Where Were You On 9/11?

[tinnitus]

I wasn't in any country.

As a civilian DoD contractor working for the Marine Corps on deployed Navy warships, I was halfway back to the US on a carrier when the skipper announced ship-wide (1MC for those familiar) that one tower had been "hit by a plane," casualties yet unknown. Nowhere near a TV, my immediate thought was that a random Cessna had been unable to maintain VFR and messed up.

2001 was already "modern Navy" with Internet and multiple TV stations in every workspace on every ship, so I had a funny feeling when I went to my office and found that both were shut down. When it was announced that the second tower had been attacked, I automatically assumed OBL was behind it. We were given only the most scant details about the next two attacks going forward, and the collapse of both WTC towers. This along with the reassurance that a deployed aircraft carrier was actually a pretty safe place to be if circumstances continued to deteriorate.

Later the next day, I was deposited by helo on a soccer field at USMC Base Camp Pendleton with my toothbrush and cell phone.

Acts of war can mean different things to active/retired military and the rest of the world. Stunned, and relieved to be safe at home after a long deployment, I took my gal to a "quiet" supper on 9-12. We were a bit surprised to find the noisy, festive San Diego party atmosphere in full swing - as if nothing had happened.

[Tahitijack]

California

Getting ready to go to work. TV on in the bedroom. Wife says you need to come see this... CNN reporter says an aircraft just slammed into one of the twin towers. As we stand there watching the reporter says we are seeing a replay of the video of the aircraft hitting one of the twin towers...but what he doesn't realize is what we actually are seeing is a live feed of the second aircraft hitting the second tower. My first thought was the ATC must have failed and sent plains on a course into Manhattan..so wrong on that one. As everyone says we will never forget that day when the world changed forever.

[rsay777]

I was in Oregon getting ready for work listening to Howard Stern. He broadcasts from NYC and the perspective of his broadcast was captivating. His show remained on air for a lengthy period of time.

[Ralphy]

I was airborne in a Cessna 177 on my way from Green Bay WI to Evansville IN for a meeting. I don't recall my altitude, but I was on an IFR flight plan and headed right down the middle of lake Michigan. I could see the Chicago skyline and the shore of lower MI, it was one of those perfectly clear mornings. Within minutes of that I was told to land in Lafayette, IN. The controller was not the usual calm voice and actually snapped at me when I asked for a lower altitude. He came back on in a few minutes and granted my decent and apologized, said they were really busy. When I landed, the line guy said they are "bombing New York". The Pilots lounge was jammed with all the rerouting and landings. We all sat or stood and watched the TV. After the second tower collapsed, many of us went outside unable to watch anymore. Sad day for all.

[Richgj3]

I was in the left seat of my Piper Comanche flying my friend from Long Island to Middlebury, VT to pick up his Super Cub that spent the summer up there. Landed at Middlebury and called my wife. She said “a plane just hit the World Trade Center.” I was confused the WX was perfect. How could that happen?

Went into the FBO in time to see the second one hit. I called Flight Service on the phone and asked if I could get home. They said they were holding all IFR traffic but nothing about VFR. So we drove to Don’s farm and he was getting the Cub ready while I watched TV. When I saw the plane hit the Pentagon I knew we weren’t going anywhere by air. We took his car and drove to New London CT and got on the Ferry to Orient Point, Long Island which was guarded by folks in uniform with automatic weapons.

At that point there was no way to get off LI except that ferry and the one at Port Jefferson to Bridgeport CT. The line to get on the New London ferry was miles long. About a week later when they opened up General Aviation to IFR flying we drove back up there and filed an instrument flight plan to get the Comanche home. A few weeks later we got the Cub.

Sometimes I Google my ex airplanes to see where they are. Recently when I did that for N7735P (Comanche) a report about the attack and ATC actions came up. I wondered why until I saw the page in the document that had a screen shot of the Boston radar that morning and my plane was on there.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Richgj3

I was in the left seat of my Piper Comanche flying my friend from Long Island to Middlebury, VT to pick up his Super Cub that spent the summer up there. Landed at Middlebury and called my wife. She said “a plane just hit the World Trade Center.” I was confused the WX was perfect. How could that happen?

Went into the FBO in time to see the second one hit. I called Flight Service on the phone and asked if I could get home. They said they were holding all IFR traffic but nothing about VFR. So we drove to Don’s farm and he was getting the Cub ready while I watched TV. When I saw the plane hit the Pentagon I knew we weren’t going anywhere by air. We took his car and drove to New London CT and got on the Ferry to Orient Point, Long Island which was guarded by folks in uniform with automatic weapons.

At that point there was no way to get off LI except that ferry and the one at Port Jefferson to Bridgeport CT. The line to get on the New London ferry was miles long. About a week later when they opened up General Aviation to IFR flying we drove back up there and filed an instrument flight plan to get the Comanche home. A few weeks later we got the Cub.

Sometimes I Google my ex airplanes to see where they are. Recently when I did that for N7735P (Comanche) a report about the attack and ATC actions came up. I wondered why until I saw the page in the document that had a screen shot of the Boston radar that morning and my plane was on there.

Amazing. You were actually in the air through the Boston corridor on that very day as it was all unfolding from Logan. If I recall, the terrorists had flown down from Portland ME that morning. Probably as you were going up to VT.
Your mention of the ferry ride to Orient Point reminded of a story. Just a few months prior, in May 2001, I had taken that ferry down from New London down to LI. We had business at UL headquarters in Melville. On one of the nights, an engineer from UL who lived in Queens and knew NY like the back of his hand took us on a whirlwind tour of the city and all its iconic sites. I had never experienced NY quite like that before. I'll never forget it. But our last stop was at the Twin Towers. It was a super clear night. I'll always remember looking up at them from their base. They were immense and awe inspiring architecturally. I swear I could see them move a little in the windy air. We never even conceived of the events just a few months later. That visit I'm sure affected my reaction that day at the office, watching it unfold on TV with my fellow co-workers.
I agree with a previous poster, it was a Pearl Harbor day moment for our generation.

[RP]

I was at work in a prison when the attacks occurred. Non-essential employees like myself were sent home, and the prison was locked down. However, two days prior to that was I kayaking near the Chesapeake Bay. It was a beautiful Sunday, and I looked up to see an airplane "towing" a glider prior to launch. It made me think that terrorists could take off from a small airport near Williamsburg and fly about five minutes to crash into a nuclear power plant across the James River. Weird...

[Bob Womack]

My wife grew up out west of the city with her father working in Manhattan. He would take her to the site to watch the building progress, from the time when they were excavating all the way through construction to the finished buildings. When we got engaged in 1979 we flew up to her home for me to meet her parents. They took me on a whirlwind tour of the City including the upper decks of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.* Here my lovely fiance' (now lovely wife) is relaxing against the rail of the South Tower with the mast on the North Tower in the background:

On 9/11 she was working as a department manager at a large retail chain store preparing her four departments for the store opening. In the midst of the confusion I called her and told her what was happening. She told the store manager and they turned on a TV and watched. Eventually they gathered and the store manager led the staff, people of many different religions, in prayer. The store never opened that morning and it and the mall it was in closed for a week. When they did reopened, the manager found the largest U.S. flags she could and had the staff hang them over the entrances.

Bob

* On that trip they also took me to see Segovia at "A very Fishy Hall."

[stokes1971]

I was at Ground Zero. 24 hrs a day til saturday then every night til mid December. Lost a lot of good people. Both my sisters worked at the WTC and I didnt know they had survived til a couple days later, and they didnt know if I was ok, I was on the missing list til Wed night.

[Steve-arino]

NYC. 48th Street and Lexington Ave. Midtown Manhattan.

My main office was on Maiden Lane, a couple of blocks from the WTC. I had client meetings once a week at the WTC. Not that day however.

Somehow finding my wife in the City, getting to our car that was parked in the City right at the entrance to the Midtown tunnel, us running to the car right as the parking lot was closing, jumping in the car and blowing through the yellow taped entrance to the Midtown tunnel to rush home to our young children who were at school on Long Island. I was later told we were lucky we didn't get shot.

So many other memories; thousands of "zombies" walking north on Lexington Ave. The SMOKE as I looked down Lexington to the south. The NYC Yellow Cabs with their doors open and people gathered around the cabs listening to their radios for information.

The tunnel was empty, the Long Island Expwy was empty. Got the kids, got home, spent the next 24 hours watching TV.

[Gasworker]

I was on my way home to meet with our daughter’s kindergarten teacher when it came on the radio. We didn’t know what happened until the second plane hit. A terrorist act that affected mankind. My sincerest condolences to the families of the victims and the hero’s lost and my greatest respect to the working people who gave so much. Lest we ever forget.

[brad4d8]

I was in the start of the year district meeting when our superintendent announced a plane had hit one of the twin towers. I first thought of an errant private plane, like an experimental one that had hit a high rise apartment not too long before. Soon learned that wasn't what happened. The meeting was dismissed and we all went back to our own schools. My school was in its first year and classroom TVs were not in place. As a media teacher, I had only monitors with no TV tuners, but our Speech/Language Pathologist had a small portable that she used with a VCR and was able to tune in a Hartford station. We dismissed early (not a student day), and on the way home I realized the cell phone system was totally clogged and couldn't call home to say I was coming early. Before I got a cell, I always had a 2 meter HT in the car, and it would have let me at least hear the chatter on the local repeaters.

[Gitfiddlemann]

I apologize for posting so many times in this thread, but I had forgotten to share this must read from back in 2002. It was a very moving article written by the humorist Dave Barry on the events, in particular Flight 93, and the historical significance and conclusions we can all draw from what happened on that day. It's worth a look.
On Hallowed Ground, by Dave Barry

[stokes1971]

"So many other memories; thousands of "zombies" walking north on Lexington Ave." Zombies? Those were survivors fleeing the disaster.

[buddyhu]

I was living in California, and I remember watching the coverage on TV shortly after it happened while I was still at home. But strangely, I can't remember exactly how we found out, or the details of those first days.

I do remember that we learned that my sister-in-law (who lived in NJ and worked in NY) was safe relatively quickly.

What is most prominent in my memory is how it affected all of my psychotherapy clients for several weeks, regardless of whether they had ties to people who lived or worked in NYC. And the ones who had ties to NYC were very much in shock. It was a very intense time for most of my clients (and for me...but when you know you have a job to do, you find ways to set aside the more personal so that you can show up and do your job...so my own reactions surfaced more significantly when I went on a camping trip a few weeks afterwards).