September 11th Recall: An Aviation Industry Prospective

What was September 11th, 2001 like for you? Flight Attendant Jill recalls that time and the impact easily:

The day started like any other. We had already flown one leg within Florida and were now bound for Albuquerque. It was a light load that day and after we finished taking care of our customers, we sat in the last row of the plane and talked.

“We’re under attack.”

After a bit I said, “I haven’t checked on the pilots yet so I’ll go up there.” I entered the cockpit, using the pre 9-11 “2 knocks on the door” procedure, and asked them how it was going. The Capt. said, “We’re under attack.” I asked, “What do you mean, ‘we’re under attack’?” He then told me that 2 planes had flown into the 2 towers of the World Trade Center and there had been an explosion at the Pentagon, but they didn’t know if it was another plane or a bomb. I then said, “You’re so full of crap!” And he said, “NO. This is happening,” with a grave look on his face, and turned the radio up in the cockpit so that I could hear what was going on.

I listened in disbelief while Air Traffic Control systematically grounded all United and American flights that were traveling Coast to Coast; then all airlines traveling Coast to Coast; then all United and American flights, and finally all aircraft were ordered to land. I heard the Air Traffic Controller call us and say, “You’re between OKC and DAL so ask your Company where they want you to land, but you must start descent immediately.” They were trying to figure out if any other planes had hijackers in the cockpit by requiring us to descend immediately. The pilots got busy and I left the cockpit to let the other Flight Attendants know what was going on. I held it together until I touched them on the arms to get them to come to the galley so I could fill them in. I started to cry as I told them what I’d heard & we held hands and prayed for our Nation.

“We held hands and prayed for our Nation.”

[While] cleaning up the galley in preparation for landing, a passenger came back and asked why we were descending as we were no where near Albuquerque. At this point it was obvious that [our plane] was continuously descending and not just changing altitudes. I told him that the Captain would be making an announcement shortly, but that something had happened involving another aircraft, so all airplanes were ordered to land. He went back to his seat and used the phone in the seat back to call his wife who filled him in on what had happened. I remember that he was very concerned about his son who was in the military. When the Captain made the announcement letting us all know we were diverting to Dallas, I was surprised at how much information he provided to the passengers about the terrorist attacks.

Once we got to the gate at DAL, I disarmed my doors and turned my phone back on to have a message from my husband saying, “I know you know what’s going on by now, but call me and then call your Dad. He’s very worried about you.”

Photo: rawpixel on Unsplash

I called my husband to let him know that I was okay and was in Dallas. Then I called my Dad who offered to drive from Houston to Dallas to come get me if, “the fat hit the fire.” We, the Flight Attendants, went to the Crew lounge and I sought out the base manager to ask if I could leave. The phone lines to Crew Scheduling were overwhelmed so we couldn’t get through to them. I explained to the base manager that my husband was a Fire Fighter in the Houston area, was on duty on the Hazardous Materials Team and that we had 2 small boys so I needed to get back there. She gave me permission to leave since our aircraft was at a crew base so I, and one other Flight Attendant that wanted to get back to Houston, went upstairs to see if we could rent a car. [There were none available.] We were approached my some fellow employees, who worked on the ground at Love Field, who offered to drive us home if they could get permission to take a company vehicle. Ultimately they weren’t able to get permission so I called my Dad and asked him to come get us.

While we waited the 3 hours it took for him to drive to Dallas, we went back downstairs and watched the news reports of what had happened and were just heartbroken. A Union Rep. came in to the crew lounge and offered to take us all to a hotel and did ultimately take a few who were stranded. We answered phone calls from Flight Attendants calling the lounge to find out if they needed to come in for work and I called a friend who worked for United to see if she was okay. One of our crew had family in Dallas so she went to stay with them.

On the drive back to the Houston area, I remember looking up in the sky and thinking, for the first time in my life, there were no planes flying in US airspace.

My older son was informed of the attacks at school so he already knew, but my younger son had no idea and was way too young to understand anyway.

The following day I was glued to the news reports and was sitting there with my younger son when he asked, “Mama, did you do that?” I knew then that I needed to turn off the TV and try to focus on something else.

Friday was the first day after the attacks that airlines were able to fly again and that was after every single plane had been searched for weapons left behind by the terrorists. I logged in to the computer that Friday to see that crew scheduling had me working a flight from DAL to HOU even though I was already home. It took a long time for our company to get a handle on where everyone was. We had to fax a form in to crew scheduling if we did something other than what was on our screens on the computer, in order to try to get our pay right.

“I saw several people get to the door of the aircraft only to turn around and walk back up the jet bridge, too fearful to fly.”

When I finally went back to work the following Monday, I remember that there was hardly anyone on the planes and there was a lot of fear from a lot of passengers who were on the planes. I saw several people get to the door of the aircraft only to turn around and walk back up the jet bridge, too fearful to fly. My husband’s coworkers asked him if he was afraid of me going back to work, but he said he’s always been more fearful of me driving the 45 miles to and from the airport, explaining that flying is the safest form of transportation. One flight, there was a very nice looking Middle Eastern man who boarded wearing a suit and another passenger called to me and stated that she was concerned about him being on the plane. He was very friendly and relaxed and I’m sure he was aware of people judging him, so he was really going out of his way to talk to his seat mates and crew.

I asked her if she had witnessed any suspicious behavior from the man and she replied, “No, but he’s Middle Eastern and I don’t think he should be on an airplane.” I told her that unless she had witnessed or overheard something concerning, we weren’t in the business of discriminating against people. Other than my interaction with her, people were very well behaved on the aircraft following the attacks for several months before the typical behaviors returned.

I’ve been in the airline industry since 1986 and have seen a world of changes in that time. I feel safer than ever being a Flight Attendant. The terrorists desire to harm our spirit didn’t work. Americans are a tough lot!

– Jill M. van der Werff –