Hi, Have any of you read this story? 

 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. 

 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 

 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, 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 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 aircraft. 

 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 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 names. 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? 

 The following note was received from Gander: 

 It's been a hell of a week here in Gander. The stories are amazing. 

 We had 38 aircraft with a total of 6656 people drop by for coffee. 

 They stayed for 3 or four days. Our population is just under 10,000, 

 so you can imagine the logistics involved in giving each of these 

 people a place to sleep and hot meal three times a day. Many of us 

 spent our time bringing people home so they could get a shower or, 

 once the rain started on the third day, driving them to the mall or 

 sight seeing to relieve their boredom. 

 The diversity of the people who have been in my car and in my shower over 

 the past few days is pretty wild. You should have seen the look on my little 

 girl's face when three Muslim women came home with me for a shower. With 

 their robes, she could only see their faces, hands and feet. Their hands and 

 feet were covered with Henna Paint and two of them didn't speak English. 

 There was a King from the Middle East here. A British MP. The Mayor of 

 Frankfurt Germany, etc.etc. There were also immigrants from all over the 

 world, some of whom didn't have two pennies to rub together. They all slept 

 side by side in schools and church halls. Except the Irish, of course! A 

 flight from Ireland was put up at a couple of local drinking establishments! 

 The Royal Canadian Legion and the Elks Club. One woman here gave a driving 

 tour to a fellow from the US. When she brought him back to his gymnasium 

 cot, the exchanged cards. She looked at his and said, "So you work with Best 

 Western?" He replied, "No, I own Best Western" 

 You should have been here, but of course, there wouldn't have been room. 

 What an experience!"