little means big hearts..

[heidi!]

As all my friends know..Im from a small eastern island in Canada...Newfoundland...As most Canadians will tell you...Newfoundlanders are the most generous helpful people you will meet in the world...
They are the poorest people too...but this story touched me
And as always im a very proud Newfoundlander..*VBS*
This was sent and forwarded by an american pilot on that flight, and last night was shown on prime time live. This community is 30 min from my home town..*S*

In addition to watching the sement on Prime Time Live tonight, please
also read this! It is a
testiment to the wonderful people in Newfoundland. A simple Thank You
just doesn't seem to be enough.

A Delta Flight 15 (Frankfurt to Atlanta) Pilot's Eye View of Gander,
Canada
on the 11 Sep 2001
We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic enroute
to Atlanta 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. The in-flight crew was 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
forthe 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. Butthe 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 into 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 awhile. 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 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 doctors on call and they had both male and female nurses available
and stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and e-mails to US and Europe were available for everyone once a day.

During the 2 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 e-mail adresses.

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 as 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 bag with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, it totaled $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman who started all this turned out to be an MDfrom
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!














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BITCH!..Its not only an insult...Its a way of life.
Our Place

[Blazey]

Just when you think that the world has no goodness left in it..*VBS*..Heidi..thanks so much..We all need to be such as that entire town.

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HEH HEH

[Më£ïñÐa]

why are tears run'n down my face??


and i aint even done read'n yet!!!

[Më£ïñÐa]

hmmm...a two day free vacation..
and fresh bread even.......

[Myra]

gawd... that is just so nice!

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If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and you friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming.

[rotten]

see now you all know why i'm always saying i love canada.

*G btw speaking of newfoundland there's a movie coming out soon with kevin spacey and he's in newfoundland. if anyone wants to hear heidi's accent see that movie..

i forget what it's called though it's not out yet anyhow...

[imzredhead]

*loves Canadians*......for many reasons...beautiful country filled with beautiful, compassionate people.....*can't wait for that movie to come out*.....what was the name of that? *Tries to remember*

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The heart knows when the search is over.

Our Place

[heidi!]

Fish something or nother...but yanno J they wont sound like me...its was based out of a small fishing community where the accents are really strong...Like da man I have here...its based from the town he is from and he says
Up the ill for a glass of malk...they drop their H's....funny when you dont take them out in public..

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BITCH!..Its not only an insult...Its a way of life.
Our Place

[imzredhead]

*LOL*@ you.......good thing you don't have to let him out much? .....I'll never forget talking to him on the phone that first time, you got back on and I said.....What'd he say? LOL....Still wants ta see that movie....

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The heart knows when the search is over.

Our Place

[heidi!]

I always say..."What'd he say"..Mainly cause I dont listen..

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BITCH!..Its not only an insult...Its a way of life.
Our Place