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[Fwd: Fw: Great story!]



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fw: Great story!
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 18:36:30 -0700
From: "Mary Ann Centanni" <mcent94040@mindspring.com>
To: "Arlene Dean" <arlene_marie@hotmail.com>,"Barbara Smith"
<bobbi8329@aol.com>,"Mira/Sunny Deva" <surendra.deva@att.net>,
<MargieJ@aol.com>,"Bill Lewellyn" <bill_lewellyn@hotmail.com>,"Joseph
D'Amico" <jdam9999@aol.com>, "Sharon" <centans@tampabay.rr.com>


Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 10:53 PM
Subject: Great story!


> Subject: A Good Read
>
>
> This is a fabulous read! If you wondered about all those flights that were
> in the
> middle of the great blue Atlantic Ocean on the morning of September 11th,
> here is an up-close-and-personal story written by a Delta Airlines flight
> attendant en route from Frankfurt to Atlanta.
>
>                          **************************************
> We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic and
I
> was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest break. All of a sudden
the
> curtains parted violently and I was told to go to the cockpit, right now,
to
> see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had one of
> those "All Business" looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed
> message. I quickly read the message and realized the importance of it. The
> message was from Atlanta, addressed to our flight, and simply said, "All
> airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest
> airport, advise your destination."Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land
> immediately without suggesting which airport, one can assume that the
> dispatcher has reluctantly given up control of the flight to the captain.
We
> knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly.
> It was quickly decided that the nearest airport was 400 miles away, behind
> our right shoulder, in Gander, on the island of New Foundland. A quick
> request was made to the Canadian traffic controller and a right turn,
> directly to Gander, was approved immediately. We found out later why
there
> was no hesitation by the Canadian controller approving our request. We,
the
> in-flight crew, were told to get the airplane ready for an immediate
> landing. While this was going on another message arrived from Atlanta
> telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. We briefed
> the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went about our business
> 'closing down the airplane for a landing.
>
> A few minutes later I went back to the cockpit to find out that some
> airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown into buildings all over
the
> US. We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the passengers for the
> time being. We told them that an instrument problem had arisen on the
> airplane and that we needed to land at Gander, to have it checked. We
> promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There were many
> unhappy passengers but that is par for the course. We landed in Gander
about
> 40 minutes after the start of this episode. There were already about 20
> other airplanes on the ground from all over the world. After we parked on
> the ramp the captain made the following announcement. Ladies and
gentlemen,
> you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same
> instrument problem as we have. But the reality is that we are here for a
> good reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the
> situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. Local
> time at Gander was 12:30 p.m. (11:00 a.m EST) Gander control told us to
stay
> put. No one was allowed to get off the aircraft.  No one on the ground was
> allowed to come near the aircrafts. Only a car from the airport police
would
> come around once in a while, look us over and go on to the next airplane.
In
> the next hour or so all the airways over the North Atlantic were vacated
and
> Gander alone ended up with 50 airplanes from all over the world, out of
> which 27 were flying US flags. We were told that each and every plane was
to
> be off loaded, one at a time, with the foreign carriers given priority. We
> were No.14 in the US category. We were further told that we would be given
a
> tentative time to deplane at 6 p.m.
>
> Meanwhile bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for
> the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade
> Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use
> their cell phones but were unable to connect due to a different cell
system
> in Canada. Some did get through but were only able to get to the Canadian
> operator who would tell them that the lines to the US were either blocked
or
> jammed and to try again. Some time late in the evening the news filtered
to
> us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth
> hijacking had resulted in a  crash. Now the passengers were totally
> bewildered and emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept reading
them
> to look around to see that we were not the only ones in this predicament.
> There were 52 other planes with people on them in the same situation. We
> also told them that the Canadian Government was in charge and we were at
> their mercy. True to their word, at 6 p.m., Gander airport told us that
our
> turn to deplane would come at 11 a.m., the next morning. That took the
last
> wind out of the passengers and they simply resigned and accepted this news
> without much noise and really started to get into a mode of spending the
> night on the airplane.
>
> Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine,
> water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word.
Fortunately
> we had no medical situation during the night. We did  have a young lady
who
> was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The
night
> passed without any further complications on  our airplane despite the
> uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
>
> About10:30 on the morning of the 12th we were told to get ready to leave
the
> aircraft. A  convoy of school buses showed up at the side of the
> airplane,the stairway  was hooked up and the passengers were taken to the
> terminal for  "processing". We, the crew, were taken to the same terminal
> but were told  to go to a different section, where we were processed
through
> Immigration  and customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.
After
> that we  were isolated from our passengers and were taken in a caravan of
> vans to a very small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where our
> passengers were going.
>
> The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross told us
that
> they were going to process about 10,500 passengers from all the airplanes
> that were forced into Gander. We were told to just relax at the hotel and
> wait for a call to go back to the airport, but not  to expect that call
for
> a while. We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after
> getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.
> Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering things and
> enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they just knew
> that we were the "Plane People". We all had a great time until we got that
> call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7 a.m. We made it to the airport by
> 8:30am. and left for Atlanta at 12:30 p.m. arriving in Atlanta at about
> 4:30pm.. (Gander is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!,1 hour and 30
> minutes.) But that's not what I wanted to tell you.
>
> What passengers told us was so uplifting and incredible and the timing
> couldn't have been better. We found out that Gander and the surrounding
> small communities within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all the high
> schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They
> converted all these facilities  to a mass lodging area. Some had cots set
> up, some had mats with sleeping  bags and pillows set up. ALL the high
> school students HAD to volunteer taking  care of "the GUESTS". Our 218
> passengers ended up in a town called  Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from
> Gander. There they were put in a  high school. If any women wanted to be
in
> a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All
> the elderly passengers were  given no choice and were taken to private
> homes. Remember that young pregnant lady, she was put up in a private home
> right across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care type facility. There
were
> DDS on call and they had both male and female nurses available and stayed
> with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and  Europe
> were available for everyone once a day.
>
> During the days the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion" trips.
> Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went to
see
> the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the
> guests.  Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the school
> for those  who elected to stay put. Others were driven to the eatery of
> their choice and fed. They were given tokens to go to the local Laundromat
> to wash their clothes, since their
> luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words every single need was
met
> for those unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying while telling us
> these stories. After all that, they were delivered to the airport righton
> time and width single one missing or late. All because the local Red
Cross
> had all the information about the goings on back at Gander and knew which
> group needed to leave for the airport at what time. Absolutely incredible.
>
>
> When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
> Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They were swapping stories of
> their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. It was
> mind-boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We
> simply stayed out of their way. The passengers had totally bonded and they
> were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers,
> addresses, and email addresses.  And then a strange thing happened. One of
> our business class passengers approached me and asked if  he could speak
> over the PA to his fellow passengers. We never, never, allow that. But
> something told me to get out of his way. I said "of course".  The
gentleman
> picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just  gone
> through in the last few days.  He reminded them of the hospitality they
had
> received at the hands of total strangers. He further stated that he would
> like to do something in return for the good folks of the town of
Lewisporte.
> He said he was going to setup a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our
> flight number).  The purpose of the trust fund is to provide a scholarship
> for high school student(s) of Lewisporte to help them go to college. He
> asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the
paper
> with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and
> addresses, it totaled to $14.5K or about $20KCanadian. The gentleman who
> started all this turned out to be an MD from Virginia. He promised to
match
> the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He
> also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask
> them to donate as well. Why, all of this?  Just  because some people in
far
> away places were kind to some strangers, who happened to literally drop in
> among them?
>
> WHY NOT?
>
>
>

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