What were you doing on September 11, 2001?

[Bishop]

Of course we all know what today is, and we have all answered the question hundreds of times as well as reflected personally on todays events 6 years ago. I dont want to turn this thread into that. I was just curious if any of you were flying CAP's or any other mission that day that could relate the experience, what it felt like being the only ones in the air, having semi-silent radio chatter (if it was). Just was curious

[amcflyboy]

Of course we all know what today is, and we have all answered the question hundreds of times as well as reflected personally on todays events 6 years ago. I dont want to turn this thread into that. I was just curious if any of you were flying CAP's or any other mission that day that could relate the experience, what it felt like being the only ones in the air, having semi-silent radio chatter (if it was). Just was curious

I was just leaving class in my last year of college when both towers had fallen. I didn't know what was going on until then.

[SPiF]

I started ground school for my PPL on Monday, 10 Sept 2001. It was a MW night class. Of course, I showed up wed night and the instructor let us know "I can teach you the basics, but all the rules and regs are going to change in the next few months..."

Talk about timing.

[Dstar]

I was on the schedule to fly that night. The phone rang that morning and I was told to turn on the TV. I watched the second tower fall. I tried to get to work and was unable and the Squadron told me to go home and show up at 2000. After arriving at work, I went out to preflight and assume the duties of the general support section leader. I stepped into the aircraft and it was configured with 24 litters. I was a little taken back. I had never seen 24 litters rigged before and I have not seen 24 litters in a 53 since. It was an eye opener. The Squadron’s aircraft remained configured that way for a week. To this day, I can still picture the cabin configuration and my thoughts that I hope it would not be needed.

[Guest IGB]

It was Dollar Ride day in Tweets for me. Needless to say they didn't know what to do with us except get us way ahead in sims.

Cheers

[Guest SATCOM]

I was flying that day....in Bulgaria.

[HuggyU2]

I was airborne on a flight from Kansas City to O'Hare, as a UAL 727 flight engineer. We never got the word while airborne to secure the cockpit. When we got to O'Hare, we landed, and realized something was up: nothing was moving on the ground. Weird. We were sent to a piece of tarmac and told to park.

Over the next hour or so, we got SA on the situation from various sources. At first, I thought it was a massive power failure. Then, a cryptic message came down through the ACARS (onboard data link) that made me think a nuke went off.

I remember when the second tower came down, that a pax told me her brother worked in that tower.

When we finally got inside, I stayed in ops a while. When I ventured out, I was one of the only people in the entire airport. You just can't imagine walking through O'Hare and not seeing anyone, except a few security folks.

I spent 4 or 5 days there, and finally got onto the first airplane that went from O'Hare to San Antonio (my home at the time).

[Guest xtndr50boom]

NYC CAP

Seeing F-15s and 16s with live weapons over the 5 boroughs while the towers were smoking was.....an experience

[Guest Sparky]

I wasn't flying, I was deployed to PSAB (Saudi/CAOC) running the TST Cell for S. Watch. Saw both towers go down on the 40 foot screens, 38 hours later I got to leave work for a few hours to get some rest. Lot's of rumors flying all over the place...initially, everyone actually thought Flt 93 was shot down/rammed by Vipers (Falcons for Whiterock). The few months after that are just a blur.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Sparky

[Bishop]

HUGuy, walking around an empty airport must of been an eery feeling, sounds like something in the movie Langoliers.

Dstar, im not up to speed on 53 stuff (or most platforms for that matter) whats the importance of 24 liters?

[Dstar]

I left out a "t". Should have been 24 litters or stretchers. Mass casualty mission, which is rarely trained for or configured. 24 litters is a capability that I have never heard of ever being utilized.

[Toro]

I was inprocessing at RAF Lakenheath, but I've talked to plenty of dudes who were flying. There was a guard transmission for everybody to RTB and contact the SOF. On contact with the SOF, he told everybody to get home as fast as possible without going super and arm their CMD, but wouldn't tell them why. Everybody said they knew something bad had happened, but nobody realized how bad it was until they got back to the squadron and saw it on TV.

[Mambo]

That day was supposed to be my first flight in the E-3 as a flight engineer. The 966th is a training squadron and the aircraft was packed full of students and instructors. During engine start we sheared a starter on the number 3 engine. While MX was replacing the starter the pilots were monitoring the radios and noticed that OKC was diverting airplanes and landing them as fast as they could. Then one of the mx guys came up the airstairs and told us a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. All of us assumed it was a small plane, maybe a crazed Cessna pilot. A few moments later another guy told us it was an airliner. Then we got word that another airliner had hit the other tower. By now the ramp at Tinker was filling up with aircrews and mission crews stepping to every flyable jet available. We were told that no students would be allowed to fly and were taken back to ops. We stayed there for a few hours glued to the TV. The jet I was supposed to be on escorted Air Force One on its travels. The controllers said later that the skies were absolutely empty except for military aircraft. They had never seen anything like it. Planes were getting cleared direct from one side of the country to the other. I ended up sitting in a hotel room for 3 weeks while Noble Eagle was going on.

[brickhistory]

I was in the Pentagon that day, about 180 out from the impact point. Barely registered. Felt/sounded like a movie theater-type rumble in the soles of my feet and/or an air conditioning compressor kicking in. Very minor. No tally, no clue as to what happened.

After some ten minutes we were told to evacuate. I went out to North Parking along with 10-15K of my closest friends. We could see the smoke plume, but had no idea of what caused it. Although, my paranoia was such that seeing that Hwy 110 then ran directly beside the parking lot and all the sheep milling around would be inviting for a drive-by AK'ing, I stood bravely between two large vans.

Later, after E & E'ing my way back home (mass hysteria on the metro/roads for a while), I drove out to where I now work - FAA's ATC Command Center. It was here that the National Ops Manager made the national ground stop decision earlier that morning.

Like the empty O'Hare story above, the road from DC towards Dulles was completely empty. I was the only car on the highway. Normally, it is always humming, even during non-rush hours. Eerie.

After getting into the Command Center, the "Big Board," which normally displays the 5,000- 6,000 IFR tracks that are over the US on any given weekday, showed 35 - all fighters/tankers. That is when the significance hit me.

The computer replay of the clearing of US airspace is amazing. And that nobody crashed while doing it. to those aviators that day in every cockpit and, yes, the controllers too.

We hand approved everything that flew for the next four days from here while they figured out how to crank up the airspace system again.

[B52gator]

Everybody has a story of what they were doing that day, where they were when it happened. Thought it would be interesting to see what stories (unclass of course) baseopers had.

9/11 was my second day on Active Duty. I had just arrived at Randolph 2 days before to show up for casual. I woke up to turn on the TV before heading in and the channel happened to be on a spanish news channel. Took me a minute to figure out what the hell was going on. I was staying off base and as you can imagine, it was nearly impossible to get on base that day.

I know the BUFFs at both Minot and Barksdale were in the middle of a nuke exercise sittin alert. According to the conspiracy whackos though, BUFFs were flying overhead that day (ala CHROMEDOME) loaded with hydrogen bombs.

Edited September 11, 2008 by b52gator

[Guest Cap-10]

It was 0800 Central Time (0900 EST) and I got a phone call from my mother in law. I was still sleeping (we were flying nights at the time, so I got home late and was sleeping in late before going to work again around noon).

Mom in law said a plane had hit a buidling in NY....flipped the TV on expecting to see poor visibility and a Cessna tail sticking out the side.

As I looked at the clear blue sky on the TV screen, I remember thinking to myself how anyone could not have seen that giant building filling up their windscreen. Just as I finsihed that thought, I watch the UAL 175 strike the South Tower, then reports of the Pentagon hit.

What the hell was going on?

Squadron initiates a recall...don't come to work....take your names off the outside of the house....THREATCON DELTA.

Sad day indeed.

To the 2,974 lost on that day...RIP!

Cap-10

[B*D*A]

I was a junior in high school and getting ready to leave for class. My buddy was picking me up and I looked at the news about 10 mins after the second plane hit. I got to school and it seemed like I was the only one who knew what happened, I kept getting "what are you talking about?" It was a very confusing time. A bunch of us gathered in our history class, the teacher was also my football coach, and I'll never forget that he got in front of the class and wrote 9/11/01 in big letters and said this is a day you will always remember.

Subsequently my buddy who picked me up enlisted in the Corps and has served two tours, a buddy a few years older than me was killed in an ambush and my best bud back then has been to one of the sand boxes three times. That day truly changed our lives.

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

I was out in San Angelo, TX working an internship my first semster of my senior year of college. Typically I would be in a deer blind every morning before sun up, but me and a co-worker had pushed it up a bit the night before and decided to skip the morning scouting. Chance had it I woke up just as the news started covering the first impact. I was glued to the set wondering how the hell could someone have made this mistake then right before my eyes I saw the second aircraft hit. I fell to my knees instantly knowing that this was an intentional attack. My acceptance into the AF couldn't come soon enough for me after that. Truly a day that will never be forgotten.

[stract]

I was heading into work and the radio had some story about a plane hitting the WTC. Between the time it took me to park and walk inside the second plane had hit. Someone had a TV on right in front, and I didn't make it back to my desk for several hours. Saw the towers collapse live and when we went to Delta I helped tape paper over the windows and check IDs at the entrance. At some point, I called my mom to tell her I was ok, because even though I was 2 time zones removed from the action, she was still worried for me.

[slacker]

My 2nd day as an ART. (I got hired the day before ART jobs were popular) I was sitting at my new scheduling desk, shining my boots. I had taken off my right boot, when the loadmaster scheduler came thru and said "a plane just hit the World Trade Center." I got up, boot in hand, and walked into the load section where the TV was on. My wife called me to see if I was watching. I remember standing there, boot in hand wondering how in the hell did a plane hit the WTC on such a beautiful day. Then, before my eyes, the second plane hit. I must of stood there for at least an hour with my boot in my hand watching the TV. By the end of the day, I had built my first bravo alert schedule. I knew the world had changed. God bless those who lost loved one that day and God bless America.

[discus]

I was standing on a -86 diesel generator set in the Kirtland AGE shop. I remember someone hollering from the break room "Hey, come in here and take a look at this"! I walked in right as the second plane hit, and went out to the floor and told everyone to come into the break room. I remember one of the young troops looking at me and asking "I guess this means we are at war, huh"? I replied "You're damn right we're at war".

I spent the rest of the afternoon with an M-16 guarding the fuel dump at the AGE shop. Just writing this brought chills from the memories and emotions I remember feeling on that day.

[WheelzUp]

Was back in College for me. Sleepin' in the dorm room when I got a phone call from my roomate's mother (who was frantic obviously), and I urged her to calm down and say again slowly. Frustrated, she told me to turn on the TV, and the rest is history. Classes were canceled that day at Embry-Riddle in Arizona. And that was the day I decided to set aside my goals of flying for the airlines, and give Uncle Sam a call. I still remember the helpless angry feeling that just would not go away. To those lost that day:

Modern day Pearl Harbor. Let us never forget!

Wheelz

[riebz]

sitting in Chemistry class in high school. i remember my teacher was from india and turned the tv off bc she wanted to finish the lesson. needless to say not much got taught.

[brickhistory]

Galley slave in the Pentagon.

Big boss was TDY in the UK. Deputy was in an (then) XO meeting about the USAF response to part 1 of a two part CBS News series on 'dangerous' DoD flyovers.

One of our subordinate offices at the FAA's ATC Command Center called us to tell us about the 1st WTC, no clue it was something bigger at the time.

Went to tell the XO meeting, back in the office in time to see hit #2.

Followed by a near non-event for us as the plane hit the Pentagon. We were 180 out from the impact point and that big building absorbed most of the force before it got to us. A weird movie-theater Dolby-like rumble in the feet...

Some left then to South Parking which was where the impact was. I stayed behind to close up/answer calls from families as my wife (and kids) were at Ft Leavenworth attending GCSC.

I was ordered out to North Parking and had no idea of what hit. Could only see the smoke plume.

Worked my way out to the FAA's ATC Command Center to help out the AFR buds from our subordinate office who happened to be on duty - it was a part time gig until then. (I wound up going Reserves and getting an AGR gig there afterwards as an air defense liaison. I profited from the attack, kinda sad in a way...)

Normally, there's 5-6K worth of IFR flights displayed on the CONUS 'big board.' By the time I got there, there were 35.

All fighters or tankers.

That's when it hit me.

[Guest JModelLoadie]

I was on my way to inprocess from the Security Academy, when I heard on a local rock radio that a plane had hit the 1st tower. At first I thought, "What a messed up joke, cause that is not funny" After flipping through every radio station, I realized quickly it wasn't a joke... As soon as I pulled up to the front gate, the guy had told me that a second plane hit the next tower. Things were still crazy, and we hadn't gone to Delta yet, I don't think. I was in the MPF when the Pentagon was hit, and then "it" hit the fan. Everyone was told to leave the base. I got home, and my old man, who by this time in a permanent disability was almost bed ridden, was standing for hours watching the TV. What a crazy day. It's a shame that it is damn near a forgetten event these days by some people...