Boat Seats Gander

by on Friday, March 5th, 2010 | No Comments

11/09: Evil and Humanity

The flight from Boston was only two hours in his six-hour flight to Los Angeles when he was ordered to make a landing Emergency Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland. After landing, was directed to a remote taxiway, where he was surrounded by a SWAT team and quarantine.

For two hours, federal investigators cautiously talked with Captain Paul Werner through an open cockpit window. Finally, federal agents boarded the plane and interviewed passengers and crew.

What air traffic controllers (ATC) had heard before coming from the cockpit, someone shouting "Get out of there," and after a fight, he feared the worst. Minutes later, they heard a new voice with a heavy accent: "Ladies and gentlemen, here is the captain please sit down keep We have one remaining seated bomb on board …."

All who knew Capt. Paul Werner, knew it was not his voice nor his accent. Apparently, hijackers who wanted to address the passengers, inadvertently left the line of communication with air traffic controllers open.

This was Delta Flight 1989, one of three flights out of Logan International Airport on September 11, 2001, 08:00 The other two – American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 – already crashed into the World Trade Center.

When Flight 1989 responded promptly to orders to land at Hopkins, controllers realized they had erred. Flight 1989 had been only 25 miles on United Flight 175 back. Controllers were communicating with the two planes simultaneously. What flight controllers heard was 175 being taken by kidnappers, but somehow they mistook it as coming from Flight 1989.

Only after finally being allowed to land at the University Johns Hopkins, the passengers realized how lucky they were. The suspicion that their flight might still be in danger on landing, the pilot came lack of instructions from a controller is because he was busy maneuvering for an emergency landing. If he had lost several statements, the plan may have been overturned.

Adding to their sense good luck was the perception that they had a 66 percent chance of being one of the planes flying into the World Trade Center. All three planes leaving Logan at 08:00 11/09 were on Boeing 767, bound for Los Angeles, and heavy on fuel.

Especially counting their blessings was a couple flying on a company with reserve trip. They had instructions to staff to book them on American Flight 11, which usually took the flight to Los Angeles on the day that led to the travel agent beck reach them, the price had risen. So they decided to fly Delta. The words of his wife, after the ordeal: "… we are all shaken by the proximity of a call this era, and humbled by the realization that with all these coincidences, someone Above should be looking at us. "

To understand the confusion of air traffic controllers, you have to get a sense of the chaotic state, which prevailed in the frenzied skies on 11/09.

In the middle of 9 / 11 attacks, the leaders of the FAA declared "ATC Zero" (Zero Air Traffic Control, ie clear the radar screens). Normally, ATC Zero is declared when there is technical problems and monitor an aircraft is transferred to another center, but the planes keep flying. The cleaning of the entire U.S. airspace, as was the intention now, which means landing about 50 planes per hour, was an unprecedented way.

This order arrived around 9:45 a.m. Two planes had already hit the Twin Towers, which had not yet collapsed. A plane has crashed into the Pentagon. Another plan was known to be kidnapped, with uncertain destiny. And it was believed that more than eleven aircraft could have been kidnapped.

Since the days of the Cold War have controllers contemplated or even simulated landings on such a massive scale. The maneuver, then called SCATANA ("security control of air traffic and navigation aids") resulted in clearing air space U.S. and give control to the military in the event of a Soviet attack and the need to shoot down missiles.

In 11/09, with all planes in the sky a missile potential, clearing the skies was intended to see that the aircraft did not respond and needed to be slaughtered. Final approval to clear the sky came in a phone conversation with Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who was in a bunker under the White House with Vice President Dick Cheney.

Several hours after Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania, some 4,500 planes had landed without incident. And with that, the horrors of 11/09 over. But the lessons live.

In addition to revealing shortcomings in Our security procedures of the airport, also exposed weaknesses 11/09 in our military defenses. The failure of NORAD (North American Air Defense Command) to intercept even one of the hijacked planes, seemed an absolute breakdown of their warning systems and response.

NORAD is a bi-national, United States and Canada, aircraft warning system, which includes warning of attacks against North America and monitoring man-made objects in space. In the two years before 9 / 11, NORAD conducted exercises simulating hijacked planes used as weapons. One of the imagined targets was, ironically, the World Trade Center. Another was the Pentagon, but this exercise was never implemented because the defense officials considered unrealistic.

NORAD's failure resulted in 11.9 antiquated perception of an "attack enemy. "Your system looked outward for threats, not inward." It was like a donut, "Maj. Douglas Martin, public relations officer for NORAD, said. "There was no coverage in the middle." Flights originating in the United States before 9 / 11, were not seen as threats by NORAD. Flight irregularities would be detected by an ATC, which would then physically pick up a phone and call NORAD.

When the hijackers turned off the transponder plane, which emit identifying signals, looking for a hijacked plane on the radar screen ATC became like looking for a spot in a haystack.

Since 9 / 11, many of these deficiencies were corrected. Hotlines have been set up between ATCs and NORAD command centers, facilitating communication and response Fast. NORAD has installed radar to monitor airspace over the U.S. and has increased its coverage of the hunt.

In response to the 11/09 attacks, President George W. Bush ordered the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) to expand its Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) program, which had fewer than 50 policemen in 09.11. She now has thousands of people, with many more to be hired in the coming months.

In 2006, about 10 million flights, TSA officials selected more than 700 million of passengers, recorded more than 500 million pieces of luggage, opened more than 85 million bags, and found more than 13 million prohibited items.

Besides using scanning devices at airports, the TSA is now enlisting the help of "behavior detection officers." No, they do not are police officers who make sure that no slouch in his seat or eating with the wrong spoon or fork. They are police officers trained in a discipline that reads interesting expressions face to identify people with bad intentions.

"Micro-expressions" that identify hidden emotions were observed about 30 years ago when Paul Ekman, a professor at the University of California, and colleague Maureen O'Sullivan studied videos of people telling lies. This method of sizing people has been tested successfully by the Israelis, and has earned dealers, suspected terrorists and illegal immigrants. (I do not see why we need this to illegal immigrants – we can only see them running across the border).

Much has been said and done about the things that went wrong in 11.09. What has been under-reported, however, are the things that went right. thousands of planes landing in record time without incident and with minimum panic in the U.S., and many reports of altruism and benevolence at Ground Zero, were inspiring scenarios mimicked in many parts of the globe. Some of the tales of magnanimity has been given little attention.

Delta Flight 15 was over the North Atlantic, about 5 hours out of Frankfurt on the morning of 11/09. One crew member (let's call him Jim), who finally sat down to rest, was suddenly told to report to the cockpit.

Once in the cockpit, Jim found a group grim future. Captain Jim delivered a message of Atlanta your destination, addressed to his flight, "All airways over the Continental U.S. are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport, advise your destination."

For an agent to tell him to the ground as quickly as possible without suggesting an airport, Jim knew he had to be serious. The nearest airport was 400 miles away in Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada.

The request was made to the Canadian ATCs to land in Gander. The immediate approval seemed quite unusual. As they prepared for an emergency landing, a bit of information began to appear, giving the impression that the crew of aircraft were being hijacked all over the U.S. and brought into the building. They would later discover, in short spurts, the true nature of the terrorist attacks.

As we landed in Gander, population around 11,000, at 12:30, there were 20 aircraft in the world on the ground. Within an hour or so, there were a total of 53 aircraft – and the people of Gander suddenly grew by about 9,000.

Flight 15 finally deplaned 11:00 the next morning. They were driven by a multitude school bus. Crew were taken to small hotels, passengers were housed separately.

Only after his return flight to Atlanta, Two days later, did Jim (who reported this story) and the rest of the crew discovered that passengers had experienced.

Gander and surrounding small communities, within a radius of 50 miles, closed all the schools, meeting rooms, shops and large meeting. They were all converted into mass areas of accommodation with beds, mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows. All high school students were required to volunteer to take care of the "guests."

Flight 218 passengers over 15 a college in a town called Lewisporte, about 28 miles from Gander. If a woman wanted a facility just for women was arranged. Families were kept together. The elderly were taken to private homes.

Male and female doctors was on duty with the crowd. telephone calling features and e-mail was provided once a day. They received travel tour, Boating on the lakes and harbors, and tours of local forests.

Bakeries remained open to make fresh bread. The food was prepared by all the villagers and taken to school. Some passengers were driven to and fed in restaurants of their choice. All received chips to the local dry cleaners, as their luggage was still on the plane. All of them were individual needs met.

Passengers were crying while telling their stories. They were all on first name basis and exchanging phone numbers, and e-mail. It was almost a party atmosphere, as if only a cruise

Then, in an unusual move, a passenger was given permission to speak on the PA system.

He reminded everyone about what they had just passed. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of strangers. He said he wanted to do something in return.

He continued, he would create a trust fund under the name of DELTA 15 to provide a scholarship for continued education of middle school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations.

He received donations from crew members and passengers. When all totaled out to about $ 15,000 (an interesting number for Flight 15). The gentleman who started all this turned out to be a doctor in North Carolina. He promised to match the total donations.

The events of 11/09 can have been tragic. But from these ashes came many inspiring accounts of magnanimous humanitarianism, which should serve to give more meaning to the lives lost.

Are we safer today than we were before 9 / 11? The fact that six years have passed without a recurrence, says we are. But terrorists sometimes seem to develop compatible with the safeguards designed to thwart their efforts. Vigilance is probably our best bet. And pray more than they can only do the rest.

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