Reader’s Question
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Where were you on 9/11, and what are some of the changes you see as a result of that day?
On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was just about half way between SaltLake City, Utah and Boise, Idaho sitting in the left seat of a Fokker F-27. An unidentified pilot had just blurted out on center frequency that a “light aircraft” had just crashed into a “building in New York City.” I remember my first officer saying something about it probably being some poor student who had gotten lost, but how in the world could he have gotten that close to a NYC skyscraper? We were batting this around when the center controller came on frequency and made a blanket statement to all aircraft that it had, in fact been an airliner, and that it had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.
We both heard the words, but they made no sense at all. How on earth could a modern airliner with a professional crew become so distracted as to fly into a building? We had not quite fully digested the information at hand when the unidentified pilot again broke the silence. In a much more somber voice he announced that a second airplane had collided with the other tower.
The first officers words are not printable here, but they expressed exactly what was going through my mind.
“Say again,” the air traffic controller said in utter disbelief.
The unidentified pilot repeated his news. After a brief pause the controller replied with a flat “Roger.”
The frequency remained quiet for several moment as everyone in the sector, I’m sure, was at a collective loss as to what to do. Finally the silence was broken as we were issued a clearance direct to Boise and told to maintain maximum forward speed.
The Boise airport is usually a sleepy little field in the early morning hours, but as we checked onto approach control we could hardly get a word in edgewise. It was as if every aircraft in the area was converging on Gowen Field at full speed. After numerous vectors and speed adjustments we were cleared to land on 28L, and as we turned final we greeted by an awesome sight. Every square inch of pavement was occupied by an airplane. The Air National Guard had pushed their birds aside and were parking airliners in there spots. Every jetway had an airplane on it, and the business aviation facilities were completely full. Even the space squarely in front of the FAA offices were in use. On final approach, with the gear down and flaps at 27 degrees we heard the news that an airliner had just crashed into the Pentagon. We got to the terminal just as the first tower was coming down.
The effects of 9/11 on the air travel industry are obviously still felt today in the form of TSA agents, bullet proof cockpit doors, armed pilots and general paranoia. As a pilot who does not live at a crewbase my life was dramatically altered as off-line commuting became darn near impossible. Even though load factors have returned to pre-9/11 levels, the days of simple, relatively hassle free flying are long gone. I am indeed curious to see how tings will play out over the course of my career, but sadly I don’t think I’ll be able to tell my grandkids about flying in “the good old days.”