9/11 Never Forget!

mscard88

mscard88

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Flying on 911, on a 319 in DFW, waiting for pushback
 
I was in ATR recurrent training at Flight Safety adjacent to the ATL airport. An IP told me during break a plane flew into the WT building. We found a TV in a room and as we were watching the second plane flew into the 2nd building. Somber day.

Ironically when we started flying a few days after 9/11, my FO was Iranian, wife was very nervous about me flying with him. I wasn't as I had flown with him numerous times, good guy.
 
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I was in a small apartment w/ my wife. I was ironing a shirt for my first job interview out of college. (people soft developer job at TCU)
Mom calls and says turn on the TV. I think the 2nd plane had hit or was just about to hit.

I remember watching it unfold and I was like "ok something is going on we are under attack, and this is bad" but we have had bombings and terrorist stuff so this was bad but not life shattering.

Once the first tower fell is when it set in that this was real. I remember thinking that tower can't not be there anymore it just can't be gone. that is too big and too permanent a change. Surely the smoke will clear and we will see that it is still there. Once confirmed the towers were gone, I realized this was my generations event that everything would be referenced as "Pre" and "Post" moving forward.

1/2 way to the interview they called and said "If you haven't left yet, lets reschedule" I said "I am almost there. I wasn't sure how to proceed. This is my first job interview and should I go back home?" They met me at Blue Mesa for an interview over lunch. Got to the restaurant and people were fixated on TVs

We maybe said 10 words during lunch. I got the job offer and It was the strangest thing to get this job offer (we were poor and struggling) but think of it as a complete afterthought. "Oh yeah, whatever, I got that gig". None of the elation / relief that would normally come to such a situation. Very odd.
 
I was 7 when it happened as well...remember the day very clearly. Truly a mind blowing event...hard to wrap the mind around it.

Sad thing is I feel like a lot of people don't give the day much thought anymore.
 
I was also 7 when it happened. I lived in Jersey at the time and could see the smoke on the horizon. My dad worked in a sky scraper in Philly and they evacuated the building and most of the downtown.
 
I was in a remote area of Alaska. We heard a plane flew into the WTC, and that it might be a terrorist attack. We got as far as all take offs were banned, then our satellite was shut down. We had no idea what was happening in the world for the next three days.

And today is my mothers 86th birthday.
 
Zeldman said:
I was in a remote area of Alaska. We heard a plane flew into the WTC, and that it might be a terrorist attack. We got as far as all take offs were banned, then our satellite was shut down. We had no idea what was happening in the world for the next three days.

And today is my mothers 86th birthday.
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Happy Birthday Zeldman's Mom!
 
I recall that day clearly. A friend was supposed to be in a meeting just before it happened. The meeting was cancelled for some reason. When I finally got hold of him at home he was visibly shaken even over the phone.
 
I was on route from London to Seattle. British Airways pilot makes an announcement that the US airspace was closed and we had to turn around and land in Belfast, Ireland. After we pulled into the gate, security officers came aboard and only then did the captain made an announcement "there has been a terrorist attack in New York - a lot of people died"

Still didn't know it had anything to do with airplanes at that point. When we stepped off and into the terminal we saw the replays on all the TVs and only then found out.

I still have that 9/11 boarding pass.
 
Interesting shortly after 9/11 wife and I were on Dobbins AFB near ATL getting our military IDs renewed. I knew Eglin AFB had 4-5 F-15s there for alert duty due to 9/11. As Dobbins is a military field I didn't think anything of it when I heard the roar of fighters taking off while inside the building. Afterwards we drove by the flight line so I could show my wife the Eagles. They were gone! They had scrambled and later pilots at work saw them screaming right across the center of the airport. I think some idiot inside the terminal ran backwards up the down escalator having left his boarding pass at security or something. I think they even evacuated the terminal.
 
I was flying from Denver to Sun Valley, an FO in a Lear 35. That was back in my other life.

But I was much older than 7. 7??? Really? Oh my...
 
Two thoughts this day.

My Mother was born 9/11/33. Today would have been her 84th birthday, but she only had 80 wonderful years here.

I was in Fullerton, CA on business on 9/11/11. Plan was to do the work thing and then meet up with the family for a birthday dinner. My (ex)wife called me about 6am Pacific and said someone flew a plane in to a building. I'm like "that's nice, ttyl". Then she called again and said it happened again, and I'm like "oh. I'll give you a call when I'm on the way to the office" About an hour later I'm getting out of the shower and I see the news. I called my ex and said "Can you believe this?" and she's like "Why do you think I called you. TWICE!"
 
I was at work at the time. Everyone was in shock. We stared in disbelief as the airliner struck the second tower. It was difficult to focus on work the rest of that day.
 
jordane93 said:
16 years already. I was only 7 when it happened. Time flies.
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CC268 said:
I was 7 when it happened as well...remember the day very clearly. Truly a mind blowing event...hard to wrap the mind around it.

Sad thing is I feel like a lot of people don't give the day much thought anymore.
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Mtns2Skies said:
I was also 7 when it happened. I lived in Jersey at the time and could see the smoke on the horizon. My dad worked in a sky scraper in Philly and they evacuated the building and most of the downtown.
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I was 11. Get off my lawn.
 
mscard88 said:
Stay on topic James. :rolleyes:
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Lol very much on topic, we traded a ton of our rights to the government for "security" after 9/11, they took the rights with no hesitation and were worse off than before

Basically it's like hiring a roofer, he says he'll provide you a strong roof for $15k, you give him what he wants, he puts a roof on

A year goes by and the roof completely fails and falls in on your house killing your kids

You decide to call up the same roofer, pay him 30k plus pay it all upfront, for him to build you another roof...again...because he was such a good roof builder :rolleyes:
 
I had gone to Columbia Maryland for a business trip to the GSE engineering office there. I spent the weekend before in DC. The morning of 9/11 I had just acquired a ticket for the Baltimore Orioles game that night to see Cal Ripkin play in his last season. Shortly after that, one of the guys in the GSE office came in our room and told us about the first plane hitting the WTC. We all headed to the break room and watched as the second plane hit and the two towers coming down. It was so surreal and extremely sad. Needless to say there was no baseball game that night, but I do still have the ticket. Columbia turned into a ghost town and it was hard to find a place to eat. I remained in Columbia the remainder of the week. KBWI airport shut down so I had no flight back home. I had to drive my little rental car back to Augusta Georgia.
 
I still lived in Germany. In the first radio news it sounded a small plane had flown into the first tower. Then the news was, that a second plane had hit the second tower. I was standing in a supermarket watching the news shortly after that news and couldn't believe what I saw.

One of those days that you always will remember and know exactly what you did when you heard the news...
 
Skywalker said:
One of those days that you always will remember and know exactly what you did when you heard the news...
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Yep... JFK assassination I was on my tractor watching TV when Walter Cronkite interrupted and said the president has been shot. Space shuttle explosion I was out in the middle of nowhere running a trencher for a cathodic protection line. Company man flagged me down and told me the news. 9/11 I was having my morning coffee when the local news was interrupted with a "special report". Was glued to the TV for days after that.
 
I was 10 years old in Germany. Sitting 2 feet from the television eating one of those Banquet chicken fingers/brownie meals.
 
I was on my way to school my Junior year of high school, rumbling down the road in my '84 Chevy SWB listening to Rock 100.5 "The KATT". Local morning show hosts, Rick and Brad, came on the air talking about some jack wagon that ran a plane into the tower. They were sort of making fun of they pilot in question as they thought it was some sight-seer in a small plane. A few minutes later they sobered up when they found out what was really going on. When I got to class, they had the TV on already and the second plane hit as I walked in the door. It was such a sad day. The students pretty much just watched TV all day as the drama unfolded.

I'll never forget it.

For we Okies, it was also a terrible reminder of the OKC bombing in April 19, 1995. Although unrelated and didn't claim as many lives, it was a just as tragic, and our hearts went out to the people of NYC, the people in the Pentagon, all the people in the 4 planes, and all those who lost family and friends.
 
20170911_155210.jpg

I was at the 9/11 Memorial this afternoon. I was active duty in the Marine Corps stationed in Tokyo when it happened.
 
OkieFlyer said:
For we Okies, it was also a terrible reminder of the OKC bombing in April 19, 1995.
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Almost forgot that one. I was sending my brother off to go back home. Remember walking back into the house and seeing it on the news. Another one of those days that you're glued to the TV set. That day I fully realized the power of ANFO and what it could really do outside of blowing up dirt and rocks.
 
My dad was actually in the WTC at the restaurant a week before it happened...nuts. New York is one of the few major cities on the East Coast that I have never been to. I would love to go there just to visit the memorial though. I find the whole event fascinating as I do the Holocaust (not in a good way, just in a "I can't even imagine this being reality"). The photos of people jumping from the towers are incredibly sombering. I can't imagine having to do that.
 
You people who were 7 when it happened are making me feel old. I was 7 when Kennedy was assassinated.

9/11 I was playing video games probably Doom or Quake and I had the TV on when they broke about the first one. Thought it was an accident I just kept playing but listening and then they said a second one hit the other tower and I knew in an instant the whole world had just changed.
 
azblackbird said:
Almost forgot that one. I was sending my brother off to go back home. Remember walking back into the house and seeing it on the news. Another one of those days that you're glued to the TV set. That day I fully realized the power of ANFO and what it could really do outside of blowing up dirt and rocks.
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Yeah, that one rattled my classroom windows 40 miles away.
 
Driving to work in my truck, just listening to the news.

Plane has hit one of the towers. Oh dang.
Another plane has hit the other tower. Oh dang!
Tower one down. OH DANG!
Tower two down. HOLY *****!
 
I had just dozed off after working the night shift that week (I work around the clock). The phone rang and my wife told me to turn on the news, a plane crashed into the WTC. Shortly after, my sister called in a panic. Turned on the news and thought it was a small plane. It wasn't until I saw the second plane hit, that it occurred to me what was really happening. I watched in horror as the towers collapsed and the rest of the day unfold. Really wanted to bang out but decided to go to work that evening. Driving in, police had all of the major streets blocked off and were only allowing essential personnel through. After showing my ID, I made it to work and saw F16's flying CAP over the city. That was wild!

My co-workers and I slowly received word of missing Port Authority cops that we knew personally. My brother-in-law (now retired PA cop) was off that day.
Two of the PA officers that died, I knew for about six years and would see them frequently in the course of the day, as I performed my electrical maintenance work. They were just about to retire, but decided to stay a little longer. Attending their funerals and seeing their wives and children was tough.

This picture was taken by my daughter as I took her and her sister on an early morning scenic flight (got them to school late that day). This was right after I got my PPL in 1999. She was 11. When I looked around my shoulder at my younger daughter (5 at the time), she was knocked out sleep. As many times as I've made this flight with my CFI, solo and with family, she was the only one to snap a picture.
WTC.jpg
Took a few years off from flying after 9/11.
RIP to all who perished.
 
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