My finish kit was delivered today on 9-11-13. As soon as I got up this morning, I remembered exactly what I was doing that day. I was woken up by a friend calling to ask if I was ok. I was. I was off that day. I need to call that friend today.
I took the kids to school, and then I went to the ALPA office to start making calls and see how I could help. We had crews stranded of course for days and after the initial shock, the challenge was keeping them mentally ok and informed - they clearly wanted to get home to their loved ones. When the ground stop was lifted, I flew one of the first sked commercial flights to get airborne - I remember that flight perfectly. I had the crash ax next to me the whole time.
I think of the crews that lost their lives...I took a moment to read up a little on each of them, and I think of the police and firefighters and office workers who lost their lives and how fortunate I have been that I never had to face that loss (my dad was a cop for 42 years.)
After the second plane hit, I still remember my wife asking that morning if we should keep the kids home from school that day. I paused and thought about it and said no - they win if we do that.
It's a bittersweet day - something I have wanted to do all my life is finally happening, but a lot of people have had to pay the price for our democratic freedom to allow us to do these wonderful things here like building and flying airplanes.
My final thought...Never stop building and never forget those who paid the price to allow us to do these things.
I took the kids to school, and then I went to the ALPA office to start making calls and see how I could help. We had crews stranded of course for days and after the initial shock, the challenge was keeping them mentally ok and informed - they clearly wanted to get home to their loved ones. When the ground stop was lifted, I flew one of the first sked commercial flights to get airborne - I remember that flight perfectly. I had the crash ax next to me the whole time.
I think of the crews that lost their lives...I took a moment to read up a little on each of them, and I think of the police and firefighters and office workers who lost their lives and how fortunate I have been that I never had to face that loss (my dad was a cop for 42 years.)
After the second plane hit, I still remember my wife asking that morning if we should keep the kids home from school that day. I paused and thought about it and said no - they win if we do that.
It's a bittersweet day - something I have wanted to do all my life is finally happening, but a lot of people have had to pay the price for our democratic freedom to allow us to do these wonderful things here like building and flying airplanes.
My final thought...Never stop building and never forget those who paid the price to allow us to do these things.
Last edited:
