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From: We Gunners
I never heard this story....just amazing.....this is unity and compassion.
It is a long story, of a long journey-so, fasten your seat belts and read on....
Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written
following 9-11:
"On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of
Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the
curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to
see the captain.
As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business"
look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was
from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways
over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air
traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."
"No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a
serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The
captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us
in Gander, New Foundland.
He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic
controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked.
We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in
approving our request.
"While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message
arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the
New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.
"We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air.
We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we
needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, New Foundland to have
it checked out.
"We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There
was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing
new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was
12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST.
"There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all
over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S.
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. The
reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to
explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There
were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed
passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.
"The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was
allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to
come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come
around
periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next
hour or so more planes
landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world,
27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.
"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 U.S.
were either blocked
or jammed.
"Sometime 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. By now the passengers were emotionally and
physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed
amazingly calm. We had only to look
out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we
were not the only ones in this predicament.
"We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the
planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our
turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not
happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much
noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the
airplane.
"Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and
lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we
had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady
who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her.
The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping
arrangements.
"About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses
showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where
we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with
the Red Cross.
"After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were
taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers
were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has
a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to
take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We
were told to just relax at
the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened
again, 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 had lots of time on our hands and found that the people
of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane
people."
We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up
having a pretty good time.
"Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport.
Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out
what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was
incredible.
"Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75
Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges,
and any other large gathering places. They converted all these
facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some
had cots set up,
some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.
"ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to
take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town
called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were
put up 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
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 facility. There
was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with
the crowd for the duration.
"Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were
available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were
offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the
lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in 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 schools. People were
driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals.
Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their
clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words,
every single need was met for those stranded travelers.
"Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when
they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered
to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or
late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the
whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they
needed to be on and when
all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.
It was absolutely incredible.
"When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their
stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight
back to Atlanta looked li ke a chartered party flight. The crew just
stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally
bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging
phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
"And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers
approached me and asked
if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever
allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and
handed him the mike. He 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 continued by saying
that he would like to do something in return for the good folks 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
college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. 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, the total was for more than $14,000!
"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, 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. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5
million and has assisted
134 students in college education.
"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right
now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a
far away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on
them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."
"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world
this story confirms that there are still a lot of good and Godly
people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward."
The Health, Wealth & Happiness Way.
Moderator: Yes, rowdies makes headlines in papers and may even rule the country, but goody people make our lives, worth living.
--
N.Gopalan
Nivedhas
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