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OT: 9/11 Thanks to Gander and ALL of Canada

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 >^;;^<

Reply to
Tia Mary
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On behalf of all the Canadians who had friends and family grounded, with flights cancelled or diverted so that we could accomodate the US-bound flights, you're welcome. At the time, I don't remember hearing ONE word of criticism of this decision by our government to accept potentially dangerous flights into OUR airspace. I do remember the shock and dismay when the US president named Britain and Mexico as "best friends" and made not one mention of Canada, even while Canadians were opening their homes and communities to provide shelter, food, [and at least one entire wedding ceremony, complete with banquet, cake and wedding dress!] for displaced US passengers.

Even so, when Californian forests are on fire, Canadian firefighting crews came to help battle the flames [despite Softwood Lumber disputes]; and when US cities are flooded, Canadian urban rescue squads are dispatched all the way from Vancouver, BC to help in Louisiana, while truckloads of volunteers and supplies head across the border each day. Maybe this time the US government will remember who your friends are? [or maybe not...]

Hoping you'll excuse a little maple-leaf Flag waving...

Reply to
KI Graham
*gentle snippage of things I'm glad to know*

Well Kim, if our government, such that it is, doesn't ever say anything, please know that *I* appreciate the friendship and assistance that Canada has provided. It's really sad to realize that all this has gone on and very little news coverage is given to such selfless acts of kindness. I, for one, never realized what a risk Canada took in landing planes from the US. If it was ever covered by the media, I don't recall it. Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but it certainly seems that the news media would much rather show us the horrors and ugliness than when good is done. Again, thank you.

Reply to
Debi Matlack

No problem at all Kim, you go right ahead :-). The only thing I have ever been able to understand about the odd attitude our Government often displays towards Canada is that Canada doesn't "seem" like a foreign country. In Mexico everyone speaks a different language so it seems very foreign -- Canadians by and large speak English. The UK is in Europe and way across the Atlantic but Canada is right there snuggled along our Northern border. DH has to travel to Winnipeg a lot and people are absolutely horrified at the cost of the airfare. When we talk about it, I have to remind them that Canada IS a foreign country. Fortunately, for us (IMNSHO)you don't often act like a foreign country -- more like cousins to us -- and I mean that in a very good way. Thanks again for always being there when we have needed help :-). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Reply to
Tia Mary

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