Where were you on September 11th 2001?

[MichaelP]

A whole bunch of us were watching the happenings on the box in Pro...
We were witness to the chinese airliners coming in to CYVR escorted by F15s.
I was told the F15s were in CYVR airspace without clearances.

[C23flyer]

I was sitting in a social work training session in Toronto when someone interrupted and broke the news around 9:30 am. My immediate thoughts went to my wife, who was supposed to be flying from Boston to New York that day. I wasn't sure of the time of her flight and I couldn't reach her until sometime later. She had been delayed in a meeting in Boston, and was fine. Eerie. Very eerie.

[grover]

i was getting ready for work in dispatch at wasaya in yqt. went in for the afternoon shift of the nightmare of trying to figure out where all our planes had been stranded and were all our passengers taken care of?...

[Rotten Apple #1]

I had taken advantage of the time off after my A330 conversion course that occurred in the latter part of August (in Zurich). Some NF buddies of mine (1 pilot friend + brother, 1 QX controller) and I had gathered in San Diego for some debauchery. Following the end of offical festivities, me and my buddy's brother drove north to catch our flights out of LAX (in the convertible mustang; very cool...)

On the way, I firmly decided to stay an extra night at a youth hostel near to LAX. I had found out about the place from an ad in a local rag, and wanted to celebrate one last night, prior to the start of my line indoc on the 330.

I checked in, started partying with my roommate (An Aussie with YVR time), and woke up with a big head the next morning only to discover the news.

I think that was a Tuesday morning, and I knew I had to be back in YYZ for the following weekend to start my line indoc. I ended up taking a Greyhound bus packed with a bunch of unhappy, JD drinkin' rednecks. And some non-white people who took the brunt of the verbal abuse from the JD drinkin' rednecks.

Got home after a 27 hour bus ride to Seattle, a rental car to Vancouver (with 2 other Canadians from the bus, after we saw the customs lineup), and a standby ticket trip from YVR-YYZ the following day to end the trip.

Made it to YYZ in time. Did my line indoc. Got a total of 91 hours in the right seat of the 330 before Canada 3000 closed the doors.

Ahhh, September 11.

[ditar]

I was in my fourth year of university. Every morning prior to that one, my routine would involve me getting up and reading the news online or turning on Newsworld/CNN while eating breakfast before leaving for class. Strangely enough, that morning I did not but instead went straight to my first class of the day. When I got there I took my regular spot and some friends behind me were busy discussing something that sounded interesting so I turned around and asked them what was going on. They looked at me incredulously and said "you haven't heard?!" and I just shrugged my shoulders. When they proceeded to describe the events I'm sure my eyes became wide as saucers and I recall feeling a bit out of it. The professor then walked in and gave his lecture like he did every other day but my mind was nowhere nearby. When class ended I ran to the nearest computer I could find and spent most of the remaining day there reading every news site I could find and then went home and was glued to the TV until the early hours of the morning. I still have the following day's newspapers, Time and Macleans magazines, etc. The odd time that I come across them going through my junk it still boggles my mind to flip through them. I remember it unfolding like yesterday.

[brownbear]

In the Maldives. It was evening. I was getting a massage in the airport hotel. The TV was on in the bar and the massage rooms. In the beginning we thought it was a small plane...

The next morning I saw dancing in the street. Got to work and we were sending planes empty and hauling out tourists to the main island. It took 2-3 days before planes from Europe starting returning there. Then is was almost normal. Still a slower year. But not awful.

[Freddy_Francis]

I was in High School at the time. Funny thing is me and my dad would watch the 6:30am news before we would commute together. We didnt watch the news that morning he wasn't feeling well and slept in so we left the house around 7:30. when we picked up my friend he said he briefly saw something on the news of a building being hit. To be honest I heard World Trade Center not even relaizing that the "twin towers" I was familiar with were in fact the WTC. Went to school and saw the tv. All classes were basically side tracked that day. I spent most of it watching the tv's in the hall. Still creeps me out reading the paper released that day.

[iflyforpie]

I was outside chopping wood when my girlfriend (now my wife) phoned me to tell me to turn on the TV.

My PPL was signed off on Sept 9 and I only got two flights in before they shut down the skies.

However the evening shift at Kelowna Flightcraft still went ahead.

[itismedd]

I just took my little boy to the hospital for day surgery. The night before I was in Toronto helping to replace an R1 door on a 737-200. I arrived back in Halifax 12:00 Am Sept 11th. Couldnt believe what I was seeing.

[auroraborealis]

I was in highschool in Gander. Went home for lunch and had a call from a kid that lived down the street from me telling me that the "tallest planes in the world have been hit". I didn't believe him at first, he was known for lying and exaggerating. Turned on the TV, and saw what was happening.

Went back to school after lunch and the principal came on the PA telling us to clean out our lockers, and rearrange the classrooms. Once that was done, we headed home.

Then the planes started arriving... Tons of them. I was in air cadets, and was very interested in aviation, so I spent a couple of hours outside just looking at all the planes.

The next couple of days were filled with digging through our closets and cupboards at home to bring down whatever we could, and volunteering at the local schools and community centers.

I can't quite describe how I feel about those couple of days. The attacks were a horrible thing, but I was able to see my town and the communities around it come together like never before... I'm incredibly proud to be from Gander.

[ClevelandSteamer]

I was sleeping, I had called in sick from work cause I was out late the night before and couldn't be bothered. (I was a Teamster at the time).

My sister gets a phone call from my aunt that there has been a terrible incident involving airplanes. My mom and dad were in an airplane going to Amsterdam. She scared the shit out of us until they finally told us where and what was going on. Still pretty spooky......Parents were already in the ground at Schipole...or however you spell it.

[Matthew]

I was somewhere near Orillia @ 3500 feet in a 172 on floats.

I tuned in the ADF to 680 news Toronto out of boredom at about 10:00 am and nearly dropped a brick.

.....Landed shortly there after

Matt.

[Human Factor]

Spinning wrenches at Borek in Calgary... got laid off shortly thereafter. Received a call-back 4 weeks later but I was already destined for BC, job offer in hand.

[valvelifter]

I was sleeping in bed, when my wife called me and told me to turn on CNN.

What was even scarier was that I was in Newark the day before, and I changed my flight to return home on the 10th as I was originally supposed to fly back the 11th. On takeoff, we circled Manhatten at least 3 times in a holding pattern, and I remember a pair of Chinese tourists with cameras around their neck taking pictures of the towers in amazement. I too was pretty amazed at the height of the towers. I felt lucky b/c I was given an unexpected tour of the city.

A day later when I watched them crumble, it was a scary feeling remembering that I stared at them only the day before.

[atpilot]

I was doing a charter to the U.S. ATC contacted me and instructed us to "expedite our descent" into Toledo. We ended up there for 3 days.

[silentivan]

Still in High School at the time. Woke up at 6:30, turned on the morning news to see footage of a plane hitting a building. I thought it was one of the Die Hard movies or something. Spent the rest of the day wondering if the was the beginning of WWIII.

[Four1oh]

The next morning I saw dancing in the street.

saw it in person or on TV?

[Dr.Piper]

Changing an attitude gyro in a Cherokee Warrior. Remember it like yesterday.

Another good thread would be " Where were you when the power went out on August 14,2003?"

I turned the blower fan on in the shop and suddenly everything turned off. I thought I blew a circuit breaker.

[DC6driver]

I was center seat in the cockpit with WJ when they still used to let red pass holders on for free at 0630 Pacific YXX to YYC to YWG listening to all the chatter. Got grounded in YYC

[teacher]

Sleeping, got woken up by my dad to "come down quick and look at he TV!!" Spent the day glued to it. Was going to a job interview the next day. Got the job but the other pilot they were suppossed to hire did not. Got stuck there just under 3 years until they went bankrupt as the industry crumbled around them.