OT: Thanks Again to Gander & all of Canada

T

Tia Mary 21 years ago

Hi Guys, I just finished watching several specials about 9/11. The last one was about having to ground all of the airplanes. It reminded me that hundreds of the planes had to go to Gander and other places in Canada. The Gander ATC personnel are unsung heroes as are the personnel at that airport. The show said that there were something like 240 airplanes safely landed and parked at Gander in about 2 hours -- a phenomenal feat for a small airport. The other thing I had totally forgotten was the Korean Air passenger jet that was headed to Alaska -- Anchorage, I think. The pilot kept sending the code for hijacking and the officials didn't know WHAT was going on. The pilot spoke very broken English yet he responded correctly to all commands from the ATC. Because it was feared the plane had been hijacked, was running low on fuel and it was proving near impossible to evacuate the large destination city, the plane was diverted to Whitehorse in Canada. Again the Canadians came to our aid and accepted a potentially hijacked airplane at their airport -- something that could have been disastrous for that small town. Also, even tho' the runway was more than long enough, it wasn't wide enough for one of the big jets and it was feared that debris kicked up from the sides of the runway on landing might be sucked into the engines and cause a catastrophic accident on the ground! But the small Canadian town accepted hand off of the suspect jet which was thankfully just a regular plane load of passengers. On this fourth anniversary of the disasters on 9/11, I want to make sure that the Canadians -- especially the airport personnel at Gander

-- are properly thanked for the care and kindness they showed the USA, our citizens (both stranded in Canada and here at home) and the other stranded citizens of the world. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Vote

F

F.James Cripwell 21 years ago

(snip) Thanks Tia Mary. Another aspect of this story was at St. John's Newfoundland. They may have had only 29 aircraft land there, but it overwhelmed the airport, hotels etc. However, for people outside Canada who do not understand Newfies, you have to realize that in that part of the world, anything is an excuse for a party, and 9/11 was no different from any other reason. They opened up their homes, and partied in St. John's as long as they had visitors. I think I am right in saying that on the first anniversary of 9/11, three charter planes flew back into St. John's to renew aquaintencies; the only place this happened in Canada. One of the requirements of air safety is that when a plane lands, it cannot take off until it has had the proper inspection. St. John's airport simply did not have the equipment or expertise to inspect the variety of aircraft which landed there, and over the next week or so, these had to be flown in, causing long delays. It was said that Newfie hospitality made the lives of the visitors quite tolerable.

-- Jim Cripwell. A volante tribe of bards on earth are found,/ who, while the flattering zephyrs round them play,/ on "coignes of vantage" build their nests of clay;/ how quickly from that aery hold unbound,/ dust for oblivion!/ To the solid ground/ of nature trusts the mind that builds for aye. Wordsworth.

Vote

T

Tia Mary 21 years ago

The story last evening did mention St. John's and even showed film of the locals feeding the stranded passengers -- in their homes too :-). I should have been more observant and mentioned them by name. I couldn't remember the number of planes they had accepted but the story did say that the little airport was overwhelmed. A question for you -- is it St. John's or Gander (or maybe both airports) that is equipped to handle the Space Shuttle if needed? I had forgotten that there was an alternate Space Shuttle landing facility in Eastern Canada until watching the show last evening. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Vote

F

F.James Cripwell 21 years ago

Tia Mary ( snipped-for-privacy@aol.com) writes: (snip)

Vote

P

Pat P 21 years ago

Vote

L

Lucretia Borgia 21 years ago

Flying to Heathrow from Halifax one NY's Eve, trust me we all celebrated on the hour, each hour, as midnight was arriving in each Province across the country. Talk about arriving in bad shape.

Vote