Jump to content

Lest we forget


Chandler#81

Recommended Posts

I told this in other years. 

I worked at a company in CA that had an office in NJ. Several people would fly back and forth regularly.  One guy flew back the evening of  9/10. He would get tickets for several flights in case he finished early or late and wanted to fly back the day before or after he was  scheduled and turn the unused ones back to the airline for credit.   About noon on 9/11 he comes into the lunchroom where we were watching the news. He had a  blue boarding pass for flight 93 (the one that crashed in PA). If he had  not finished earlier on 9/10,  he would have been on that flight!

Edited by Wacka
  • Shocked 1
  • Thank you (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lost friends & coworkers on 2 of those planes.  I will never forget!

 

The vastness of the USA saved us from more attacks on the west coast.  The closure of the airspace, and time difference, between the east & west coast, cancelled or interrupted several flights that carried similar "passengers."

  • Thank you (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Lost friends & coworkers on 2 of those planes.  I will never forget!

 

The vastness of the USA saved us from more attacks on the west coast.  The closure of the airspace, and time difference, between the east & west coast, cancelled or interrupted several flights that carried similar "passengers."

 

I was flying a 767 for the other airline that lost two airplanes that day. Diverted back to San Francisco. I'll never forget the ACARS printer messages alerting me to the situation, and trying to verify I was still in command, or being the only one on the various ATC frequencies with absolutely no mention of anything from them.

Then landing and being followed by about 30 vehicles down the runway.

  • Shocked 2
  • Thank you (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lest we forget indeed. I have 3 distinctive stories from that day. First was my buddy Tonto was on the ground across from Manhattan with a direct view of the carnage. He took a pic of the second plane impacting. Horrific

 

My son used to walk to school with 2 buddies. That very morning we watched on TV what was unfolding. One of those buddies years later was later found deceased due to an overdose. I wrote about that boy in the knox thread. SMH RIPower Derek

 

the third one u can take wth however many grains of salt u wish. But it's true. I woke that morning to vivid nightmares of  bloody body parts falling from the sky. WTAF. I went to my desktop computer and looked online. No mention of anything yet. I noted the time. It ends up that my dream coincided with the jet hitting tower one. I went to a chatroom I was using at the time and read someone post about an airplane flying into a building in NYC. I assumed it was some prop job that lost cpntrol or something. Never did I guess what the reaiity would be when I went downstairs then to turn on the TV.

 

I couldnt get a hold of Tonto. I finally did hours later. but at first the communictions were overloaded. He told me stories about what he saw. One memory he shared was a group of Buddhist monks walking the street with candles lamenting the event in Queens

 

 

Edited by muppy
  • Thank you (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I post this every year, I had been at the opener and flew back after the game, stayed in Manhattan, golfed in Jersey on Monday, then back to my home Monday night and headed to work on Tuesday morning, this is what I wrote the next day (9/12):

 

I almost feel ashamed looking at this board, since football is far from my
mind right now, but my home page is TBD...

When I was on my way to work yesterday, I was on the #1 express from Penn
down to WTC, at 14th a couple got on and said they saw a plane hit the trade
center, I figured it was a light plane, and continued on. There was an
announcement by the conductor that said "Due to a fire at WTC there will be
no service to Cortland ave (in the wtc), I got out at chambers street and
started walking..as I turned around to face the north tower I saw people
just string up in awe..there was a hole in the tower with smoke and flames,
I asked some guy what happened and he said, he saw the plane go in.. and
then he said 15 minutes later the other tower exploded.. (we were on the
north side so he didn't see the 2nd plane , only the impact)

I tried my cell phone (no good) so I tried to find a pay phone , I thought
of my wife wondering if I was in there, and just the worry that the rest of
the family would have when they heard..I was able to get through to her
voice mail, and then I called our office on 36th st ( I am a consultant
assigned to 4 WTC since last September). The office wanted me to try to
locate another employee, and we started using my cell phone with the two way
radio feature.

I started looping around to the east of the buildings, trying to find my
co-worker, as I walked near the post office, I saw debris and broken
concrete, small puddles of blood, shoes ,lots of shoes and I picked up a
warm hunk of metal ( I have no idea why) it was almost hot and it was heavy
and it was oily or greasy... I dropped it when I saw a wheel or turbine that
was 20 feet away, high density aluminum about 6 feet wide....

Using my radio to my boss, I kept chatter back and forth and kept moving
towards where I figured Marcia would be (we went through the bombing in 93
and had always said, head for the water by the Seaport).

Police were busy on Church so I moved to Broadway by J&R Music and continued
the radio chatter with my boss, he said Marcia had not checked in yet, keep
looking, he also told me he saw video of the 2nd plane as it went in, he
said it had been hijacked as well as the first one, he also told be about
the Pentagon being hit.

I had worked my way to Nassau street, a pedestrian mall about 3 blocks east
of the towers. My radio was quirky, sometimes the frequency was jammed,
sometimes you could get through, so I told my boss I was going to keep it on
once I get a signal. As I was walking up Nassau I left the center of the
street and stayed along the storefronts, I was talking to Doug and he heard
me say "Oh @#$%^! something's happening, oh my God something went off", and
he could hear the rumbling as the first tower went down, I felt a shock wave
and wind rush as I ducked into a doorway (from the narrow street you could
not see the tower) I knew that one of them had fallen and I assumed it had
toppled over like a domino, not the gentle slide that I saw later.

The dust and debris cloud came next as I peered out of the doorway the cloud
came east towards the Nassau area, I started sprinting north and got one
block, as I looked over my left shoulder I saw a huge cloud of debris/dust
coming our way, as we ran I saw a woman fall, someone slowed down to help
and they were trampled ( I know I should have stopped, but I was thinking
about wife, kids etc, and she went down pretty hard) As I rounded the corner
near Beekman Hospital emergency personnel were waving us away I zigged
through the waiting stretchers, and headed to the Seaport, I slowed down to
catch my breath....
The smoke/debris cloud was covering us with something that was making me
choke and burning my eyes, it looked like snow... I started towards the
Brooklyn Bridge, but I was afraid that if the other tower went it may drop
towards us, so I started to go towards Chinatown. As I was walking I
remembered my radio.. the (last transmission I sent was Oh my God and the
rumbling in the background) when I finally got through my boss was excited,
he thought I was a goner.

A woman stopped be and asked to borrow the phone, I told her there were no
calls in or out, she then started wandering back towards the site and I
stopped her and asked what she was doing, "I have to get my pocketbook" I
said that would not be a great idea, and I asked her where she lives, we
were going the same way and started walking together, we saw a cab (empty)
so we got in and the driver said "I'm only going north" (well hello....that
was an understatement, who the hell wants to go back there!!!)

In the cab, Doug (boss) confirmed that the tower had fallen, we looked back
and saw the new skyline with just one tower standing up. A short time later
Doug asked where we were, I told him in a cab, and he told us the second
tower just went down, we looked out the back window of the cab as the debris
and smoke filled the air in the distance.

We were up to the village, and I saw the Empire State building looming in
the distance.. I told the driver to stop and let me out, the girl (Valerie)
said why get out now??? I pointed to the building/target and said"what would
be the next landmark to get hit??

I got out and gave the girl some money for the cab , she insisted on paying
me back and made me give her my card ( amazing at a time like this the
etiquette thing still remains in some people).

I started west to avoid the Empire State Building and went around it to get
to our office located 2 blocks north of the ESB. I got upstairs and changed,
called the wife ( she heard my voice cracking on the messages and she cried
every time she heard news of my progress)

We watched the news as others straggled in (Marcia had gotten up there too).
Once they opened the Long Island Rail Road, I left and got on and headed
home..

I never figured out whose shoes those were..

I am home now, and I suggest the following:
Don't complain about doing your kids homework.
Say I love you whenever possible
Try to keep in touch with your loved ones,
Whatever you think is very important today, may seem like a pimple on the
ass of an elephant tomorrow.

God Bless us all

Guff

  • Awesome! (+1) 1
  • Thank you (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was working with my ex in her gardening business, we had a client who was visiting their son in college. They were flying out of NYC. They were going to take a morning flight back to California, but the wife insisted they take a red eye so she could be back to supervise the on-going pool installation. The morning flight was 93. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend of the family, Laura Morabito, was on flight 11 that hit the north tower.  She was seated in first class next to where some of the hijackers were seated.

 

I was a senior in college when it happened.  Went out drinking with buddies the night before and slept in until about 10:30-11:00.  Got up and took a shower.  Didn’t even realize what was going on until I got back in my dorm room and turned on the TV.  I remember seeing a group of students huddled together embracing and sobbing as I walked to the shower, but didn’t think a lot about it in my hungover haze.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is OLD. A NEW topic should be started unless there is a very specific reason to revive this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...