Good Read - HL 137 (1)

From: srdmcg@hotmail.com
Sent: 8/8/2012 11:11:37 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subject: Delta Flight 15...Amazing & Uplifting!

This is basiclly a true story. Dee and I visited some of my old hockey friends in Gander, NFLD and visited the tower, they had many photo albums of 9-11. The town of Gander took in these folks, more doubling the population, with open arms.

The picture at the end is of a DAL DC-10 which we did not have on 9-11, Flt. 15 was a L-1011. I flew this Flt. many times before my ret. in 1996. Kinda sorry I missed being a part of this, but glad I ret. when I did. As a footnote, we were at Ret. Capt Bob Runyan's farm in our coach along with Bob Dodaro for the DAL/ORD fly in that fateful day. Needless to say NO ONE flew in. Steve our son was working at Chi center ATC, he stay in touch by phone and kept us informed as to what was going on. I'm sure none of us will ever forget where we were on that day!!!!!!!..... I know I won't........... Steve&DEE

Wonderful.

Nearly eleven years later, this story will still stir your soul and
speak to the good in those around us. It's quite a chronicle by an
unnamed Delta F/A about that fateful time and the resilience of the
human spirit. Enjoy the good in this and "Let us never forget."




Delta Flight 15

Amazing Story of Delta Flight 15, September 11, 2001
Written by a flight attendant

"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,
Newfoundland. 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, Newfoundland 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 aircrafts. 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 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 like 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 dollars!

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.

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."

There are many people from these flights that return - some every year and some every couple of years and stay with the people they were billeted with. People from other planes also made donations. and someone who had been on these flights come to present the scholarships each year

There was one couple on one of the planes that were on their way to their own wedding - the people they were placed with made calls and they planned a wedding - wedding dress - cake - minister, reception with a local band - everything was provided to them by the people of Newfoundland without a single cent asked of the couple..

Another man tells how one couple leant him their car and he drove across the island to Port aux Basque so he could cross to the mainland and get to a very important meeting - I think it was - how trusting are Newfoundlanders.

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