Ya bastiges... ya got my eyes leaking again.
This was forwarded by a flying buddy.
(My brother tells much the same story of his US Air diversion to Gander. I'm trying to get him to write it down for the family history.)
<S>
Me and mine will stand with you and yours against whatever you face whenever, if ever, it comes. Thanks from all of "US".
_____________________________ ________________
A stewardess tells a story about her flight to New York on September 11.
Once again our Canadian neighbors demonstrate what Good Friends they are.
There are a lot of bad news stories being circulated since the 11th, this
is one of the really good stories, long but worth reading:
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 Newfoundland.
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?
-------------------------
The following note was received from one of our subscribers in Gander and
I've chosen to re-print it as received; It's been a hell of a week here in
Gander. The stories are amazing. We had 38 aircraft with a total of 6656
people drop by for coffee. they stayed for 3 or four days. Our population
is just under 10,000, so you can imagine the logistics involved in giving
each of these people a place to sleep and hot meal three times a day. Many
of us spent our time bringing people home so they could get a shower or,
once the rain started on the third day, driving them to the mall or sight
seeing to relieve their boredom. The diversity of the people who have been
in my car and in my shower over the past few days is pretty wild. You
should have seen the look on my little girl's face when three Muslim women
came home with me for a shower. With their robes, she could only see their
faces, hands and feet. Their hands and feet were covered with Henna Paint
and two of them didn't speak English. There was a King from the Middle East
here. A British MP. The Mayor of Frankfurt Germany, etc. etc. There were
also immigrants from all over the world, some of whom didn't have two
pennies to rub together. They all slept side by side in schools and church
halls. Except the Irish, of course! A flight from Ireland was put up at a
couple of local drinking establishments! The Royal Canadian Legion and the
Elks Club. One woman here gave a driving tour to a fellow from the US. When
she brought him back to his gymnasium cot, the exchanged cards. She looked
at his and said, "So you work with Best Western?" He replied, "No, I own
Best Western" You should have be! en here, but of course, there wouldn't
have been room. What an experience!
[ 10-02-2001: Message edited by: Toad ]
