Sept 11, 2001

[diogenes]

Tomorrow, I will be where I was Sept 11, 2001.

It will be a time of sadness. Oh, God, the familes. Of those left behind. Of those in harm's way, every day.

I still hear the baffled astonishment in a pilot's voice. Diverted into our station, he was protesting that, due to the fuel necessary for his destination, he was heavy for our station. We relayed the word from dispatch - land immediately, or a pair of Eagles from Seymour Johnson will shoot you down.

I still see firemen and cops running into the towers. I am awed into humility by their bravery. By strangers helping each other out of harm's way. By ordinary citizens in the Pennsylvania skies.

I still see bodies falling.

I still feel unholy rage towards Osama and his ilk.

It will be a time of thanksgiving. For this free nation. For the fair and decent people, that transform, when called upon, into something extraordinary.

Tomorrow, I will be where I was Sept 11, 2001.

 

[PITbull]

AFA PIT President just sent this out on the PIT E-Line... I share this with you.


Dear Local 40 Members,

I write to you on the second year anniversary of 9/11.

I am sure everyone across our great nation will take a moment today to
think of where they were that eventful day and what they witnessed on
television or perhaps, in person... and be silent.

I personally flew in to Washington for a grievance and remember
witnessing from a window at Corporate headquarters, in the far distance,
the burning of the Pentagon and the darkening of the sky. It was a moment in
history sketched forever in my mind.

In remembering that tragedy, those that had died in the crash in Summerset
County, in the New York Twin Towers and in the Pentagon, our fallen brothers
and sisters who flew those planes, along with all that has ensued, embrace
one another while flying today honoring those who perished.

In Solidarity,

The AFA Officers of Pittsburgh Local 40

 

[N513AU]

:angry:

Let's thank the ******** for taking our jobs. Yes, my job was stolen by the thieves at US Airways, but ultimately it was the Islamic crackpots that trashed the economy, devestated the airline industry and threw most of out on the street and into the gutter for a very, very long time.

On September 12, 2001 there should have been a smoldering pit where the middle east is. We are trying to kill the roaches one by one when we need to tent the whole house.

Osama, thanks for ruining my life. I live every day with the reality that I will probably never again get an airline job. Quite possibly I'll never work in aviation again. The career I built since high school was destroyed and now there are millions of people like my begging for a few scraps from the industry we all dearly loved. The seniority lists are so long and with the a##clowns at the IAM shortening our time on recall to three years, we have no time to ever get rehired.

Just my thoughts on it all.

 

[Fly]

I am so sorry your job was stolen, as was many, but please try to rememeber what day it is..............because today many people lost their reasons to believe, to love, to feel hope. I remember, but I wish I could forget. I traded my trip and I didn't even know her.....now I do.

 

[lester]

it is unfortunate....one of those things that will forever be embedded in your psyche as to where,what and when you were doing something when it all went to hell.god bless america and all those who sacrificed.

 

[LavMan]

Lets remember all the fallen victims, their families and our former employees who were laid off because of this horrific event, keep them all in your prayers tonight.

The eariest thing I remember is the 100 plus airplanes parked all over Charlotte/Douglas and it being silent.

 

[JS]

I remember seeing the WTC burn in person. I used to work in midtown Manhattan. It's too sad for words, so I'll have to stop now.

 

[delldude]

i remember the eerie silence for weeks from no planes flying.funny how the noise is always there and you take it for granted.

 

[LavMan]

And to show how stupid management was, we had over a 100 mainline planes on the ground in charlotte and they were still ordering parts AOG which means it is a critical part (Aircraft on Ground). The planes were not going anywhere.

My stepbrother is a paramedic in NYC and it took me three days to get in touch with him, that was the scariest thing. My neighbor who had a daughter my age built the WTC and from the third floor in my high school you could see them, I wonder how the students reacted when they planes hit.

 

[Dilligas]

When I feel overwhelmed by today's problems... when the constant bad news becomes too much... economic pressures mounting, lives in disarray. nothing but bad news... it's easy to fall into a depressed mood. I try to take a few steps back and look at things in the larger sense. Everything in life is perspective... and perception.

I have often thought of the crew and passengers and their thoughts, and what they must have gone through that day. It still pains me emotionally. My problems then seem trivial and selfish. If U goes under, or I hit the street, I will still have the opportunity to make choices and start over. Thinking of the grim choices the victims faced makes me reassess my problems.

All our lives and careers were changed forever on 9/11/01. Our industry will never be "what it was". Our challenge is to honor those who died by living our lives in a positive and productive way, regardless of where our paycheck comes from.

God bless the victims and their families and friends.

 

[LavMan]

CNN is televising the kids of the victims speaking out their names, how sad, ABC news ran a piece about the 63 babies born to the mothers who lost their husband in the WTC. Very touching.

 

[airlineorphan]

I was on a long set of days off and had gone off into the mountains to camp with friends from college. It was an amazing and beautiful trip. Not long ago, someone from the campsite sent some long awaited pictures to me.... So strange to see myself and my friends we knew what had happened. When I came down the mountian on September 11th about 1pm east coast time, I heard the news and felt like a macabre Rip Van Winkle.

It was hard to get any news that day since I was out in the mountains, but for a brief bit of time, I found a radio station interviewing Henry Kissinger who was advocating a "systemic approach" to terrorism. What the architect of the September 11th 1973 coup in Chile meant was war, perhaps creating the "smoldering hole" that one writer here called for.

I thought to myself, this is not a time for war or doing to other innocents what the terrorists have done to us.

Now is a time for us to wake up and start to understand the world we live in.

Rather than lashing out at millions of human beings (not roaches) who live in the Middle East (99.9999% of whom have nothing to do with al-qaeda), now is the time for us to take a long hard look at the kind of foreign policy that led the U.S. to spend billions training the bin Laden and other terrorists we called freedom fighters in Afghanistan in the 80's. Time to take a look at the policy that led us to crush democratic movements in the Middle East repeatedly over the last 5 years, leaving a political vacuum for thugs to fill.

It's a time to realize that our fate is bound up with the fate of others, both here in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.

Please, no more "Ground Zero's" Not here, not anywhere.

In solidarity,
Airlineorphan

 

[wench]

They are gone but Not forgotten.

Jobs we can get, lives are forever lost and families are forced to make
new starts.

A job is not worth it unles you have your family.

I end on that.

May they all rest in peace.

Look OBL>>>>WE WILL GET YOU>>>

 

[airlineorphan]

Oops, when I wrote that, I meant "the last 50 years" not "5 years"

-Airlineorphan

 

[AOG-N-IT]

And to show how stupid management was, we had over a 100 mainline planes on the ground in charlotte and they were still ordering parts AOG which means it is a critical part (Aircraft on Ground). The planes were not going anywhere.

Lavman,
O Ye of Limited Vision , sure we had a 100 Aircraft parked in CLT...and we had them parked everywhere else too !!

Nobody , including management knew exactly when we would be returning to flying? But one thing was for certain, planes landed that day in obscure places..and they had issues upon landing. We were also moving stuff by ground methods to capitalize on the extended downtown this tragedy had dealt the entire industry...if not the world.

A few things were for certain...Those 100 planes in CLT would be moving again...either as repo flights to attempt to get the schedule back in order...or they would operate as revenued flights from CLT. Another certainty was the fact that planes had time issues that had to be addressed at the end of the day...just as they do on any normal day. So what would you do? Let me guess , it was easier to sit back and do nothing in your eyes...as opposed to being prepared for when things starting to spring back to life.

All the airlines were also calling one another to obatain what we could on a local borrow or purchase basis to achieve positive results in the midst of the worst of times ever known. That's siezing the moment...as opposed to shallow minded foot-dragging.

I myself had ground couriers moving in the NE US to BOS where a B737 was in a case of being "hard broke"....and the couriers where figuring out ways to avoid bridges and tunnels that the authorities had closed due to all of this.

We had people at stations working all over the place...so rather than sit on our hands and wait..or send even more home than we did...we were being pro-active in an intelligent attempt to awaken a gigantic undertaking when the FAA and the President gave the "all clear to go"

I strongly suggest that you limit your barbs to things you understand...I.E.. Union Crappola , Parts Delivery and Lav Dumping....it's more than apparent why you are a follower than a leader.

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt and the US Army Infantry "Follow Me"...you will be better served by doing so.

BTW...how dare you take a thread like this to use it as a platform to slam people...management or otherwise!! You know no limit...other than your actual range of vision.