達美15
我是達美航空公司15號班機的機組人員，2001年的9月11日從德國的法蘭克福機場飛越大西洋，目的地是美國的亞特蘭大。
忽然，機艙內的布簾都拉了起來，我被叫到駕駛艙去見機長。在那兒，幾個機組人員都面露嚴肅。機長給我一張紙條，這是從亞特蘭大機場辦公室發出來的訊息，上面寫著：「所有私人航空公司飛往美國的航道全部關閉，請盡速降落在最近的機場，並請告知你的降落目的地。」
沒有一個人對此訊息有隻字片語，我們都知道事態的嚴重性。我們需要立刻找到一個陸地降落，機長決定最近的機場是離我們400英里遠的甘德, 紐芬蘭。
機長要求加拿大航空交通控制中心核准路線的改變，我們沒有被質疑而獲得即刻的核准，後來我們才知道為何我們的要求毫不遲疑的被核准。
當我們正準備降落時，另一個訊息從亞特蘭大傳來，告訴我們在紐約地區有恐怖行動。幾分鐘後，我們知道是劫機事件。
尚未降落前，我們決定跟乘客撒個白謊，說是一個小小的機械問題需要降落在最近的機場-甘德, 紐芬蘭，做個檢查。
我們答應在降落後告訴他們更多的訊息，乘客開始咕噥發牢騷。四十分鐘後我們降落在甘德，當地時間是下午12:30，是東部時間的早上11:00。
這個機場大約已有20架飛機降落，他們是從全世界各地飛往美國而改道來這裡的。
我們停在機坪之後，機長隨即宣布：「各位女士先生，你們也許在猜疑為何這麼多飛機像我們一樣出了機械問題停在這裡，事實上是我們有另一個原因的。」接著他解釋在美國有某種我們也不是很清楚的狀況，乘客多半心懷狐疑。機長告知大家說：「地面控制中心要我們暫時不要移動。」
加拿大政府掌控我們的情況，沒有人准許下飛機，機場的人也不准接近任何一架飛機，只有機場警察偶而過來查看一下，隨即到下一架飛機查看。幾個小時之後，有更多的飛機降落，甘德總共停了53架從世界各地來的飛機，其中27架是美國航空公司的飛機。
同時，一些消息從機上的收音機傳來，第一次我們聽到有飛機撞進紐約的世貿大樓及華府的五角大廈。乘客嘗試用手機連絡親人，但都無法接通，有些因為加拿大不同的通訊系統，有些是接線生告訴他們打往美國的線路被阻擋或忙線中。
那天傍晚，有世貿大樓倒塌及第四個劫機墜落的消息傳來。這時，每一位乘客都在驚恐後感到精神及肉體上的疲憊，而意外的平靜。我們只有往窗外看其他那52架被困的飛機，也理解我們不是唯一受困的一群人。
我們稍早前被告知可以逐梯次的下機。晚上6點，甘德機場通知明早11點輪到我們下機。乘客們不是很高興，但也無奈，只好準備當晚夜宿在機艙裡。
甘德機場應允給予適當的醫療照護，如果需要，亦可供應用水及如廁服務，他們說到做到，幸運的是我們無須擔憂醫療問題。機上是有一年輕婦人懷胎33週，我們特別細心的照顧她。除了不舒適的睡眠之外，倒也一夜無事。
9月12日早上大約10:30，幾輛校車來了。我們下了機艙，被載往航廈，接受移民局及海關檢查之後，向紅十字會報到。
我們幾個機組人員與乘客分離開來，被載往一個小旅館，我們不知道乘客被安置在哪裡。紅十字會告訴我們，甘德鎮有10,400人口，現在要照顧被迫來到的10,500乘客。我們被告知好好在旅館休息，等機場開放會通知我們，但預期這要等好一陣子吧。
24小時之後，我們才從旅館的電視裡了解美國境內發生恐怖攻擊事件的全貌。漫長等待的同時，我們發現甘德鎮的人們極其友善，他們稱呼我們是”飛機客”。他們的招待真是無微不至，我們開始深入了解這個小鎮，也著實過了一段快樂的時光。
二天後，我們收到通知而被接回甘德機場。在機艙裡，機組人員與乘客又會合了，我們了解了這二天他們簡直不可思議的境遇。
甘德及其鄰近75公里範圍內的鄉鎮，關閉了所有的高中校園、會議廳、旅社及其他大型的集會所。他們把這些地方全改成臨時住所給這批受困的旅客，一些安置有帆布床，一些有睡墊及枕頭。
所有的高中學生被要求志願奉獻他們的時間來照顧這些”飛機客”，我們的218位乘客被安置在路易斯港的一個高中校園裡，離甘德鎮大約45公里。有任何婦女要求要安置在婦女區，她們的意願一定受到尊重。有家庭的被安置在一起，所有年長的都被帶到私人的住家裡。
記得那位懷孕的婦女嗎？她被安置在一個全天候緊急照護診所對街的私人住家裡，那裏有牙醫及男女護士留守。
每人被允准一天一次打電話或寫電郵到美國及其他世界各地。那一天，乘客被安排去做個小旅遊，有人被帶去遊覽湖泊或港口，有人去當地森林遠足，鎮裡的麵包店替客人烘培新鮮的麵包。
當地所有住戶準備了食物送到學校，有人被帶到他們想要去的餐廳享受美味的餐點。因為行李都還在飛機裡，每一位乘客都得以到洗衣店去換洗衣服。幾乎乘客所要的需求都受到尊重與滿足。
當乘客告訴我們這些故事時都哭了。最後，他們被告知美國的機場都開放了，他們立刻被送到甘德機場，沒有一位乘客被遺漏或遲到。當地的紅十字會知道每一位乘客的班機、啟航時間及他們的目的地，一切都安排得十分順暢完美。
這簡直無法置信，當所有乘客回到機艙，好像他們都去了一趟遊輪之旅。每一個人都彼此認識，且互換各人的遭遇故事，大家都在比誰有更快樂的時光。我們回亞特蘭大的班機，好像是一架開派對的專機似的。機組人員被涼在一旁，一切都發生得太令人驚訝了。
乘客的心都連結在一起，彼此以小名互稱，互換連絡電話、地址及郵電。
然後，一件很不尋常的事發生了。
一位乘客走向我，問說他可否用麥克風宣布一件事。我們從不曾答應過這種事，可這次不同於以往。我說：「當然可以。」於是交給他機上的麥克風。他向所有的乘客說明，過去這兩天大家的遭遇，以及路易斯港鎮民的好客，及對他們這些陌生人的禮遇，他接著說他想做一件回報該鎮鎮民的事。
他說他想以”達美15” (我們航班的號碼)的名義成立一個基金會，其目的是要提供獎學金給路易斯港高中的學生，他呼籲其他乘客響應並捐款。當捐獻的紙條載明金額、姓名、電話及地址回傳到我們手上時，總數已超過一萬四千美元。
這位先生是來自維吉尼亞州的醫師，他答應捐出相同總額的獻金，並將此一提案轉給達美航空公司，請他們也共襄盛舉。接著，他便開始著手辦理推動基金的行政工作。
最後這個基金總額超過了一百五十萬美金，幫助了134位學生接受了大學教育。
我分享這篇故事的目的在於讓世人知道，我們雖天天看到腐化的事情在社會上不斷上演，但仍有許多好人在默默做好事，無私無畏的幫助一些受困的陌生人，我們亟需這種善良的故事來激勵人心。
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My Mom, who, as most of you know, works for Air Canada, got this from a pal. It is written by a member of a Delta Flight crew called Nazim:
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 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, thein-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, at6 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 7 AM. We made it to the airport by 8:30 AM and left for Atlanta at12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30 PM. (Gander is 1 hour and30 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 a75 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, about45 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?
Origins: Gander, a town of about 10,000 people (and 550 hotel rooms) in Newfoundland,
image: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/images/canada.gif
Canada, lies in the northeastern tip of North America and has long served as a refueling stop for trans-Atlantic flights and a temporary haven for flights diverted from their destinations. On 11 September
2001, a total of 240 flights
were rerouted to Canada when American airspace was closed after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and 39 of those flights ended up in Gander. The townspeople of Gander (and surrounding areas) came through magnificently in the crisis, as 6,579 marooned passengers and crew members swelled their population by two-thirds:
Responding to radio announcements, the residents and businesses of Gander and other towns supplied toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, blankets and even spare underwear, along with offers of hot showers and guest rooms. Newtel Communications, the telephone company, set up phone banks for passengers to call home. Local television cable companies wired schools and church halls, where passengers watched events unfolding in New York and realized how lucky they were.
There were some with special needs. Carl and Ethna Smith found kosher food through an airport caterer and a new set of kitchenware for an orthodox Jewish family from New York. At the Gander Baptist Church, Gary and Donna House dealt with the needs of four Moldovan refugee families, members of a religious sect who spoke no English and were bewildered by events.
Plenty of grateful Americans who passed through Gander that day took the opportunity to pen appreciative letters similar to the one quoted above when they returned home, such as the following letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
We're writing to express our appreciation for the people in Canada who so generously assisted the people on US Airways Flight 3 returning to the United States on Sept. 11. We were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, at 1:30 p.m. on that day and then informed of the events that had taken place in New York, at the Pentagon and "outside of Pittsburgh."
We spent the next 23 hours locked on the plane until we could be safely cleared to leave the plane, and then we were transported to the Salvation Army in Lewisporte,
45 minutes away. The people of Lewisporte and the Salvation Army fed us three meals a day and provided countless blankets, toothbrushes and toiletries for the passengers on that flight. The elementary school next to the Salvation Army building canceled classes for its children to provide us with access to the much-needed shower stall and the computer classroom for us to e-mail home.
During that time when all of us were frantic to find out what had happened, make sure our loved ones were safe and contact those who would be missing us in the next few days, our hosts were endlessly cheerful, giving and kind. They dropped everything to cook for us and make us feel less isolated and abandoned during those five days of uncertainty.
When we finally received word of the plane's clearance for leaving, we said goodbye with bittersweet memories of a group of people of unlimited generosity. This experience will stay with us during this time and continue to remind us that we have more friends than enemies in this world, and we are grateful for the proximity to our country of some of them.
We were flying home from a wonderful vacation in Paris and were about an hour from Newark when an announcement was made that terrorists had attacked New York and Washington and our flight was being diverted to Gander, Newfoundland.
We were the fourth of 37 planes to land in Gander and were kept on the plane for seven hours. Then we proceeded to immigration, where many compassionate people met us. An unidentified woman approached and put her arm around us and wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help us. At this point we were greatly concerned about our two sons who work in Manhattan. She took us to a phone, where we called our oldest son, who assured us that he and his brother were safe.
From there we were put on school buses and taken to the College of the North Atlantic. Many ordinary, caring people met us and made all 300 passengers feel welcome. We were given blankets and pillows from their homes. We stayed for two nights and three days. We slept on the floor, as cots could not be rounded up fast enough. We shared our classroom with 18 others and a dog.
Everyone was extraordinarily thoughtful of each other. One woman must have put her life on hold and was constantly checking on us. She even came to the airport when we finally left to make sure we all were fine. I never saw her without a smile. The lady who ran the cafeteria along with many neighbors made hot meals and brought in casseroles each day. Students helped us to use e-mail, and we were able to use the phone to call our family. No organization with financial backing was behind this - this was a call to neighbors and friends to come and help those of us in need.
We will never be able to think of Gander, Newfoundland, without remembering all the goodness and kindness that was showered upon us by our neighbors and friends from Canada.
And yes, a Gander Flight 15 college scholarship fund was established for high school students in Lewisporte, Newfoundland, by passengers, crew members and friends of Delta Flight 15. Other towns in Newfoundland and Labrador (and across Canada) also took in temporarily displaced passengers with hospitality that day and are equally deserving of our gratitude. Variations: A variant of this item circulated in 2012 identified Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as the Delta Flight 15 passenger who established a scholarship trust fund for Lewisporte high school students. Romney was not a passenger on that flight, nor did he establish a scholarship trust fund for Lewisporte students. Additional Information:
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