markbradford

Two of my best friends are from Gander. Just thought I'd post this - maybe some of you guys will go visit Newfoundland some day................


> > > The following is an account by a member of the crew of her experience
> > > on a Delta flight from Europe diverted to Gander on September 11.
> > >
> > >
> > > We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic
> > > and I
> > > was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest break. All of a
> > > sudden
> > > the curtains parted violently and I was told to go to the cockpit, right
> > >
> > > now, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew
> > > had
> > > one of those "All Business" looks on their faces. 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."
> > >
> > > Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately without suggesting
> > > which airport, one can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly given
> > > up
> > > control of the flight to the captain. We knew it was a serious
> > > situation
> > > and we needed to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly decided that
> > > 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. Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering
> > > things and enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and
> > > they
> > > just knew that we were the "Plane people". We all had a great time
> > > until we
> > > got that 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?
> > >

PossumCowboy

very cool

RickM

Great story, thanks for sharing it.

avantaholic13

i'll forward to my Canadian gf, she is from Medicine Hat!

Jamie_NH

...a couple years ago. One of my childhood friends
was marrying a Newfie.

Needless to say, we had a great time jigging
the night away.

The story doesn't surprise me at all.

-Jamie

Alf Arkin

I'm very proud to be a Canuck



99.5½ 1.8TQM

audiohs

I guess those passengers won't be telling any Newfie jokes. Good job Gander!

CharlieGSanD

good post thnx mark!