DELTA Flight 15
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." 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.
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 woman 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?
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