What I remember about 9/11

I didn't want to write about September 11 the week of because it rested heavily on my mind. I have been a flight attendant since 1999 so of course, I was in this industry during that horrible terrorist event. I was working on the day in September and experienced a plethora of emotions, fear, and anger during that time. I will not name the airline at the time that I worked under but I will say it was not American Airlines or United airlines. As you can imagine that day was a complete shock and horrific morning. I was flying over the Hudson river that morning I would say around 6 AM. I remember we were flying at a very low altitude, I believe it was about 6,000 feet because my two pilots ask for that low altitude clearance so we could look down on Manhattan as we flew over it that morning.

 

I remember we were flying at a very low altitude, I believe it was about 6,000 feet because my two pilots ask for that low altitude clearance so we could look down on Manhattan as we flew over it that morning. I remember looking down at times square and seeing the lights and screens and as we had further down the Hudson I could see the twin towers intact that morning. I was planning a visit to New York City the following weekend to visit a friend. So in my mind, I was planning my trip, and I remember thinking to myself that I had no interest in touring the twin towers. Little did I know that I would never be able to do it ever again. Would you believe I went to New York City the very next month in 2001? I did and computer systems in that city were all over the place. I got charged twice for the Empire State Building visit just because the money systems were in a crazy loop. As we flew away from White Plains, New York pass the Hudson onto Philadelphia we had no idea of what was to become of that morning. As we flew from Philadelphia to our small town destination somewhere on the East Coast that's when we discover the news of the first plane hitting the first tower. We were actually in our small town headquarters when this took place and we were stuck in small town USA. I was flying with a former US Marine who has been out of the military for I would say at least 2 to 3 years and when he saw the action that took place he immediately wanted to go back into the military and fight. I was just in utter complete shock that this was happening. I was born in the mid-70s, but I'm more of a child of the 80s and I remember films like black dawn with Patrick Swayze, C Thomas Howell, and Jennifer and I felt like 911 was the black Dawn of the 21st century happening in real life. It did feel that way as if I were in a movie from the twin towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania being decimated.

We end up being displaced and remaining in our small town USA headquarters for 2 to 3 days until the company schedulers told us that we were released from work until further notice and that we were on our own as far as getting ourselves back to our crew base/homes. That’s how chaotic it was, that our company couldn’t get us back home. So my Capt. rented a vehicle and we had a 2 1/2 hour road trip back to our Virginia crew base. The crew life and airline passenger/customer life changes that ensued were not only inconvenient but drastic, to say the least. No more large-size liquids in your bags, you could only through security with an actual ticket, not with your family members that were seeing you off (for security reasons I do believe in this and it should remain this way. If you wanna send your family members off do it then it should be done in front of the ticket counter and check-in otherwise you do not need to be behind security unless you are a ticketed passenger. PERIOD) No more coffee for the large drinks through security unless you were and are Crew members. I do recall there being a shoe bomber on a flight and then there was extra screening if your shoes came through the security monitors suspiciously because of that incident. Our lives did a 360 in the aviation industry because of these horrible events and I would just like to honor the crew members that were working on those days when their lives or sacrifice in an evil act. On September 11, 2001, there were 25 flight attendants, 8 pilots, and 3 customer service agents who died on that day.

Casualties of the September 11 attacks from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks 2,996 people died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers who committed murder–suicide, while more than 6,000 others were injured.[1][2] Of the 2,977 fatal victims, 2,753 were killed in the World Trade Center and the surrounding area, 184 at the Pentagon,[3][4][5] and 40 in Pennsylvania. These deaths included 265 on the four planes. The attacks remain the deadliest terrorist act in world history.[6] Of the 2,977 fatal victims, 2,753 were killed in the World Trade Center and the surrounding area, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania. These deaths included 265 on the four planes. The attacks remain the deadliest terrorist act in world history. (end of source)