This wonderful response happened. We need to hear realities like this. Aren't we capable of creating peace when people respond like this?

Here's a note from an airplane pilot's perspective on what it was like to be flying on September 11.

The message was from Atlanta and simply said, "All airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport, advise your destination." Now, when the dispatcher told us to land immediately without suggesting which airport, we knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The nearest airport was 400 miles away, in Gander, New Foundland.

A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic controller and was approved immediately. We found out later why there was no hesitation by the Canadian controller approving our request.

While the in-flight crew got the airplane ready for an immediate landing, 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 needed to make an announcement to the passengers and, for the time being, we told them that an instrument problem had arisen on the airplane and that we needed to land 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 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:

Gander control told us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off the aircraft. 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 most were unable to connect due to a different cell system and those that did get through 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. The passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept reminding them that we were not the only ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes with people on them in the same situation.

True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11 AM, the next morning. The passengers simply resigned and accepted this news and started to get into a mode of spending the night on the airplane. We were promised us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine, water, and lavatory servicing.

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 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 and the passengers were taken to the terminal for "processing" The crew was taken to a different section, processed through Immigration and customs and then registered with the Red Cross. After that we were taken in vans to a very small hotel in the town

The town 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 forced into Gander. We were told to just relax at the hotel and wait for a call to go back to the airport. 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 at 12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM.

What passengers told us was so uplifting and incredible and the timing couldn't have been better. Gander and the surrounding small communities 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.

Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte,where they were put in a high school. Families were kept together and the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. The young pregnant lady was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care facility.

DDS was on call and nurses stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and Europe were available for every one once a day and passengers were given a choice of "Excursion" trips.

Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by 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 names. Swapping stories of their stay,the passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers and 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 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 and 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 Lewisporte. He was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number) 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 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 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?

The following note was received from Gander: