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Where were you on 9/11

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texas_bugeye

texas_bugeye

Jedi Knight
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I had an odd experence I was workin at a water plant on a reservasion in WIS. The only motel in the area was at the casino I was pulling on my boots when I saw it on CNN in the motel room. I quicky went down to the lobby expecting a comotion but there was NOTHING people were glued to there slot machines and black jack tables there was maybe 5 of us watching on a big screen and that was it!I was in a state of disbilef at what happened and the response of the people in the casino.
 
At my desk working, just as I am today.

I thought about that earlier and it's a bit spooky.
 
texas bug eye, i had my pick up truck backed up to my shop loading an entertainment center id build for a costumer, the shop radio was on and i couldnt believe what i was hearing so i ran in the house and turned on the t.v., after a few minutes i went to my local bank and withdrew a bunch of money and filled my trucks gas tank and some small gas cans, then went and bought bottled water and canned food dispite having two full pantries, when i got home i unloaded my gun safe checked all the firearms and ammunition, sounds silly now but at the time i thought it wise to be ready for anything, my wife worked in the city and all attemps to contact her were impossible, i knew she often times had lunch and meetings in the towers along with her partner/sister, they left the city right after the first tower was hit but didnt get home to stamford until 2 a.m. followed by much hugging and crying, until this day im learning about people i knew that lost thier lives in this most tragic event.
 
I was on abridge job about 3 miles from my home. I was supervising the setting of some beams on the bridge. The crew setting the beams had just finished when I heard about it on the radio in my truck. I left the job site and drove home just in time to watch the first tower collapse.
 
I was at work and saw my co-workers watching TV in the conference room. After I determined the Pentagon was hit, I left work and drove to the firehouse for a week. Had I arrived 10 minutes sooner I would have been assigned to the Pentagon. As it was, I back filled at various fire stations during the week allowing the Pentagon efforts to continue.
 
Here on the coast, I was getting ready to go to work. When the first airplane hit the tower, I said "Wow, how could that happen?" I watched a bit more, then thinking it was just a terrible accident went about my business. Then the second one came in. It was at that time I knew it was purposeful and awakened the wife. I was late for the office that day, and I was angry.
 
We were all angry that day and the days after that Ray.

I wonder how many of us still are?
 
I was going to go flying.

The weather was great and I had the Miata parked next to the Aeronca with the car radio on and the top down.

As I was pre-flighting, I heard the BBC radio announcer sounding very upset and agitated.....unusual for BBC announcers. So I listened and my jaw dropped.

At first, I thought maybe the plane that hit the tower was a small Cessna or similar....and since I'm fairly near NYC, I wondered if I knew the pilot.
Of course, it turned out not to be a small plane.

I tied down the Aeronca and drove home. We could see the smoke and fire from near our townhouse.

Our former next-door neighbor Mike was killed in the South Tower. A great young guy, he left a young, pregant wife.

My old racing pal, Joe DeLuca was on Flight 93 with his girlfriend. Both dedicated members of the North New Jersey SCCA.

What a terrible day......
 
I was working at a refinery at the time, and had just arrived at the front gate with my radio on the news when they announced that a plane had hit the tower. Odd how I can still remember *exactly* where I was when I heard the news.
 
I was teaching the Propeller Systems course. A student got a text message from his wife, who worked for United, about the first hit and he announced it to the class. It was hard to keep the students' attention after that!

The class had previously arranged to eat lunch that day at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association cafeteria. We kept the arrangement. There was a rumor that Camp David had been hit, but I thought we would see smoke from Camp David in Frederick if this was the case, and there was no smoke.

After lunch, the college closed and I went home and watched the hits over and over on the television.

We all took a hit that day, but I could see that aviation would be particularly affected.
 
I bet 99.9% of people remember exactly were they were when it happened. It's amazing how the mind remembers tramatic events.
And 100% of those 99.9% will never forget.
 
Living room, TV on NBC. The "talkin' heads" were babblin' over the video of a scar in the North Tower which was obviously the profile of an airliner... 'smits was prepping for work. Second strike was confirmation the first was an attack. I told Her she was stayin' home, said we were suddenly now at war. She's a Uki, headstrong and does as she will. She left for work. When the Pentagon hit was broadcast she called me and said she was turning around and coming home. I'd already done much of what Ant'ny described, when She was home we went to a local grocery store and haul'd off a further few weeks' worth of canned goods. I expected Marshall Law, or worse.

It was handled as well as it could have been <span style="font-style: italic">given the circumstances.
</span>

This is where we stop... my anger will boil up and some intemperate things I want to post would see me banned.
 
I happened to be at work when the terrible news came in. Just the week before, I had been in NYC as part of my job and was in the World Trade Center making a sales call. I still have the business card from the firm I was seeing with the address of "World Trade Center". Thankfully, all of the people in that firm made it out alive.
Being in that building many, many times it was hard for me to imagine that it had been destroyed.
Just one week later I was back in the NYC. My wife made me promise to stay off of the subways. Lots of police and military were in the subways wearing gas masks. It was truly very scary times for everyone.
 
I still hate riding into NY in the subway. I never really liked it before the attacks, but I hate it now.
 
We (the wife & I) were home watching on TV. Wife was an active FA for U S Air at this time and was worried that one of her company's aircraft might be involved or become involved and wondered if any of her friends would be flying.
Turns out that U S Air was not involved but she did know a couple of the American Airlines FA's. A doubly unhappy day at our house.

And then on 9/13/01, our eldest daughter was killed.

We can never forget.
 
I was at work when my wife called me. I was able to get a video feed right on the computer, and sat there watching the events go by. The part I will never forget was was watching the buildings disintegrate, realizing it was happening right then yet not really believing it. Needless to say we really weren't working after the news hit. The office closed down, and we all wound up at an evening service at the neighborhood church. No one wanted to be alone that night.
 
I was at school. My student sand I spent the day watching. I didn't even try to teach that day.
 
I was driving to work, which was in downtown Chicago. I was on the Kennedy Expressway which is the major road into and out of the city. The radio was on and they announced that a plane had just crashed into one of the towers. I called home to my wife and said turn on the TV or the radio, there are reports that a plane has just crashed into one of the Trade Towers. My wife said what are you talking about...is this one of those silly radio pranks. I said no, seriously...turn on the TV or the radio...now.

While I was on the phone with her, police car after police car after police car and fire trucks, ambulances, etc. began pouring into downtown, racing down the side lanes of the expressway. That was a chilling moment for me. I spent the rest of the day watching the rest of the events unfold.

My wife worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers then and their office was in one of the towers. She said later that because of the day it happened most of the personnel were either flying out or flying in and so the offices were basically empty. Many more people would have been killed in the case of her company if it had happened on a different day.

The company I worked for then basically died that day. We were suppliers for a major manufacturer of slot machines, etc. The annual trade show was scheduled for the beginning of October. It didn't happen and the orders that would have resulted from the show didn't happen. Our orders plummeted and we never recovered. I am sure there are many more examples of this type that are out there, of the ripple effects......
 
I was at an airport industry conference in Montreal. We were an exhibitor and had just finished a "Breakfast with the Exhibitors" session. I went back to my hotel room to get something, turned on the TV just as plane #2 went into the towers. By the time I got back to the exhibit hall, most of the display screens had been hooked up to CNN and stunned airport executives were watching and getting phone calls that their airport operations were being grounded. Nobody could get back across the border to the US. After a couple of days, they reopened the border to ground traffic. I went on my 1st train ride in over 20 years down to Toronto. A colleague drove us across the border, where we rented a car and drove back to Philadelphia airport to collect our cars. It was a surreal experience to be at a totally quiet airport watching rental cars come in from all across the US as people made their way home.

When we first moved to North America in the late 80s, we used to be very cautious of unattended bags because of the IRA activity in the UK; they blew up a pub about 2 blocks from my in-laws house and there were always security scares. So over here we would point out these bags to mall security or cops and get looked at like we were nuts. Also, over here, airport security used to be very lax; that has finally changed, although it is still not great.
 
USAF Basic... 2nd week.
 
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