like Hempy, I just happened to be up at that time and turned the TV on (not my normal habit).
Within about 15 minutes, the program cut to live news from NY.
When I saw that an aircraft had hit the tower, I was mindful of that B-25 accident with the Empire State Building in 1945.

While I'm wondering how this could have happened, the second one hit.
Sheeit! says I.
I was immediately on the phone to my friends and being greeted with "Don't you know what time it is?" etc.
My response was "I don't give a stuff what time it is - get your arse out in front of your TV, NOW!"

Didn't get much sleep that night.

[Tankertrashnav]

I was in my shop and the lady from the shop next door came in to say she had heard a confused radio report that an aircraft had crashed into the tallest building in the world. I had an immediate mental image of a light aircraft hitting the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur which were in fact slightly higher than the WTC. How wrong I was!

[Toadstool]

I was on holiday just before attending AITC, after a number of years in the ground trade. I remember walking through the foyer and seeing dozens of people watching the TV so I stopped to watch. My blood seemed to freeze when the second plane went in and I turned to my wife, who had just joined me, and said that the world had just changed.

We spent the night, like millions of others, watching the TV with horror and in mourning.

[Heathrow Harry]

and since it has cost millions of lives and zillions of $$$$$$$$$$$ and spread chaos , hatred and murder right round the globe...........................

[Hangarshuffle]

and war seems to be in no sign of ever ending...and so from the point of some people, including the ever so many arms makers and dealers of every hue, 9.11.2001 was an unmitigated success.

[downsizer]

HS, you are a tool.

[MSOCS]

Downsizer, seconded, however tools are, by their very nature, supposed to be useful.

[Toadstool]

HH and HS

this thread is about remembering that day and those that died during the attacks.

Whilst there are some that may agree with you both regarding what happened post 9/11, perhaps you could voice that in another thread or on JB.

[Wycombe]

Well done to Wander for the fine words.

I was on holiday with family in Tenerife on 9/11.

I'd been out all day and returned to our apartment late afternoon. I remember clearly walking into the living area where my dad was watching TV pictures of what looked like an airliner crashing into what I recognised straight-away as The WTC.

"What film is this?" I said. "It's not a film" he said. We then sat rivetted for several hours as events unfolded.

On the flight south I'd spent an enjoyable 30 mins as a guest in the FD of the A320.

On the way back (4 days later), we were allowed no cabin baggage (aside for essentials for our 2 year old daughters) and no one spoke, even when we were treated to a great light show of night-time TS near to Madeira. Back at LGW armed police everywhere.

My parents had been to the top of The WTC a few years earlier. 2 years ago I visited GZ and it's still difficult to take in what happened when you do.

[Rosevidney1]

I went to school with Rick Rescorla, one of the heroes of that dreadful day that changed the world for the worse.

[Tinribs]

I was bedbound after surviving an aircraft crash, it made me feel really lucky

[Tashengurt]

On duty as a student constable in my first station.
Like many when I heard a plane had hit I thought of a light aircraft.
Then the second one hit.
The canteen was full of staff of every rank and almost silent as we watched the towers fall.
The day passed with everyone looking over their shoulders wondering 'what next?'

[unmanned_droid]

I remember it quite clearly. Sitting in my room of my first sh*tty uni shared house after halls. I had the TV on as background noise whilst doing something geeky with aeroplanes. The TV cut to the news as the second aeroplane hit - the video was from one of the bridges. I sat there astounded. I felt pretty sure that that day changed the world as we knew it.

I shouted to the rest of the house to switch the TV on and that was all we did for the rest of the day - watch the news.

[mopardave]

My first thought was light aircraft. I was on duty that night.....me and my colleagues sat in silence (unheard of before!) and watched the repeats in disbelief. Me and my family were travelling to Florida 10 days later. My request for a travel insurance quote was met with "no more insurance quotes until we know what's going on"! On arrival at Manchester airport....chaos! On arrival at Sanford Fla, homeland security on edge......armoured vehicles and troops packing some serious heat! The parks were very quiet due to cancellations and we were thanked profusely for holidaying in America! The journey home was worse......jittery airport staff confiscating virtually everything apart from the clothes on your back. None of it mattered to us.....we just thought of the poor victims. Imagine my surprise when two years later on another trip to Fla, I was able to visit the flight deck (same crew) there and back and stay in for the landing there and back! My then 10 year old son stayed up with me for the landing and I did my best to explain to him that he would never, ever experience that again......unless he was doing the flying!
MD

[RAFEngO74to09]

Our branch at HQ STC had just moved into the former HQ AIRNORTHWEST building and our gp capt had one of the RAF PWHQ CCTV briefing monitors in his office. He routinely had CNN on in the background and, when the news switched to the initial reports, he invited us to watch. Whilst we were discussing what might have transpired, the second aircraft hit and there was little doubt.

There were an astounding number of actions of bravery that day - particularly from members of the emergency services. FDNY casualties included the Chief of the Fire Department, the First Deputy Fire Commissioner and 13 battalion chiefs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Ganci,_Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Feehan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_workers_killed_in_the_September_11_attacks

[MPN11]

I was at home, sat in my study, when a friend phoned and said "watch the news on TV". I turned the TV on and watched the horrendous event evolve ... and stuffed a cassette in the video recorder. I have never been able to watch that cassette.

A couple of weeks later, we flew to Washington Dulles for a 3-week holiday in the Greater DC suburbs City of Alexandria, VA). Our aircraft was half empty. All the Americans we encountered were amazed that we had dared to travel (!) and were hugely grateful that we had continued to visit their country. We had never known, to this day, a welcome like it.

We are again there on holiday, and unsurprisingly the TV is solid with coverage of the event, and documentaries and commentary on related issues, such as OBL and AQ.

[Wander00]

Since hearing The Star Spangled Banner played by the Guards Band in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace the following morning, I have never been able to hear it without tears in my eyes.

[SASless]

I was home on Time Off from Saudi.....awoke and wandered in to the Kitchen and grabbed a cup of Coffee. The TV was on but muted and as I looked through the Pass Thru into the Loungeat the TV...I saw the WTC Tower billowing smoke and thought "Gee....some folks are having a bad day!".

Then...I watched the second aircraft fly into the other Tower.

My Mom asked me what was going on....and I replied...."We just went to War with somebody!

My hometown was home to Piedmont Airlines which was at that time USAir and my sister has worked as a Reservationist for Thirty Years, and if you are involved in Aviation we tend to bump into a lot of folks during business and social events...so it makes for a very small world when bad things happen.

A Flight Attendant on United 93 was the Wife of a USAir Pilot.

Sandy Bradshaw was a Mother and a Wife and will never be forgotten in our community especially knowing what took place onboard that flight when Passengers and Crew fought back against the Terrorists.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit Shanksville....take a moment to think about those folks and what they did that day!

[RAFEngO74to09]

The crew and passengers of United Flight 93 are honored onboard the USS Somerset (LPD-25) commissioned in 2014. In both 2014 and 2015, the USS Somerset was the LPD open for ship tours during Fleet Week San Diego. It is well worth a visit if you happen to be in town whenever it is scheduled for future tours.

When you board the ship and enter one of the vehicle and equipment storage decks, photos of all the passengers and crew are displayed.

Passageways onboard, instead of being numbered, bear actual street signs donated by municipalities in Somerset County where Flight 93 crashed.

Steel melted down from a crane that was a landmark near the crash site were used in the ship's construction.

The helicopter hangar door is emblazoned with "93" and "Let's Roll" - the last words of Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer heard on a phone before passengers stormed the cockpit.

http://navylive.dodlive.mil/files/2014/02/130819-N-ZZ999-001.jpg

http://911families.org/wp-content/uploads/Lets-roll.jpg

[West Coast]

Was airborne, North of Vegas heading for LAX. Early am coma until heard the controller talk to someone on another freq he was working mention the first WTC hit. Then it quickly descended into chaos. Felt bad for the controller, he was getting rapidly shifting information but did his best. Initially told we would have to divert to a Canadian airport which wasn't doable at our fuel state. Kept pressing towards LAX, ended up landing followed by the two Qantas 747s that used to land about the same time, then silence at one of the busiest airports in the world. A few hours of sequestering and then released to hotels. A coup,e of us went in on a rental car. SoCal traffic is notorious usually, no one was out on the road that day. Can only imagine bosses said to the employees, go home and be with family.

[Avtur]

Was in NYC this weekend and visited the 911 Museum/Memorial. Very well presented and quite an emotional experience, particularly watching a lady sitting on the floor to have her photograph taken beside the photograph of her brother on the memorial wall.

[just another jocky]

I was at work that morning. The tv was on in the crewroom, tuned to BBC News when I walked in to see the first tower smoking.


I watched the 2nd tower hit and realised this was no accident. Then I remembered my mother was visiting NYC and her hotel was only a few blocks from the WTC and she had been to the top of the WTC the day before so I got myself excused, went home and watched the rest from there, repeatedly trying to contact my Mum, to no avail.


She eventually contacted us 2 days later to say she was fine.


Planning to visit NYC in the next 2 years. My first visit will be to Ground Zero and the memorial to all those innocent men, women & children who were murdered.

[D-IFF_ident]

Was airborne in a VC10 K3 over the North Sea - flying a towline as my first day as a Captain on 101. All fighters were suddenly recalled to base and we were re-tasked to fly North, direct to Stornoway, meet an E-3 and offload any available fuel. Made some quick calculations for a min off-task with a VFR approach to ISK, then gave everything we could to the AWACS. The K3 had some extra radios and we had GEs onboard; we asked them to stop bringing the news forwards after the second jet hit.

[tdracer]

I was on vacation, visiting family in Colorado, sleeping late. My mom woke me up, said my oldest sister had called - an airplane had hit the World Trade Center and I should get up. I was thinking 'Cessna', this had better be worthwhile. Turned on the TV just in time to see the second tower hit :eek:. At first I thought it was a 737, finding out they were 767s just made it worse (I've spent much of my career working the 767).
I spent the next several hours glued to the TV (although I missed the second tower collapse when it happened during a nature break). At one point I walked into my still-in-bed wife and told her "We are at war, we just don't know against who yet".

That night, with my gas tank near empty and a 300 mile drive the next day, I waited in line for half an hour to fill it - only to discover the next morning that it wasn't a concern...

A few days later I discovered - late at night - that there were simply no motel/hotel rooms available along the Interstate 70 corridor west of Denver as all those stranded by the airline shutdown tried to get back home. We finally found a hotel room at 4am after heading north on I-15:rolleyes:

[Rotax]

My first flight on 45 Sqn (Multi-Engine Training) was on 12 Sep 01. The aftermath of 9/11 has defined my time in the RAF.

[Bob Viking]

I was at Linton on BFJT and flew twice that day. Dual in the morning and solo in the afternoon. I was first made aware as I walked in from the first trip when a mate just said go and watch the TV. In between the various stages of signing the aircraft in and debriefing more jets just kept crashing. My memories of the day involve various trips back to the crewroom as events unfolded and numerous calls on guard for FJ assets to return to base.

Hopefully we'll never see another day like it.

BV