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The hidden half of domestic violence

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Canadian Hospitality

Subject: Delta 15 And Canadian Hospitality...........
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2001 06:07:06 +0000

Delta Flight 15 and Canadian hospitality

(From a member the crew of Delta Flight 15)

We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North
Atlantic and I was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest
break. All of a sudden the curtains parted violently and I was told
to go to the cockpit, right now, to see the captain. As soon as I
got there I noticed that the crew had one of those "All Business"
looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. I
quickly read the message and realized the importance of it. The
message was from Atlanta, addressed to our flight, and simply said,
"All airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the
nearest airport, advise your destination."

Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately without
suggesting which airport, one can assume that the dispatcher has
reluctantly given up control of the flight to the captain. We knew
it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma
quickly. It was quickly decided that the nearest airport was 400
miles away, behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the island of
New Foundland. A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic
controller and a right turn, directly to Gander, was approved
immediately. We found out later why there was no hesitation by the
Canadian controller approving our request. We, the in-flight crew,
were told to get the airplane ready for an immediate landing. While
this was  going on another message arrived from Atlanta telling us
about some terrorist activity in the New York area.

We briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went
about our business 'closing down' the airplane for a landing. A few
minutes later I went back to the cockpit to find out that some
airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown into buildings all
over the US. We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the
passengers for the time being. We told them that an instrument
problem had arisen on the airplane and that we needed to land at
Gander, to have it checked. We promised to give more information
after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy passengers but
that is par for the course. We landed in Gander about 40 minutes
after the start of this episode. There were already about 20 other
airplanes on the ground from all over the world. 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. But the reality is
that we are here for a good reason." Then he went on to explain the
little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud
gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander was 12:30 pm.
(11:00 AM EST)

Gander control told us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off
the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near the
aircrafts.  Only a car from the airport police would come around
once in a while, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In
the next hour or so all the airways over the North Atlantic were
vacated and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over
the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags. We were told that
each and every plane was to be offloaded, one at a time, with the
foreign carriers given the priority. We were No.14 in the US
category. We were further told that we would be given a tentative
time to deplane at 6 pm. 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 US were
either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some time late 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. Now the passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally
exhausted but stayed calm as we kept reminding them to look around
to see that we were not the only ones in this predicament. There
were 52 other planes with people on them in the same situation. We
also told them that the Canadian Government was in charge and we
were at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander airport
told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11 AM, the next
morning. That took the last wind out of the passengers and they
simply resigned and accepted this news without much noise and
really started to get into a mode of spending the night on the
airplane.

Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed;
medicine, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to
their word. Fortunately we had no medical situation during the
night. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks nto her pregnancy.
We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without any
further complications on our airplane despite the uncomfortable
sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th we
were told to get ready to leave the aircraft. A convoy of school
buses showed up at the side of the airplane, the stairway was
hooked up and the passengers were taken to the terminal for
"processing" We, the crew, were taken to the same terminal but
were told to go to a different section, where we were processed
through Immigration and customs and then had to register with the
Red Cross. After that we were isolated from our passengers and
were taken in a caravan of vans to a very small hotel in the town
of Gander. We had no idea where our passengers were going.

The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross
told us that they were going to process about 10,500 passengers
from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander. We were told
to just relax at the hotel and wait for a call to go back to the
airport, 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 enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering things
and enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they
just knew that we were the "Plane people". We all had a great time
until we got that call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made
it to the airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM
arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1 hour and 30
minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1 hour and 30 minutes.) But that's not
what I wanted to tell you. What the passengers told us was so
uplifting and incredible and the timing couldn't have been better.

We found out that Gander and the surrounding small communities,
within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all the high schools,
meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They
converted all these facilities to a mass lodging area. Some had
cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.
ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer taking care of the
"GUESTS". Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte,
about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There they were put 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 given no choice and 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 type facility.
There were DDS on call and they had both male and female nurses
available and stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls
and emails to US and Europe were available for every one once a day.
During the days the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion"
trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors.
Some went to see 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 school for those who elected to stay
put. Others were driven to the eatery of their choice and fed. They
were given tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their
clothes, since their luggage was still on the aircraft. In other
words every single need was met for those unfortunate travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. After all
that, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without
a single one missing or late. All because the local Red Cross had
all the information about the goings on back at Gander and knew
which group needed to leave for the airport at what time.
Absolutely incredible. When passengers came on board, it was like
they had been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody else by their
name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each
other with who had the better time. It was mind boggling. Our
flight back to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply stayed
out of their way. The passengers had totally bonded and they were
calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers,
addresses, and email addresses. And then a strange thing happened.
One of our business class passengers approached me and asked if he
could speak over the PA to his fellow passengers. We never, never,
allow that. But something told me to get out of his way. I said
"of course". The gentleman 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 further stated that he would like to do
something in return for the good folks of the town 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
a scholarship for high school student(s) of Lewisporte to help them
go to college. 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, it totaled to $14.5K
or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman who started all this turned
out to be an MD from Virginia. He 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.

Why, all of this? Just because some people in far away places were
kind to some strangers, who happened to literally drop in among
them? WHY NOT?
Nazim

-------------------------

The following note was received from one of our subscribers in
Gander and I've chosen to re-print it as received;

It's been a hell of a week here in Gander. The stories are amazing.
We had 38 aircraft with a total of 6656 people drop by for coffee.
they stayed for 3 or four days. Our population is just under 10,000,
so you can imagine the logistics involved in giving each of these
people a place to sleep and hot meal three times a day. Many of us
spent our time bringing people home so they could get a shower or,
once the rain started on the third day, driving them to the mall or
sight seeing to relieve their boredom.

The diversity of the people who have been in my car and in my
shower over the past few days is pretty wild. You should have seen
the look on my little girl's face when three Muslim women came home
with me for a shower. With their robes, she could only see their
faces, hands and feet.  Their hands and feet were coverd with Henna
Paint and two of them didn't speak English. There was a King
from the Middle East here. A British MP. The Mayor of Frankfurt
Germany, etc.etc. There were also immigrants from all over the
world, some of whom didn't have two pennies to rub together. They
all slept side by side in schools and church halls. Except the
Irish, of course! A flight from Ireland was put up at a couple of
local drinking establishments! The Royal Canadian Legiona and the
Elks Club. One woman here gave a driving tour to a fellow from the
US. When she brought him back to his gymnasium cot, the exchanged
cards. She looked at his and said, "So you work with Best Western?"
He replied, "No, I own Best Western"

You should have been here, but of course, there wouldn't have been
room. What an experience!
Thursday, September 20, 2001
Vesta

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