Here is a special item that a contributor sent to the NetLetter, and as
I have many relatives living in Gander, Newfoundland
this is my way of saying Thanks to them.
Maybe one of them will spot my name and
respond to me. Vesta.
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This true account is from a friend of a friends neighbours, Anisa and Amin
Chisti.
Nazim is a Delta airline employee - one of the cockpit crew. It is so
uplifting! How lucky we are to have the Canadians for neighbours!!!
******************************************* Luke and Pat, here is the story
from our friend Nazim-Amin:)
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?
Nazim