Gander ,Newfoumdland and 9/11

SEE????? SOMETHING GOOD DOES COME OUT OF SOMETHING TERRIBLE.  THIS IS SO REFRESHING.


Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written
following 9-11:

"On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of  Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains  parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain.
As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look  on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's  main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All  airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

"No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined  that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland.
He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic  controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked. We  found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our  request.

"While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message
arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New  York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

"We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told  them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, New Foundland to have it checked out.

"We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was  much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing
 new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was
12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST.

"There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the  world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. 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. The reality  is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the  little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in  Gander told us to stay put.

"The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was  allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come  near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around
periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes
landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of  which were U.S. commercial jets.

"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 U.S. were either blocked
or jammed.

"Sometime 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.  By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We  had only to look
out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were  not the only ones in this predicament.

"We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes  one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to  deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise  and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

"Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical  situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

"About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to  register with the Red Cross.

"After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken  in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of  10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all  the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at
the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, 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 had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of  Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people."
We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.

"Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport.
Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.

"Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up,
some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.

"ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called  Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up 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 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 facility. There was a dentist  on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

"Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to  everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in 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 schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given  tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

"Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they  were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of  each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when
all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.

"When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.  Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay,  impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked li ke a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of  their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were  calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

"And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked
if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow  that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the  mike. He 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 continued by saying that he  would like to do something in return for the good folks 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 college  scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. 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, the total was for more than $14,000!

"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, 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. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted
134 students in college education.

"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good and Godly people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.