This is what the people of America and Canada are all about.
Here's a story from a flight attendant about their return flight from
Germany and their stopover in Canada that you may find interesting. The
captain handed me a printed message. I quickly read the message and realized
the importance of it. The message was from Atlanta, addressed to our flight,
and simply said, "All airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP
at the nearest airport, advise your destination."
The nearest airport was 400 miles away, behind our right shoulder, in
Gander, on the island of New Foundland. A quick request was made to the
Canadian traffic controller and a right turn, directly to Gander, was
approved immediately. We found out later why there was no hesitation by the
Canadian controller approving our request. We, the in-flight crew, were told
to get the airplane ready for an immediate landing. While this was going on
another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist
activity in the New York area.
We briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went about our
business 'closing down' the airplane for a landing. A few minutes later I
went back to the cockpit to find out that some airplanes had been hijacked
and were being flown into buildings all over the US. We decided to make an
announcement and LIE to the passengers for the time being. We told them that
an instrument problem had arisen on the airplane and that we needed to land
at Gander, to have it checked. We promised to give more information
after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy passengers but that is par
for the course.
We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after the start of this episode. There
were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world.
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. But the reality is that we
are here for a good 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.
Local time at Gander was 12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST) Gander control told us to
stay put. No one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground
was allowed to come near the aircrafts. Only a car from the airport police
would come around once in a while, look us over and go on to the next
airplane.
In the next hour or so all the airways over the North Atlantic were vacated
and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, out of
which 27 were flying US flags. We were told that each and every plane was to
be offloaded, one at a time, with the foreign carriers given the priority.
We were No.14 in the US category.
We were further told that we would be given a tentative time to deplane at 6
pm. 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 US were either
blocked or jammed and to try again.
Some time late 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. Now the passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted
but stayed calm as we kept reminding them to look around to see that we were
not the only ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes with
people on them in the same situation. We also told them that the Canadian
Government was in charge and we were at their mercy. True to their word, at
6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11 AM,
the next morning. That took the last wind out of the passengers and they
simply resigned and accepted this news without much noise and really started
to get into a mode of spending the night on the airplane.
Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine,
water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately
we had no medical situation during the night. We did have a young lady who
was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night
passed without any further complications on our airplane despite the
uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th
we were told to get ready to leave the aircraft. A convoy of school buses
showed up at the side of the airplane, the stairway was hooked up and the
passengers were taken to the terminal for "processing".
We, the crew, were taken to the same terminal but were told to go to a
different section, where we were processed through Immigration and customs
and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we were isolated
from our passengers and were taken in a Caravan of vans to a very small
hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where our passengers were going.
The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross told us that
they were going to process about 10,500 passengers from all the airplanes
that were forced into Gander.
We were told to just relax at the hotel and wait for a call to go back to
the airport, 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.
The people were so friendly and they just knew that we were the "Plane
people". We got a call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made it to the
airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta at
about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1 hour
and 30 minutes.)
But that's not what I wanted to tell you. What passengers told us was so
uplifting and incredible and the timing couldn't have been better. We found
out that Gander and the surrounding small communities, within a 75 Kilometer
radius, had closed all the high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any
other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to a mass
lodging area. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and
pillows set up.
ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer taking care of
the "GUESTS". Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about
45 Kilometers from Gander. There they were put 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 given no choice and 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 type
facility.
There were DDS on call and they had both male and female nurses
available and stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails
to US and Europe were available for every one once a day. During the days
the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion" trips. Some people went on
boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went to see 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 school for those who
elected to stay put. Others were driven to the eatery of their choice and
fed. They were given tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their
clothes, since their luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words every
single need was met for those unfortunate travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. After all that, they
were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single one missing
or late. All because the local Red Cross had all the information about the
goings on back at Gander and knew which group needed to leave for the
airport at what time. Absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They were swapping stories of
their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. It was mind
boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply
stayed out of their way.
The passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each other by their
first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And
then a strange thing happened.
One of our business class passengers approached me and asked if he could
speak over the PA to his fellow passengers. We never, never, allow that. But
something told me to get out of his way. I said "of course". The gentleman
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 further stated that he would like to do
something in return for the good folks of the town 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 a scholarship for high
school student(s) of Lewisporte to help them go to college. 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, it totaled to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The
gentleman who started all this turned out to be an MD from Virginia. He
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.
Why, all of this? Just because some people in far away places were kind to
some strangers, who happened to literally drop in among them? WHY NOT?
United States Justice Foundation
Gary G. Kreep, Esq.
