(no subject)

Subject: Delta Flight 15
This is a GREAT story!
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Here is the story from Nazim-Amin: "Nazim" is a Delta
Airline employee - one of the cockpit crew.
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 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-Amin
--
Bill & Eleanore Graham
6978 Ivandale
Independence, OH 44131
(216) 524-7695