jeff_is_smiling
Flirtin' an' stalkin'
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2002
- Posts
- 100,170
Tragedy 20-years ago today. I'm sure we all have memories of that awful day. If you have a story you feel like sharing, maybe this is where it can safely be placed?
I'll start with mine.
I was on a training assessment trip to the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in New Hampshire. The closest place to fly in commercially was Boston. I was auditing a classroom presentation when we heard some noise in the hallway outside.
On the break, they had set up a B&W TV with rabbit ear antennae to watch the "Today Show," which was showing the first World Trade Center on fire. Something about a plane hitting it. Then the break was over and the class re-started. About 1/2 way thru the session, a supervisor came into the classroom and interrupting the proceedings to say that an emergency had been declared and that all visitors (me) were to evacuate the station. Then he said another plane had struck the other tower.
I collected my things and went in search of where I parked my car. I drove the short distance offsite, the end of the access road directly faced the post office I had used on Sunday to send my son a birthday card and a check to pay him for watching my house. To the left was a Taco Bell, and I was hungry and the drive to my hotel was a little over 45-minutes - so I stopped in to get something to eat.
I walked in and the manager was staring at me with a shocked expression - his phone in his hand.
"Every employee I have just quit on me. They're scared to be near the nuke plant. What am I going to do?"
"I said, 'Well, I came in for some taco's.' He said, "Right!" and made my order. I drove back and watch the proceedings in my room.
The next day I arrived at the plant to find a DEVASTATED workforce. People were crying all over the training building. Turns out that two employees parents were on the flight out of Boston and had died. It also turned out that the United crew (many United and airline employees in general) also lived in the same neighborhoods that the nuke plant workers lived. They knew the crew. Grief counselors had already been summoned and were on-hand, and there were multiple large-group meetings to talk about how to get help for any issues that cropped up, etc.
I now had no way to get home because of the grounding of all planes nation-wide. Trains were honoring plane tickets, so I checked into that. The trip would take me from Boston to NY to Chicago and on to Seattle and down the coast - a long, long way. Greyhound buses were also honoring plane tickets. But the bus trip across country was estimated to be about 30-hours.
I called United and asked if they had any feel for when flights might resume. They said it might happen the next day and would I be interested in being called and flying if they DID re-start up again. I said yes. The next afternoon they called and told me a flight would take off from Boston about 11:00 the next morning. They made sure to let me know that it was "experimental" and that the entire country would be watching to see how United (and Boston) handled the flight. it would be the first flight in the nation as a test.
I got to the airport to turn in my rental car. Nobody was around at all. I got to the Avis area and a lone person was there to take the key, then start the bus to take me to the terminal. I was the only passenger on the bus. I got inside the terminal and was confused. I thought I'd be one of a very few passengers inside since my flight was to be the first. But there were at least 100 people standing in a line.
Instead of going to the ticket counter, the line stretch across the terminal. At the head of the line were 2 representatives and 2 armed security guards. They both had shotguns and were on either side of the line facing the passenger that was next. The representative asked a few questions to guarantee that the luggage you had with you was, in fact, yours. Once it was confirmed, you placed the bags yourself onto a specially placed x-ray machine that scanned each piece of luggage. Once you passed that screening you had to AGAIN re-possess your bags and take them to the ticket counter - a chit in hand showing you had been "vetted." That's when you could get your ticket.
The flight was only 1/4 full. Very little talking or chatting occurred anywhere. There was no service of food or drink. When we got to LAX and touched down, a loud eruption of applause occurred.
We got to the gate and the door opened. No announcement at all. Instead of passengers leaving the jet, the next crew for that particular jet came on board and had a VERY emotional group hug/crying session in front of everyone. Passengers quietly left, patting and touching the crews as we got off.
There was nobody at the baggage claim area. The adjoining flights (the smaller planes from LAX to the podunk area I live in) were still not flying yet. But they would be in 6-8 hours. So I had a LONG wait. I had to grab my bags (no transfer service available) and re-do the check in at another terminal completely. It was an easy walk though. There were absolutely no cars in sight. You could have played touch football for hours without being interrupted by a vehicle, and even then it wasn't a passenger vehicle - it would have been a police car.
Late that evening I finally made it home. My birthday card and check to my son never arrived. Seems that the post office sorts and sends the mail to Boston, where they used a certain United flight to take it across country.
A flight that never arrived.
I'll start with mine.
I was on a training assessment trip to the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in New Hampshire. The closest place to fly in commercially was Boston. I was auditing a classroom presentation when we heard some noise in the hallway outside.
On the break, they had set up a B&W TV with rabbit ear antennae to watch the "Today Show," which was showing the first World Trade Center on fire. Something about a plane hitting it. Then the break was over and the class re-started. About 1/2 way thru the session, a supervisor came into the classroom and interrupting the proceedings to say that an emergency had been declared and that all visitors (me) were to evacuate the station. Then he said another plane had struck the other tower.
I collected my things and went in search of where I parked my car. I drove the short distance offsite, the end of the access road directly faced the post office I had used on Sunday to send my son a birthday card and a check to pay him for watching my house. To the left was a Taco Bell, and I was hungry and the drive to my hotel was a little over 45-minutes - so I stopped in to get something to eat.
I walked in and the manager was staring at me with a shocked expression - his phone in his hand.
"Every employee I have just quit on me. They're scared to be near the nuke plant. What am I going to do?"
"I said, 'Well, I came in for some taco's.' He said, "Right!" and made my order. I drove back and watch the proceedings in my room.
The next day I arrived at the plant to find a DEVASTATED workforce. People were crying all over the training building. Turns out that two employees parents were on the flight out of Boston and had died. It also turned out that the United crew (many United and airline employees in general) also lived in the same neighborhoods that the nuke plant workers lived. They knew the crew. Grief counselors had already been summoned and were on-hand, and there were multiple large-group meetings to talk about how to get help for any issues that cropped up, etc.
I now had no way to get home because of the grounding of all planes nation-wide. Trains were honoring plane tickets, so I checked into that. The trip would take me from Boston to NY to Chicago and on to Seattle and down the coast - a long, long way. Greyhound buses were also honoring plane tickets. But the bus trip across country was estimated to be about 30-hours.
I called United and asked if they had any feel for when flights might resume. They said it might happen the next day and would I be interested in being called and flying if they DID re-start up again. I said yes. The next afternoon they called and told me a flight would take off from Boston about 11:00 the next morning. They made sure to let me know that it was "experimental" and that the entire country would be watching to see how United (and Boston) handled the flight. it would be the first flight in the nation as a test.
I got to the airport to turn in my rental car. Nobody was around at all. I got to the Avis area and a lone person was there to take the key, then start the bus to take me to the terminal. I was the only passenger on the bus. I got inside the terminal and was confused. I thought I'd be one of a very few passengers inside since my flight was to be the first. But there were at least 100 people standing in a line.
Instead of going to the ticket counter, the line stretch across the terminal. At the head of the line were 2 representatives and 2 armed security guards. They both had shotguns and were on either side of the line facing the passenger that was next. The representative asked a few questions to guarantee that the luggage you had with you was, in fact, yours. Once it was confirmed, you placed the bags yourself onto a specially placed x-ray machine that scanned each piece of luggage. Once you passed that screening you had to AGAIN re-possess your bags and take them to the ticket counter - a chit in hand showing you had been "vetted." That's when you could get your ticket.
The flight was only 1/4 full. Very little talking or chatting occurred anywhere. There was no service of food or drink. When we got to LAX and touched down, a loud eruption of applause occurred.
We got to the gate and the door opened. No announcement at all. Instead of passengers leaving the jet, the next crew for that particular jet came on board and had a VERY emotional group hug/crying session in front of everyone. Passengers quietly left, patting and touching the crews as we got off.
There was nobody at the baggage claim area. The adjoining flights (the smaller planes from LAX to the podunk area I live in) were still not flying yet. But they would be in 6-8 hours. So I had a LONG wait. I had to grab my bags (no transfer service available) and re-do the check in at another terminal completely. It was an easy walk though. There were absolutely no cars in sight. You could have played touch football for hours without being interrupted by a vehicle, and even then it wasn't a passenger vehicle - it would have been a police car.
Late that evening I finally made it home. My birthday card and check to my son never arrived. Seems that the post office sorts and sends the mail to Boston, where they used a certain United flight to take it across country.
A flight that never arrived.
