Delta 15
Someone sent me this and I can confirm that it is indeed TRUE and a good story. No, it's really a GREAT story and worth sharing it and passing it along.
Warning: It is long but a worthwhile read.
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Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11.
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of
Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic .
All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit,
immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the
crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me
a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply
read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to
commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your
destination."
No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a
serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain
determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander,
New Foundland.
He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic
controller and approval was granted immediately -- no questions asked.
We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving
our request.
While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message
arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York
area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.
We decided to lIe to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told
them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to
land at the nearest airport in Gander , New Foundland, to have it checked out.
We promised to give more information after landing in Gander .. There
was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new!
Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM
.... that's 11:00 AM EST.
There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over
the world that had taken this detour on their way to the US.
After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around
us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are
here for another reason."
Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the
US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed
passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.
The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was
allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come
near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically,
look us over and go on to the next airplane.
In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with
53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were US commercial jets.
Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for
the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade
Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.
People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect
due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were
only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines
to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.
Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center
buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash.
By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to
mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm.
We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to
realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.
We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one
plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane
would be 11 am the next morning.
Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this
news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the
night on the airplane.
Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory
servicing. And they were true to their word.
Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a
young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good
care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable
sleeping arrangements.
About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up.
We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through
Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.
After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in
vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We
learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400
people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the
airplanes that were forced into Gander!
We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US
airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.
We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to
our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.
Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people
of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane
people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and
ended up having a pretty good time.
Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport.
Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out
what they had been doing for the past two days.
What we found out was incredible.....
Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer
radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other
large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging
areas for all the stranded travelers.
Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.
ALL the high school students were required to volunteer theirtime to take
care of the "guests."
Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45
kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any
women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged.
Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to
private homes.
Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home
right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility.There was a
dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd
for the duration.
Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available
to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered
"Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and
harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests.
Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.
Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools.
People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful
meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their
clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.
In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they
were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the
airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late.
The local Red Cross had all the information about thewhereabouts of
each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on
and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.
It was absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their
stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back
to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of
their way. It was mind-boggling.
Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first
names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
And then a very unusual thing happened.
One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this
time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked
up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through
in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received
at the hands of total strangers.
He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for
the good folks of Lewisporte.
"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of
DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to
provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte.
He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When
the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names,
phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!
"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to match the donations
and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that
he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to
donate as well.
As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has
assisted 134 students in college education.
"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now.
It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place
were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them.
It reminds me how much good there is in the world."
"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today's world this
story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and
when things get bad, they will come forward.
*This is one of those stories that need to be shared. Please do so...*
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newf...e-scholarship-winners-remember-9-11-1.3754701
