story20611.xml
Title
story20611.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2006-09-11
911DA Story: Story
"The Week the Air Stood Still"
Its hard to believe its been five years and people still ask me what I was doing on
September 11th, 2001. That question stirs up a lot of emotion for me as those events were just the beginning of a
new life for me, as an American, a pilot and a newlywed husband. My wife and I were married on Friday
September 14th at the end of that fateful week. I know a lot of people in this industry that have stories about their
experiences last fall. These are some of the events of what was supposed to be the happiest time of my life.
The week got off to a pretty normal start. Monday basically consisted of renewing my FAA First
Class Airmans medical exam and final preparations for my upcoming wedding at the end of the week (9/14).
Monday night it was business as usual. I couldnt wait to get to Indianapolis (IND) to share more of my wedding
details with my friends at work. I departed Cleveland (CLE) on time at 315AM. During the three hour layover in
Indianapolis things were very upbeat for a Monday while my co-workers and I discussed the events of my wedding
day.
The outbound load for the return trip home was heavy as usual, but nonetheless I was on my way
home to continue the countdown. What a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and excellent visibility allowing you to
see for miles. The mission was rolling along as well as could be expected. About thirty minutes out of Cleveland I
was monitoring the company frequency and heard several flights calling the ramp in Cleveland inquiring about
parking space. This was very odd since I was the only flight due to arrive there. The word coming down the radio
was that New York had a ground stop and no flights were coming or going from the area. The first thing I
thought was maybe hurricane / tropical storm Erin had blown back towards the coast causing weather delays. That
would have been a blessing given the events that followed.
Rumors of an airliner being hijacked in New York airspace began to litter the airwaves and ATC
began suggesting to all flights heading east to plan on an alternate airport. The ground stop now included Boston.
Soon came the strangest thing Ive ever heard in my fifteen years of flying. It was official, the situation of a
national emergency was relayed by ATC to all flights and everyone must land...EVERYBODY. All anybody knew
was that two commercial airliners had been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York. I
remember an airline pilot ask what type of aircraft? I cant say, was the response from the controller. Chills
ran up and down my spine as I could only imagine the scene in New York while I continued to my destination.
Fortunately for me I was able to make it back home to Cleveland, unlike a lot of my co-workers who were stranded
in different cities for the next several days. All of the action really infuriated me and even the sense of being
violated overcame me as the industry that I take great pride in representing had literally been raped, not to
mention our great nation had been attacked. My thoughts were instantly cast upon the crews of those aircraft,
whose pride and dignity they had in their careers and the hard work it took to get them there had fallen victim to
mindless cowards.
During my approach into Cleveland, the crew of a Delta Airlines flight behind apparently had a
suspicion about a possible situation onboard their aircraft. They were next for the field. After I landed, FAA,
police and other emergency vehicles passed me on the taxiway and quickly surrounded the Delta 767 (Flight 1989)which had
landed right behind me. A subsequent search of that plane showed no signs of a possible hijacking or bomb. Upon
arriving at the freight ramp I secured the airplane and thats when the relief pilot told me about the Pentagon
being hit by a third jet. All I could think of was what the hell was going on? I left the airport after closing out
my flight and what I saw next could simply be described as chaos. There were police and fire trucks everywhere,
prospective passengers walking across the freeway entrance ramps pulling their luggage behind them and traffic
jammed for miles. The airport in Cleveland was locked down. It appeared that all of the action was on the east
coast, but no chances were being taken anywhere.
It was with great disbelief that I listened to the radio on my way home, both towers of the World
Trade Center collapsing and now a fourth airliner had crashed outside of Pittsburgh, apparently on its way
toward Washington, DC. My cell phone rang continuously with calls concerning my own personal safety. I was
fine, but had to get home and see the news. Driving through downtown Cleveland I noticed our skyline and took
pride as we have the tallest building between Chicago and New York City, now those in New York were gone. My
fiancée had slept through the mornings horror story, which is good since she would have been consumed with
worry. Our wedding was just three days away. She couldnt believe the news as I recapped the morning events to
her and we watched the news. After viewing a timeline of events, its interesting to note that the airliner that
crashed in Pennsylvania was almost directly 15,000 feet above me when it made its doomed turn back to the east
under the control of hijackers. This finally brought reality crashing down on me realizing just how close I was to
tragic history. Aviation was essentially grounded for the next two days as the search for answers continued.
Friday September 14th, 2001, our wedding day. How could we celebrate what should be the happiest
day of our lives when thousands of lives had been lost just days before to senseless acts of terrorism? It was very
difficult to truly be happy that day, but just like the rest of our country we carried on never forgetting the victims
of that day as we held a moment of silence during our reception and all of the men in our wedding party wore US
flags on their lapels.
I am very proud to say that the company I work for and the customer we represent were the first air
carriers to take back to the skies continuing to provide our reliable service, undaunted by cowardly acts of
terrorism against our nation and air transportation system. As pilots, we sometimes give air traffic controllers a
lot of grief, but after September 11th and the excellent job they did getting EVERY aircraft over the United States
on the ground I congratulate them on a job very well done. They held it all together and all we, as flight crews, had
to do was land. All of this, I believe, symbolizes our people and our national pride. We will not succumb to such
acts, rather we will continue to be the foundation of liberty and freedom throughout the world. As a person and an
aviator I will never forget where I was on September 11th, 2001, the day that our lives changed.
God Bless America !
Its hard to believe its been five years and people still ask me what I was doing on
September 11th, 2001. That question stirs up a lot of emotion for me as those events were just the beginning of a
new life for me, as an American, a pilot and a newlywed husband. My wife and I were married on Friday
September 14th at the end of that fateful week. I know a lot of people in this industry that have stories about their
experiences last fall. These are some of the events of what was supposed to be the happiest time of my life.
The week got off to a pretty normal start. Monday basically consisted of renewing my FAA First
Class Airmans medical exam and final preparations for my upcoming wedding at the end of the week (9/14).
Monday night it was business as usual. I couldnt wait to get to Indianapolis (IND) to share more of my wedding
details with my friends at work. I departed Cleveland (CLE) on time at 315AM. During the three hour layover in
Indianapolis things were very upbeat for a Monday while my co-workers and I discussed the events of my wedding
day.
The outbound load for the return trip home was heavy as usual, but nonetheless I was on my way
home to continue the countdown. What a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and excellent visibility allowing you to
see for miles. The mission was rolling along as well as could be expected. About thirty minutes out of Cleveland I
was monitoring the company frequency and heard several flights calling the ramp in Cleveland inquiring about
parking space. This was very odd since I was the only flight due to arrive there. The word coming down the radio
was that New York had a ground stop and no flights were coming or going from the area. The first thing I
thought was maybe hurricane / tropical storm Erin had blown back towards the coast causing weather delays. That
would have been a blessing given the events that followed.
Rumors of an airliner being hijacked in New York airspace began to litter the airwaves and ATC
began suggesting to all flights heading east to plan on an alternate airport. The ground stop now included Boston.
Soon came the strangest thing Ive ever heard in my fifteen years of flying. It was official, the situation of a
national emergency was relayed by ATC to all flights and everyone must land...EVERYBODY. All anybody knew
was that two commercial airliners had been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York. I
remember an airline pilot ask what type of aircraft? I cant say, was the response from the controller. Chills
ran up and down my spine as I could only imagine the scene in New York while I continued to my destination.
Fortunately for me I was able to make it back home to Cleveland, unlike a lot of my co-workers who were stranded
in different cities for the next several days. All of the action really infuriated me and even the sense of being
violated overcame me as the industry that I take great pride in representing had literally been raped, not to
mention our great nation had been attacked. My thoughts were instantly cast upon the crews of those aircraft,
whose pride and dignity they had in their careers and the hard work it took to get them there had fallen victim to
mindless cowards.
During my approach into Cleveland, the crew of a Delta Airlines flight behind apparently had a
suspicion about a possible situation onboard their aircraft. They were next for the field. After I landed, FAA,
police and other emergency vehicles passed me on the taxiway and quickly surrounded the Delta 767 (Flight 1989)which had
landed right behind me. A subsequent search of that plane showed no signs of a possible hijacking or bomb. Upon
arriving at the freight ramp I secured the airplane and thats when the relief pilot told me about the Pentagon
being hit by a third jet. All I could think of was what the hell was going on? I left the airport after closing out
my flight and what I saw next could simply be described as chaos. There were police and fire trucks everywhere,
prospective passengers walking across the freeway entrance ramps pulling their luggage behind them and traffic
jammed for miles. The airport in Cleveland was locked down. It appeared that all of the action was on the east
coast, but no chances were being taken anywhere.
It was with great disbelief that I listened to the radio on my way home, both towers of the World
Trade Center collapsing and now a fourth airliner had crashed outside of Pittsburgh, apparently on its way
toward Washington, DC. My cell phone rang continuously with calls concerning my own personal safety. I was
fine, but had to get home and see the news. Driving through downtown Cleveland I noticed our skyline and took
pride as we have the tallest building between Chicago and New York City, now those in New York were gone. My
fiancée had slept through the mornings horror story, which is good since she would have been consumed with
worry. Our wedding was just three days away. She couldnt believe the news as I recapped the morning events to
her and we watched the news. After viewing a timeline of events, its interesting to note that the airliner that
crashed in Pennsylvania was almost directly 15,000 feet above me when it made its doomed turn back to the east
under the control of hijackers. This finally brought reality crashing down on me realizing just how close I was to
tragic history. Aviation was essentially grounded for the next two days as the search for answers continued.
Friday September 14th, 2001, our wedding day. How could we celebrate what should be the happiest
day of our lives when thousands of lives had been lost just days before to senseless acts of terrorism? It was very
difficult to truly be happy that day, but just like the rest of our country we carried on never forgetting the victims
of that day as we held a moment of silence during our reception and all of the men in our wedding party wore US
flags on their lapels.
I am very proud to say that the company I work for and the customer we represent were the first air
carriers to take back to the skies continuing to provide our reliable service, undaunted by cowardly acts of
terrorism against our nation and air transportation system. As pilots, we sometimes give air traffic controllers a
lot of grief, but after September 11th and the excellent job they did getting EVERY aircraft over the United States
on the ground I congratulate them on a job very well done. They held it all together and all we, as flight crews, had
to do was land. All of this, I believe, symbolizes our people and our national pride. We will not succumb to such
acts, rather we will continue to be the foundation of liberty and freedom throughout the world. As a person and an
aviator I will never forget where I was on September 11th, 2001, the day that our lives changed.
God Bless America !
Collection
Citation
“story20611.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 25, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/9964.