story871.xml
Title
story871.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-07-10
911DA Story: Story
I was headed to Portland, OR for work, leaving from Washington DC's National Airport and changing planes in Chicago.
My flight was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., but I was able to get on an earlier flight that left at 9:00. I called my husband,
so excited about my good fortune because I'd have an hour and a half to switch in Chicago, rather than 30 minutes.
We took off on time, and I had two cups of coffee before my row-mate, a retired fire chief, turned to me and said, "The FAA just lost
two planes." Very matter-of-fact. He had headphones on, and I couldn't imagine what he was listening to. When he said, "The World Trade
Center just collapsed," I thought he was joking. Being from Boston, I pictured a few glass windows falling out of the sides of the building
like the John Hancock building. I asked him what he was listening to, and he said the cockpit. I listened in, and I heard the pilots talking
to ground control, discussing where to land the plane. Then the pilot got on the intercom and told us that there had been some terrorist activity
and the FAA was ordering all planes out of the air. We would be landing in Indianapolis, most likely. He also told us to stay seated and not to open
the overhead bins. We were in the air for quite some time before we landed in Cincinnati.
We were ushered off the plane and I remember thinking, "There's no one in this airport except a few people on their cell phones. The place was
deserted. Someone from United said that they would be bringing us to a hotel and there would be no flights out that day, perhaps the next day as well.
Two women from Asia who didn't speak English were on my flight, and they were so confused -- I felt so sorry for them. Many of the passengers were headed
to Chicago to take the over-the-pole flight to Asia, and they were stuck. In baggage claim, I tried to get a rental car, but nothing would be available until
Thursday. While waiting for the shuttle bus to the hotel, a bunch of us were discussing how to get back to DC. We agreed that if one of us could find
a way, we would not leave the others behind.
Although the airwaves were jammed with phone calls, I was able to get four calls out. I left a message at my husband's office, at our home, on my boss's machine, and finally
got through to my father at work, while we were on-route to the hotel. He assumed that I hadn't left DC. Another passenger asked if my dad would call his wife, and gave him
the number.
Once we got to the hotel and checked in, I turned on the television. I vaguely saw a plane flying close to the World Trade Center towers, but I was focused on
the Yellow Pages. I called the first limosine company that accepted charge cards and was told they had one vehicle left. "I'll take it." One way fare to DC would be
$800. Split between five people, that sounded like a bargain. I had 20 minutes to round up the others, get something out of the vending machine, and be in the
lobby. I still have the package of trail mix I got from the machine, and I've saved the page I tore out of the Yellow Pages with the number -- Sorry Howard Johnson's!
The "limosine" was a burgundy mini-van with a driver named Butch who stated right away that he was not a long-distance driver. At 12:05 p.m., we filled up the gas tank and
were off. First stop -- Butch's house to pick up his medicine. Apparently, he wasn't sure how far he was driving, and he thought perhaps he should get his medicine if he
was going to be gone overnight. He came out of his house with his medicine in a bag -- and nothing else! No toothbrush, no change of clothes, nothing!
After about two hours of riding and listening to the news, Butch started to fall asleep at the wheel. "Butch, I need to use the bathroom. Can we stop at the next rest area?" I asked.
From then on, I drove. Three of us had cell phones, and they were passed around for everyone to use. I finally got through to my husband. When his office was sent home, someone gave him
misinformation that a United flight out of National (rather than Dulles) had crashed into the Pentagon. For the two hours it took him to get home, he thought my plane had gone down. Once he
got to the station closest to our house, a Marine looked at him and said, "You don't look so good. Can I give you a lift?" Once at home, he got my message.
It took us 10 1/2 hours to get home. After greeting my husband, I crawled into bed with my sleeping children for a little while.
I've never been so determined to get home, and so focused on finding
a way to get there. It wasn't until 11:00 at night that I first watched the World Trade Center crumble to the ground.
My flight was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., but I was able to get on an earlier flight that left at 9:00. I called my husband,
so excited about my good fortune because I'd have an hour and a half to switch in Chicago, rather than 30 minutes.
We took off on time, and I had two cups of coffee before my row-mate, a retired fire chief, turned to me and said, "The FAA just lost
two planes." Very matter-of-fact. He had headphones on, and I couldn't imagine what he was listening to. When he said, "The World Trade
Center just collapsed," I thought he was joking. Being from Boston, I pictured a few glass windows falling out of the sides of the building
like the John Hancock building. I asked him what he was listening to, and he said the cockpit. I listened in, and I heard the pilots talking
to ground control, discussing where to land the plane. Then the pilot got on the intercom and told us that there had been some terrorist activity
and the FAA was ordering all planes out of the air. We would be landing in Indianapolis, most likely. He also told us to stay seated and not to open
the overhead bins. We were in the air for quite some time before we landed in Cincinnati.
We were ushered off the plane and I remember thinking, "There's no one in this airport except a few people on their cell phones. The place was
deserted. Someone from United said that they would be bringing us to a hotel and there would be no flights out that day, perhaps the next day as well.
Two women from Asia who didn't speak English were on my flight, and they were so confused -- I felt so sorry for them. Many of the passengers were headed
to Chicago to take the over-the-pole flight to Asia, and they were stuck. In baggage claim, I tried to get a rental car, but nothing would be available until
Thursday. While waiting for the shuttle bus to the hotel, a bunch of us were discussing how to get back to DC. We agreed that if one of us could find
a way, we would not leave the others behind.
Although the airwaves were jammed with phone calls, I was able to get four calls out. I left a message at my husband's office, at our home, on my boss's machine, and finally
got through to my father at work, while we were on-route to the hotel. He assumed that I hadn't left DC. Another passenger asked if my dad would call his wife, and gave him
the number.
Once we got to the hotel and checked in, I turned on the television. I vaguely saw a plane flying close to the World Trade Center towers, but I was focused on
the Yellow Pages. I called the first limosine company that accepted charge cards and was told they had one vehicle left. "I'll take it." One way fare to DC would be
$800. Split between five people, that sounded like a bargain. I had 20 minutes to round up the others, get something out of the vending machine, and be in the
lobby. I still have the package of trail mix I got from the machine, and I've saved the page I tore out of the Yellow Pages with the number -- Sorry Howard Johnson's!
The "limosine" was a burgundy mini-van with a driver named Butch who stated right away that he was not a long-distance driver. At 12:05 p.m., we filled up the gas tank and
were off. First stop -- Butch's house to pick up his medicine. Apparently, he wasn't sure how far he was driving, and he thought perhaps he should get his medicine if he
was going to be gone overnight. He came out of his house with his medicine in a bag -- and nothing else! No toothbrush, no change of clothes, nothing!
After about two hours of riding and listening to the news, Butch started to fall asleep at the wheel. "Butch, I need to use the bathroom. Can we stop at the next rest area?" I asked.
From then on, I drove. Three of us had cell phones, and they were passed around for everyone to use. I finally got through to my husband. When his office was sent home, someone gave him
misinformation that a United flight out of National (rather than Dulles) had crashed into the Pentagon. For the two hours it took him to get home, he thought my plane had gone down. Once he
got to the station closest to our house, a Marine looked at him and said, "You don't look so good. Can I give you a lift?" Once at home, he got my message.
It took us 10 1/2 hours to get home. After greeting my husband, I crawled into bed with my sleeping children for a little while.
I've never been so determined to get home, and so focused on finding
a way to get there. It wasn't until 11:00 at night that I first watched the World Trade Center crumble to the ground.
Collection
Citation
“story871.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15379.