Where were you on September 11th? With this weekend marking the 10th anniversary of those attacks that question seems to be on most people’s minds. It’s trending in social media right now and it was a big topic at happy hour this week. I was in a unique position when that day unfolded.
Where I Was Then
I was flying an airplane in NASA airspace as the planes struck.
As with the whole East Coast it was a picturesque Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach, Florida. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect and not a cloud to be seen. Severe Clear as we call it. It was perfect flying weather!
I was in grad school, doing my flight training at the time. When the weather was like this, my instructor, Mark and I, had cleared it that we could use the space shuttle’s runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (if the shuttle was not on the launch pad or due to land that was a pre-9/11 option). We were scheduled for an 8:00 a.m. pre-flight with a wheels-up time at 8:20.
Ever the punctual person we left on time and headed south for a leisurely thirty minute flight down the coast in a Cessna 172. There had been a recent string of shark attacks and I think I spent the whole flight down at only 1000 feet (plus or minus) trying to see if we could spot any. Getting into the area, we contacted NASA and Patrick Air Force Base to let them know we were there and would be shooting approaches on the shuttle’s runway. According to my logbook, we had shot half a dozen approaches and even more touch & go’s. Ah, the beauty of a long runway. Somewhere around 9:45 or so ATC came over the radio and ordered us out of their airspace and contact the airport in Melbourne, Florida for further instructions. We were confused to say the least.
It was about time for us to head back anyway but we decided to ask for clarification as to why the sudden order. They advised me to just check-in with Melbourne and they could better answer questions.
Upon checking in with the tower in Melbourne we were instructed to land immediately. Confused again, we asked for clarification and all they said was that there was “a situation up in New York” and that the FAA needed to ground all the planes in the country. Land immediately!
It took a couple minutes but we were permitted to return to Daytona .I guess it helped that they recognized our aircraft number. We decided to expedite our time as much as possible.
During the quick trip back we were monitoring ATC out of Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida. Indeed, every plane in the country was in the process of landing. What was going on? This was crazy. Somebody somewhere was overreacting. Our landing was uneventful and we quickly secured the plane so we could get inside and see what was going on. We walked into dispatch and every TV was on.
We walked in just in time to see the second tower collapse. Both towers? Two airplanes? Hi-jacked? This doesn’t make sense. I better go into the office. That was going to be a long day, I could feel it.
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A little explanation is needed here. I was in grad school at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and I was then a Graduate Student Assistant directly serving the university president basically as Chief of staff and he was out of town. Embry-Riddle is the world’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious university specializing in aviation and aerospace. It is the only accredited, aviation-oriented University in the world…and we now have people using planes as guided missiles.
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Anyway, I hurried across campus and into our office. A lot of staff was gathered in our conference room watching the TV there. People were in shock and most were choked up emotionally. As we were continuing to monitor everything going on, it became clear we needed to start acting.
Do we stay open or do we cancel classes? Where do we direct all the phone calls that are starting to pour in? My boss is not readily reachable so who is in charge? Do I even have the authority to make decisions? I’m only 26, will people even listen to me? Thank goodness I had a father with a thirty year military background! They say it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission and I’ve never been one to sit around.
Decision one, after a quick consultation with the campus chancellor and the university police department we decided to remain open but close the campus to anybody other than students, faculty, and staff. Our thinking was that it was better for people to be with others in times of trauma. If you wanted to come on campus though, you would need to have a school issued id. Second, after we heard of the attack on the Pentagon we decided to send all of our ROTC students home to change out of uniform. Rumors were everywhere and we were getting false reports left and right. The last thing we needed were our students being mistaken for active duty military and becoming targets too. We also have a large Muslim and Arab student population and needed to be sure they are protected and not become victims of people retaliating out of fear or anger.
As we were fielding calls that afternoon from the press, families, alumni, etc. the FBI showed up and they had a list of names. Did we train the terrorists? Please God no! That would have been disastrous!
We were there until nearly 10:00pm that night pulling files and student records. We were going to do so for the next several days as well. That same week Hurricane Gabrielle was approaching and was knocking out the power. The FBI and INS agents handed out flashlights and we kept on working.
To answer a question we’ve always received, NO, we did not train any of the terrorists. We had a Moroccan student named Walid Al-Sheri who had graduated from Embry-Riddle four years earlier in 1997. It took a few days to figure it out, but Walid was indeed alive and well and flying for an airline overseas. I can’t tell how relieved we were when we found out that the terrorist wasn’t one of ours. Sadly though, we did find out on the evening of the 11th that we had lost one of our own. David Charebois was the First Officer of American Airlines flight 77(the plane that crashed into the Pentagon). David was one of our alumni.
Today
It’s so hard to believe that a decade has passed since that day, it still seems like that could have been yesterday. I still get choked thinking about it. My friend and fraternity brother Mike is a Lt. Colonel in the Army. This past June he was giving me a tour of the Pentagon. As we were passing the 9/11 Memorial we eavesdropped on the enlisted kid conducting a tour. He was in his early twenties but didn’t look a day over sixteen. His comment to the group was, “I’m sure you’ve all read about that day in your history books”. HISTORY BOOKS???? Really? Are you kidding me? Many people stopped in their tracks on that statement. There is no possible way that could be in a history book, it just happened. But yes it’s been 10 years.
So what do I miss the most from the pre-9/11 days? Many things. I miss strolling through an airport terminal and watching families greeting each-other at the gate as passengers come out of a jet-way. I miss the innocence it seems our country lost that day. I miss the days of “let’s go to the airport and watch the airplanes land and take-off”. I miss the New York City skyline the way it is supposed to be.
So tomorrow on that anniversary I am going to do something to show we can’t be beaten. I am going to go flying! No, we will never forget, I will never forget.
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