Originally posted on September 11, 2009
Eleven years ago today, my morning began much like any other early fall day. I was roaming the airport in search of coffee and a bagel, mentally celebrating a successful morning launch of kick-off flights at Washington National Airport (DCA) on September 11, 2001. I was one of the Customer Service Managers at DCA on duty for American Airlines that day.
During a visit with our operations agent, I heard a radio call from our first inbound flight of the day. The crew had a question, “had we heard anything about an incident in New York involving a United flight?” The operations agent and I both looked at each other in agreement that we had not, but I immediately got on the nearest computer to find cnn.com. I’ll never forget the picture of smoke billowing from the first tower, and the caption “Aircraft Hits World Trade Center. Details to Follow.” I immediately went to our conference room where I knew I would find access to a television. By the time I arrived there, the second tower had been struck, and the newscasters were spinning replays of the aircraft striking each tower.
By this time phones were ringing and my boss, the station general manager had arrived in the conference room. He took a call, while other managers from flight, flight service and maintenance began to gather. Upon hanging up the phone, he stated that they think 77 from Dulles is involved. And with that, things got real. I immediately returned to operations where our ops agent informed me that two flights that had just pushed were returning to the gate. He’d just gotten off the phone with dispatch, and learned that American was grounding all of its flights and that we may have had an airplane involved in New York.
I proceeded out to the gates to assist as our flights returned. The first passengers were coming off and I was immediately stopped by one of them who wanted to know about the possibility of getting rebooked on another airline. No, I’m not making that up! She was nice enough about it, but wasn’t interested in giving me a minute to figure out what was going on. As we stood there discussing the situation at DCA’s gate 28, she happened to glance out towards the north, and immediately asked “what’s that?” I turned to see the strangest color of smoke rising just above the tree line in the direction of the Pentagon. I responded that I wasn’t sure, but that I thought that it might be a good idea to leave. Within seconds, an announcement was made throughout the terminal to evacuate the building. I didn’t know it at the time, but our flight 77 had just crashed into the Pentagon.
I could tell you a lot more about that day, and the weeks that followed. The mass exodus from the airport on foot as F-16s criss-crossed the skies above, and the sick smell of burning jet fuel wafting through the air. I was certain more aircraft would follow at this point, and half expected to see one plow into the Washington Monument, the Capitol or for that matter, our airport at any minute. I could tell you about taking a team of airport agents to Dulles to stand in while the folks at Dulles grieved for the loss of one of their beloved colleagues, a 45 year AA employee, not to mention the shock of being the origin of flight 77. I could also talk about walking through an empty National Airport terminal at 5:30am a few weeks later. It was an eerie place with most of the lights turned off and none of the escalators running, the silence only broken by the sound of my shoes hitting the floor as I walked through on my way to pick up the lay off packages I would have to deliver to people that didn’t deserve it. I could say a lot, but I won’t. I think I’ve made my point.
I remember.
Lost my dear friend Jim that day. I will not forget….ever. AA took care of so many people (including me stuck in STL) with compassion and professionalism that day and everyday. Thanks for a wonderful story/memory – and for your airline service.
I remember. Don’t forget.
Man. I got goosebumps reading this.
I was in India when the World Trade Center was hit. I remember turning on the Television set and thinking that I was watching some movie.
It took a minute for the reality to sink in.
I was shocked at what I was seeing, but I was even more horrified when I remembered that my sister who lived in Manhattan,had told me the previous night that she had to go to the World Trade Center for some work.
I remember calling frantically and not being able to get through. I remember the joy I felt when I finally got through and heard her voice. She had overslept and decided not to go.
Every year on 9/11, I remember the countless lives that were lost in this insane act of hatred.
I pray for all the people who lost their lives and for their families who have to live on.
God Bless.
Wow. Just wow. Thank you for sharing this story.
Thank you for this recounting of that day’s events from your unique position. It brought tears to my eyes.
Wow. Thanks for the comments. @Gary, you are mighty generous. We all sure as hell learned how to navigate a crisis together, didn’t we?
I remember as well as I had bus duty at the school I was teaching in, about 8 miles from Dulles. I remember the vivid blue sky that morning. I remember my principal pulling me out into the hallway to ask if my husband was working at the Pentagon that day and when I told her no, telling me what was happening – we couldn’t have tv’s going on in an elementary school! I remember all the parents storming the school to take their innocent children out of the building amid rumors that planes were coming back to strike the FAA building in Leesburg, about 10 miles up the road from us or worse, more coming back to DC where so many spouses and parents of the children worked. I remember being petrified, sickened and so sad for a long time. I remember the return to school as we all brought our emergency bags in case we should ever get stranded there. I remember our principal buying extra food, bottle water and plastic to cover windows with duck tape.
We were appreciative of all the public service employees for how they helped each other out that day; the line of people outside of hospitals and blood donation centers, airline employees like you Marshall who had to hold it together and work with their emotions in check as you dealt with stranded travelers, angry travelers and scared travelers who never wanted to go on another airplane again.
We have not forgotten anything about that day.
What Marshall isn’t saying is how magnificently the American Airlines management team he was part of at DCA performed over the next few weeks when none of us on the AA staff knew what the future held. Those were dark days for the Nation made all the worse by the personal impact on our lives. I hope we all at some point paused to thank him and the team properly. If not, I hope it’s not too late to say “Thank You”.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this MJ. Thank you.