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Welcome to Inspire !
Start today with a smile
Please feel free to share this with others
& encourage them to sign up for their own smiles !
"One Flight's Story"
A very touching account: Nazim is a Delta airline
employee - one of the cockpit crew. How lucky we
are to have the Canadians for neighbors!!!
*******************************************
Here is the story from Nazim-Amin:
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 pm. (11:00 AM 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 53 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 offloaded, one at a time, with the
foreign carriers given the 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 pm.
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 reminding 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 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to
deplane would come at 11 AM, 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.
About 10:30 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 7AM. We made it to the airport
by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM 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
every one 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 right on time and without a 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 set up 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 $20K
Canadian. 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?
--Nazim
--Submitted by Lady Millie
(I did not verify this story but I sure HOPE it's true!--Douglas)
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Cute Sites O' The Day:
-------------------
Pretty Buffalo
http://www.AikensLaughs.com/forfun/funny773.html
<a href="http://www.AikensLaughs.com/forfun/funny773.html";>Here!</a>
Help Your Father
http://www.AikensLaughs.com/forfun/funny774.html
<a href="http://www.AikensLaughs.com/forfun/funny774.html";>Here!</a>
Walk With Me
"Don't walk in front of me,
I may not follow ~
Don't walk behind me,
I may not lead ~
Just walk beside me,
And be my friend."
--Albert Camus
To read old archived issues visit
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