09-10-2010
07:14 PM
2 Loves
On 9-11, I was landing in Houston when the attacks were announced.
We were advised by Hobby Tower that, "Two 737's just hit the World Trade Center. It appears to be an intentional act." What does one do with that kind of information? Fifteen simple words that initially make no sense. We assumed two planes had collided mid-air and fallen on the WTC. Of course, later reports corrected the type aircraft involved.
As we waited for our gate, I advised the passengers of what Tower had told us. I closed by saying, "This is truly an extraordinary day." After parking at the gate, I ran to a dark bar in the terminal I knew had a TV. People were gathering around watching blurry pictures. I ran back and told my First Officer to run see the video images. "This is historic..." I told him. While he was gone, we were still grasping for information on what, how and why. Then, from the back of the plane, a Flight Attendant on her cell phone yelled, "ANOTHER PLANE JUST HIT THE PENTAGON!"
It all clicked: We were under attack.
One image I will never forget is of the grass median in front of the Hobby airport on 9-13. Some citizen had placed 5000 4x6 American flags in a single row down the median, for what seemed like a whole mile.
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