This Is A Fabulous Story:
Gander and Canada

> As you know the news media has been constantly reporting
> >various experiences people endured during the tragedy Sept. 11. This one
is
> a
> different type experience I have not seen reported.
> I am told a Delta cockpit crewmember is the author of the following
> document. Two airline managers received it and had great things to
> say about its content. Of course, they felt it appropriate to pass
> >it on...
> Subject: Gander
> (Nazim is a Delta Air Lines employee - one of the cockpit
> crew. It is so uplifting! How lucky we are to have the Canadians
> for neighbors!!! ********************************** Here is the
> story from 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 Newfoundland.
> 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
> timebeing. 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 e-mails 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 theguests. 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?
>
> You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.

[ October 09, 2001: Message edited by: Judy Pate ]