Let's remember...

NC Pilot

NC Pilot

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NC Pilot
Please remember the terrible thing that happened on this date 6 years ago and keep those killed and their families in your prayers.
 
NC Pilot said:
Please remember the terrible thing that happened on this date 6 years ago and keep those killed and their families in your prayers.
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Absolutely.

I'll be driving by the Pentagon tonight on the way home.
 
And if you can, Go Fly!

I've been trying to talk a co-worker (and new student pilot) into going flying today. He's from NYC and flying on 9-11 is difficult to him because he was in a high school building in lower Manhattan on that day. He said that airplanes flying over head made him cring for some time afterward. To me I like to Fly on 9-11 even just around the pattern to celebrate our freedom and the resilance of the american people. Around here the weather will not let me fly today, maybe I'll talk him into it next year as a celebration flight. Hopefully by next year, he'll take the left seat too.

Missa
 
I can't believe six years has passed. It seems like yesterday.
 
AdamZ said:
Amen!:(
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Ditto.

May the families and friends of those loved and lost find peace, and may we continue to fight against those who would commit such atrocities.

I still have hope that one day the towers will be rebuilt as a sign of resilience, perhaps even taller.
 
I had just realized the date when I saw this thread (it's still morning here). I remember. I won't be flying today, but I will be flying tomorrow.

Judy
 
I've been thinking about the victims all morning. Can't believe it's been 6 years, and this year it's the same day of the week. I need to call the friends I was with, when it happened.
 
Folks, here are two photos I took today, of the Ground Zero memorials.

These photos are taken with a cellphone camera through the office windows so they are not as clear as we might like. Photo #1 is looking down from my office window, at Zuccotti Park. You can see they have erected a temporary stage for some official functions, and there is a crowd gathered (with umbrellas – the weather is lousy!) for the events. Ground Zero starts in the upper right hand corner.

Photo #2 is taken looking across at New Jersey. On the left you can see the black building where the top say 20% has plywood windows and some orange security fencing. This is the former Deutche Bank building that is being dismantled. The entire building is being put into dumpsters. The crane at the right spends all day lifting full dumpsters down and empty ones back up when they are working. As about 1/3 of the building is down already, you can imagine how tall the crane was originally – the cab of the crane was over the top of the approx. 50 story building! That crane operator has a difficult commute! To the right is ground zero itself. You can see a diagonal ramp for vehicles and today it is open to the public for pedestrian traffic. The building to the back with the large American Flag is part of the World Financial Center complex. You can see some white tents on the balcony at about the 10th story level, for the media. On the street below are the uplink trucks for the TV coverage.

It is impossible, in this location, to forget the events of that day, even though I was not here in 2001. Many of my now friends here saw the planes go in. It is a somber day to be sure, but life has gone on. May they rest in peace, and may we always remember.

-Skip
 

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I still remember it. There are two things that stick out in my mind. The first was that I was on a conference call. One of the participants was in NY that day and when all heck started breaking loose we lost her on the line. Two other participants were from DC one was an FCC person the other was a DoD person at the Pentagon. When he dropped out things got very real for me. At that time no one really knew what was happening beyond we were being attacked. It was very scary.


BTW they both were ok.
 
smigaldi said:
I still remember it. There are two things that stick out in my mind. The first was that I was on a conference call. One of the participants was in NY that day and when all heck started breaking loose we lost her on the line. Two other participants were from DC one was an FCC person the other was a DoD person at the Pentagon. When he dropped out things got very real for me. At that time no one really knew what was happening beyond we were being attacked. It was very scary.


BTW they both were ok.
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The folks at the FCC had a ringside view of the Pentagon across the river. I was on the phone later in the morning (west coast time) with someone at ITI in DC and the confusion level was right off the charts.

Klyde Morris from two days later...

We're still coming for you!
 

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Ghery said:
The folks at the FCC had a ringside view of the Pentagon across the river. I was on the phone later in the morning (west coast time) with someone at ITI in DC and the confusion level was right off the charts.

Klyde Morris from two days later...

We're still coming for you!
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It was a US Delegation call for WP8F. With all the confusion and the DC people having to evacuate every 10 minutes we finally had to get off the phone. Not that anyone minded. We all wanted to be watching the TV anyways. Our people in the GRO, which is 3 blocks east of the White House on Pennsylvania ave, were having the most 'fun'. They were being evacuated and then prevented from heading outside all at the same time. For security reasons they did not want anyone near the White House and with reports of a plane heading at the WH no one was really interested in heading that way anyways.
 
I was in France on vacation with some friends (one from London, two who lived in the DC area but one of whom was actually from Long Island and whose rellies all worked downtown).

I remember we drove my Brit friend to the Nice airport for an evening flight and were completely media-free all day. On the way back from the airport (which would have been about lunchtime on the east coast) I heard on the radio that 4 planes had crashed in NY and DC. I said to my friends "I must have misheard that, my French isn't as good as I thought, it sounded like they said 4 planes crashed at home today and that is impossible".

Well, my French was as good as I thought b/c when we got to the hotel the proprietors were very agitated and told us what had happened. He kept jabbering about a plane crashing into the Pentagon which in rapid French sounds like Patagonia (they are very nasal, don't pronounce their Ns the way we do). He turned the TV on and we saw the replays.

The rest of the evening was a daze. And the next day's photos - dreadful. I bought several magazines and newspapers - I think the photos shown overseas had to have been worse than what was printed in the US. Everyone was so nice to us the rest of the trip. I remember in the next days talking to *everyone* we came across who was American, and that everyone was so nice to us.
 
I was at home, getting ready for work, one of the few days that month I was scheduled to be in San Antonio.

Got the word from a friend of mine: "a plane just hit the Trade Center". I kinda scoffed, must be one of the traffic reporters or some nutball off-course in a small plane. Then I turned on the TV and said "that's no Cessna - that's an airliner - how did that happen? It's too clear to be off-course for Newark".

Two of my colleagues were in London reworking our international credit facility - they were due back on the 12th. One was 6 months along in a difficult pregnancy. They were stuck in London for a few days.

I went to Chicago for a meeting the third day after airspace was reopened.
 
I had shoulder surgery on the 10th. I awoke in a drug induced fog on the 11th and cut the t.v. on. I had to call my wife at work to make sure what I was seeing was factual.

Not a good day on several accounts.:mad:
 
I went flying today...from Boston Logan to Long Island, New York. Our gates in BOS are only a stone's throw away from the gates where the hijackers first put their plan in motion that morning. There's a flag that was flying over the Trade Center that morning six years ago, now flying over the gate from which American 11 departed...it was at half staff today...that was the first thing that made me realize what day today is.

Six years ago today, I was a senior in high school. We didn't have AP English that morning so all of my friends and I had slept in. We started trickling into the building just a little before 9am CT, where we all met to go watch TV in the senior lounge until second hour AP Physics started. We were the first in the building to find out what had happened...right when CBS first broke in to report something had exploded at one of the towers of the WTC.
We never made it to physics class that day. Everyone was huddled around the four TVs in the building that had rabbit ears connected to them...untill they let us go home, finally, around noon. My generation's "day of infamy."
 
It was a Tuesday, like today. Weather here in the northwest was clear and warm, like it is today.

May we never forget.

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I was at work (previouse company and the office had about 10 employees working out of it) and the office jokester came by and told us. My response was "yea, right", He told us "fine check CNN." My clue that he might be telling the truth was whe I couldn't get CNN to load or any news page. Since the office was a bunch of engineers we rigged the TV from the telaconfrence system with an antena (Coaxial cable with the end cut off, stripped and biner clipped to a metal easle) it worked well enough to get an ok picture from a local network. We all then floated in and out of the conference room attempting to get some work done but in a dase. I was in the conference room when the second plane hit.
 
I was working nights at the time, but had gotten up to get my youngest son ready for school. He was in the shower and I turned on the TV just after the first plane had hit. Katie and Matt were reporting a commuter plane crashing into the WTC. I remember wondering how that was possible considering the clear skies. They were starting to voice that same concern when the second plane hit. Everyone's tone changed with the second plane hit.
 
i was in spanish class IIRC. sophomore in High school. fallout from 9/11 included about 30 days of no flying period. a couple CFI's from the flight school got jobs delivering pizzas at my Dads place to make ends meet. I got re-energized about flying and started lessons with one of them the next spring.
 
Being a night owl, I slept thru all of the events that day. I woke up around 11am, and tried to check my voice mail, but there was an automated message saying "all circuits are busy", so after a few attempts at getting thru, I gave up and went out to the drug store to buy some shampoo.
The guy behind the cash register looked really nervous, and I couldn't figure out what his problem was. I paid for the shampoo and left.
On my way home, I saw the nice lady who owns the pizza place right next door to my apartment. I said, "hey, how you doing? Beautiful day huh?". She said, "You didn't hear? They bombed NYC!"
I turned on the TV the second I walked in the door, and both towers had already fallen, the pentagon had already been hit, and the fourth plane had already crashed in PA. I couldn't believe it.
I had to work in the studio that night, so I grabbed a twelve pack of beer for the client and myself, and we half heartedly recorded music, but just mainly talked in disbelief.
Interestingly enough, my fear of flying ended that day.
 
I was spending that week picking up a certification as a law enforcement handgun instructor and happened to be watching CNN that morning as I got ready to go out. It was somber in class that morning. There were four guys in the class from the Library of Congress Police Department and they were anxious about getting back home.
 
I was at the job site doing the electrical for some condos at Stowe Vermont. We had morning break time at 9am and thats when the announcer came on the radio saying and another one just hit the pentagon and I said what? switching through the channels every radio station was going nuts. I don't think much work got done that morning. We all were listening to the reports on the radio.

As a volunteer firefighter, the dept took a moment of silence for the brave ones who did not make it home that day.
 
Missa said:
And if you can, Go Fly!
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I did, although I'm ashamed to say that I didn't realize what the date was today until I looked at my watch in order to write it on the top of the flight log.

As I was reading these posts I realized that if it hadn't been for a last-minute airplane switch this morning I would have been flying the same airplane as I was flying on the morning of the other 9/11. That seems like a long time ago, but I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.
 
I had September 11, 2001 off, awaiting the results of my background check to work in Denver's WTC (!) where my workmates were that morning. Got a call from my dad, "You have the TV on?" "No." "Turn on CNN." *click* My father had never hung up on me before. I turned it on and was watching the footage of the first tower hit. "Wow, someone really screwed up! That's no Cessna!"

I went to brush my teeth and came back to the living room, brushing away just as the second plane hit. My mouth dropped open and my toothbrush hit the floor. I could not believe we were under attack but KNEW at that moment.

R.I.P all 3,000+ of you. You won't be forgotten. I say 3,000+ because of the collateral damage inflicted by the toxic dust coming out of the rubble. Response workers and people caught in the crossfire are still dying of these illnesses.
 
tonycondon said:
I got re-energized about flying and started lessons with one of them the next spring.
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deafsound said:
Interestingly enough, my fear of flying ended that day.
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I'm wondering how many of us were at least partially inspired by those events.

I'd always wanted to fly, and I found out in early 2001 that one of my fraternity brothers was a pilot. He lent me his Jepp book which I read in the summer of 2001. Having very little money at that point (starving student, ya know), I finished the book and put it away.

On 9/11/01, it came back out. I dug around looking for the transponder code for hijacking and such. I started searching online for info as well, in some crazy attempt to make sense of it all, and I stumbled across the AOPA message boards. I read piles of info there, and the fountain of flying knowledge continued, so I kept reading.

Within a couple of months, I started working as a lineman at the local airport, where I eventually took my intro flight. That got me hooked enough to make me get a job that paid well enough to fly.

So, even though I'd always wanted to do it and it was on my "someday list," it was 9/11 that was really the catalyst to getting me to learn to fly. Remembering some other folks from the AOPA boards that were learning at the same time I was (Ben, Chuck...) I wonder if they were similarly inspired.

Every flight I make is a middle finger at the terrorists. By attempting to squelch freedom, they've inspired me to exercise more of it.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I'm wondering how many of us were at least partially inspired by those events.

..snip...

Every flight I make is a middle finger at the terrorists. By attempting to squelch freedom, they've inspired me to exercise more of it.
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well said Kent. I can't say I was inspired by 9/11 to learn how to fly.. it would be hard to make that connection since it was nearly 4 years from when it happened until I started flying. I've always loved aviation and it's something I always wanted to do... I finally just got tired of wanting to do it, and just did it.

I was working at one of the "major" airlines at the time and was over in one of our buildings helping get a projector connected to a PC when somebody mentioned something about an a/c hitting WTC. Somebody had a small b/w TV and I was amazed at what was going on. I finished up what needed to be done and headed back to my desk. By time I got back the other people in my group had the coverage up on a PC with a TV tuner card in it. I remember waiting, wondering if one of our planes was going to be crashed next.

About a week later, I was furloughed and was without a job.

I had the option to go back when they started hiring furloughed employees back, but I made a good decision in not doing that. A few years later that "major" went through a bankrupcy (what a surprise).

Sad, sad times...
 
I was at work on that morning. I returned to the building after completing the preflight of my jet just in time to see the second plane hit. In those quick moments, life in the Air force took on a whole new meaning. I remember it being eerily quiet on the ramp the rest of the day as the entire squadron was glued to the television. Less than a month later we were bringing the fight to the enemy. It was an incredible feeling launching an aircraft loaded with bombs and seeing it return with only the arming wires hanging from the racks and pylons.
 
I had a standing offer from the chief engineer of one of the TV stations to watch the fireworks from the roof of the North tower.

I also remember getting a call from my ex-wife on that day - she works for the FCC at the Portals, and was telling me about all the stuff going on at their place...
 
On 9/11 I was walking into my freshman World History class in high school when a girl asked the teacher if we were at war. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but the teacher said that he would turn on the TV after our test. Mid-way through the test, our principal walks in and quietly asks the teacher if he had heard that they got the Pentagon. I just looked around in disbelief that someone could have attacked the Pentagon. What the hell was going on!?! Everyone got done with their tests just in time for the TV to come on and see the south tower collapse. The rest of my morning classes were filled with watching TV, but by afternoon most classes were back to work. That day was one of my strongest motivations towards becoming a pilot. My flight today got canceled, but I'll be sure to wave at the terrorists bright and early tomorrow morning.
 
I was just getting ready to drive to the office and saw the clip on tv of the first plane hitting. I hung around home and saw the second plane hit and felt like a sucker punch in the gut. I drove to work and started trying to make phone calls, and of course couldn't get thru to anyone. Our CEO and CFO were at the WTC Marriott in preparation for closing a final round of funding for our startup. Both escaped without injury, but needless to say, we didn't get the funding.

Two of our interns' (brother and sister) father was also supposed to be at WTC that day - he also escaped without injury.
 
I woke up that morning, sat up in bed and turned on the TV. I don't know what possessed me to turn it on after first waking. I rarely did.

The second tower had already been hit. I continued to watch and listen; picking up every detail I could. At first, I switched channels back forth but eventually stayed on one. I'm not even sure which network it was.

Later, I'm listening to the commentary and watching the smoke billow from the towers. The camera was stationed a few miles away on another roof top. It seemed sort of status quo with hearing about the fire crews and police going into the buildings to bring people out. I recall hearing one of the biggest hurdles was getting those trapped on the upper floors above the fire. I was shocked by them saying there was no means for a rescue from the roof.

Suddenly, I see the tower drop. As if nothing could be real already, that seemed like something that could only happen on a staged movie set. Buildings reaching to the sky for 110 stories just don't suddenly fall... certainly not in real life.

I wasn't talking out loud as it was. But, when I saw the tower fall it was as if I stopped breathing as well. I just remember sitting there, feeling shocked and in disbelief. That just didn't really happen. It's not possible. Right?

Yes, it was real. I guess the very long period of silence by the news commentators also let it sink in. News commentators usually don't shut up for long during the telecast of a live event. These guys did, whoever they were, for a good 15-20 seconds... seems like it may have even been longer.

I've seen the video of the towers hit and falling numerous times since. But, the moment I watched those towers fall will be as deep seated in me as the moment I heard about the Challenger or of my father's death. After all, it happen on his birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad.
 
Never would forget it. Especially when flying.
I again also noticed the terrorists were conspicuous in their absence of annually threatened anniversary violence against us.
 
I was at work, doing a job at a dance and voice studio. The owner ran to me in tears, telling me a suicide bomber had just flown into the World Trade Center. We watched the second plane hit on television...

Here are two pictures I took tonight of the Towers of Light. That's LGA in the foreground.

Sorry the pics are not very good; all I had was my little Kodak and no tripod, and I had to rush before the cops chased me. They tend to frown on people loitering on the banks of the East River by the airport at half past midnight on 9/11...

I lost a few friends that day, one of whom I knew since childhood. May all of those lost rest in peace.

Rich

[EDIT] Feel free to use the pics, if you want. I hereby place them in the public domain.
 
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