9-11

I was headed from the weight room too my second period class and the hallways were empty. Didn't know what happened until we got too second period. I'll never forget that day or 3 weeks later when my mom called from Maryland to tell me and my sister she was being deployed. She was never the same after those 2 deployments 

Thanks for so many here who've taken the considerable amount of time to listen to those tapes. Some high (or low) lights for those who couldn't:

Unknown pilot: "Anyone know what that smoke is in lower Manhattan?"

Once the two F16's were airborne: 

Nasypany: "So what are we going to do with it, if it is it? What are we gonna do? I gotta give my guys direction."

ID tech: "United nine three, have you got any information on that yet?"

Washington Center: "Yeah, he's down"

ID Tech: "He's down?"

Washington Center: "Yes."

ID Tech: "When did he land?"

Washington Center: "He did not land."

I saw quite a few reports yesterday that very few lawmakers attended the services yesterday.  It appears they have already forgotten.  

Appleseed said:

As a pilot who still always looks up, I remember, vividly,  looking up that day, and the days afterwards...and seeing nothing. Not a single plane in the sky.  N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

 

That's when it realy sunk in.

I was flying that day. The schedule I had for the month was nothing but day trips, which allowed me to fly airplanes all morning and still get home in time to meet the kids at the school bus. The 1st round trip was to Washington National and the second round to Atlanta. We'd get to National at around 7 and would sit until 10-ish, IIRC. For some reason, on the 11th, the trip was two ATL round trips. We got to ATL and I walked into the ground services office where they had a TV on, and I was just in time to see the second plane hit. Our company was already operating under Chapter 11 and they completely shut down later that day. We were stranded in Atlanta for several days, before the Feds finally gave us permission to ferry the plane back to RDU. All the way back, the only thing we heard on the radio was ATC talking to military flights. We could only hear the half of the conversation from ATC, because they military was on UHF. We were told there would be no deviations from the flight plan allowed, so don't ask for direct anywhere. The only other traffic we saw was a KC-10 cruising around with a flight of F-16s near Columbia, SC. And it was weird, staying in a hotel next to ATL airport, and not a single plane overhead, just silence.

My older daughter was in 3rd grade, and the idiot teacher told the class about the crashes. This of course scared the hell out of my daughter, since Daddy was a pilot and she knew I flew to DC and NY often. The teacher just let my daughter cry, and she didn't find out I was okay until she got off the bus that afternoon.

The thing that haunts me most is the sound in some of the recordings of the people that were jumping hitting the pavement outside the buildings.  It is a sound that I will never be able to get out of my head.  I wish I never heard it.  I remember the announcer/reporter describing the scene and then those sounds and then the realization as to what it was and the reporter describing/telling us what it was.  A weird echoing reverberating impact sound.  It haunts me to this day.

dean1484 said:

The thing that haunts me most is the sound in some of the recordings of the people that were jumping hitting the pavement outside the buildings.  It is a sound that I will never be able to get out of my head.  I wish I never heard it.  I remember the announcer/reporter describing the scene and then those sounds and then the realization as to what it was and the reporter describing/telling us what it was.  A weird echoing reverberating impact sound.  It haunts me to this day.

Agreed. I've watched so much on 9/11 and the OKC bombing as well.........I just can't imagine what's going through someone's mind at that point. 

"I stay here and die from smoke inhalation or fire, or I leap out the window." It's gut wrenching, I hope myself or anyone else is never in that position. 

dean1484 said:

The thing that haunts me most is the sound in some of the recordings of the people that were jumping hitting the pavement outside the buildings.  It is a sound that I will never be able to get out of my head.  I wish I never heard it.  I remember the announcer/reporter describing the scene and then those sounds and then the realization as to what it was and the reporter describing/telling us what it was.  A weird echoing reverberating impact sound.  It haunts me to this day.

I am related to one of the people that took that option, or so we assume.  Since he was in the tower, identified pretty early, and there was a body, that is the only way that happens. I had relatives on 2 of the planes as well.

I have to assume it affected people here on the East Coast in a different way than in other places as it was happening in our back yard, not just images on the TV.  Not that they were not affected, it's just different.  Remember it was at 9 AM here so many of us saw it in real time and no one knew what was coming next.

I was taking a voice lesson when my teacher's wife came into the studio to tell us what was being shown on tv. We watched the second plane jit and then the towers collapsing. I used to work at 11 Broadway, and if I took the train from Jersey, would then take the subway and get off at 1 World Trade Center. I didn't still know anyone in the Trade Center Buildings, but found out later 2 friends through racing were on Flight 93. This led to my going to work for the TSA, hopefully to help prevent this ever happening again. RIP Joe Deluca and Linda Gronlund.