“Just Minutes Before” (An Airline Pilot’s View)

September 11, 2001

“Just Minutes Before”

An Airline Pilot’s View

(Abridged)

This was a day that changed America for everyone. A day where terror not only struck our great country, but a day that foreigners attacked us on our soil. It was a day that truly affected every single American of any age. The world watched, as we did, in horror. Everyone I know has a story of how that day touched him or her personally and how those events that day unfolded in their lives. September 11th changed the lives and world for everyone and its impact is still felt today, ten years later. Just ask anyone about it and you'll see it in his or her eyes, see the deep breath taken, and probably see a tear. I do and I feel it too…still.

Today is the anniversary of what we all now call '911' and this is how I experienced the events of that day. I’m often asked if I was flying that day. Yes, I was; I was flying right next to New York City that morning. Yes, I was just minutes ahead of the airplanes that were hijacked and flew straight into the World Trade Center (Twin Towers). And, yes, I still think about that day almost every time I fly, especially when I fly out on the East coast and near New York City. And yes, I still feel it and still sometimes shed a tear.

I often still think it could have been me just as I did that day after we landed and watched the horrific events unfold. What would I have done? Were they on the radios with me?

I was a First Officer, still fairly new at Southwest Airlines. I had been flying commercially for 3 years and 4 months at that point, but still flying for the United States Air Force Reserves, going on 17 years.

Here is my story, my remembrance of the events of 911.

I began a 4-day, AM trip, back and forth across the country with Captain Dick Hoover. Starting in Oakland, we had scheduled layovers in Islip, New York, Orange County, California, and Windsor Locks, Connecticut before heading back home to Oakland, California. We never finished the trip. I had flown with Dick a few times before and enjoyed each trip. A retired F-16 pilot from the Air Force, Dick was overwhelmingly nice, soft spoken, and a wonderful family man.

Although I had been with Southwest for a bit over 3 years now, I was still relatively new to flying on the East Coast since I was from Hawaii, lived in England for a bit, and spent most of my adult life on the West Coast of the United States. After 17 years in the Air Force, I was a Commercial Airline Pilot now. I was carrying civilians; people going to visit relatives, attend family events, Grandmas and Grandpas, families with children going on vacation, business people traveling for work, and often times people afraid to fly. It was different from the fighters, cargo planes, and tankers that I’d been flying for so many years. I was an Airline Pilot now. A pilot, First Officer or Captain in training, bus driver of the sky, and sometimes tour guide. Whatever we’re called, we are professionals with an amazing job and incredible responsibility and I love it. I love each and every day I go to ‘work’ because I enjoy seeing the happy faces on the thousands of people I fly from point A to point B. I’ve been flying for 27 years now and it still amazes me that I take a piece of metal weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds and fly it up tens of thousands of feet into the sky, and safely bring it back to earth, settling down on a small strip of concrete.

So, day three of our trip started just like any other day at Southwest Airlines. Dick and I arrived at out jet, pre-flighted, loaded up, and took-off from Bradley International headed for Baltimore. We were completely full, every single seat taken for our one-hour trip down the Eastern Seaboard to Baltimore. It was ‘my leg’, as we often call it. It was my turn to fly, my turn to take-off, and my turn to land. Everything was going smoothly as we ascended to the mid-20s in altitude, leveled off, and cruised down the East coast that morning.

Our route of flight took us right down the coastline, past New York City, Newark, and Philadelphia. Commonly, the pilot not doing the takeoff and landing does all the personal addresses (PAs) to the passengers. I remember asking Dick if I could talk to the passengers as we approached New York City. Like I mentioned, I was quite unfamiliar with the East Coast and I had (and still have not) never been to New York City.

It was different though, today. Something was definitely different about today’s weather and both Dick and I reflected and talked about it. We were at 20-some thousand feet and I could look out the front and left side cockpit windows and see EVERYTHING in the city, everything down the coast, and even Baltimore when we were some 90 miles away from it.

On that day it was incredibly clear, not a cloud in the sky, no haze layer, and not a bit of the white sheen or glare that I so often see while flying. It was stunning! Crystal clear for so many miles. Crystal! Even to this day I still cannot seem to recall a clearer day of flying than on 911 and every clear day I fly, the events of that morning replay over and over in my head. What if it had been us? What would we have done?

Although still a bit unfamiliar with my East Coast geography, I did the PA that morning. “Well folks, from the cockpit, this is your First Officer and we have leveled off…” That morning I told the passengers that if they looked out the left side of the airplane they could see downtown New York City, JFK Airport, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, Newark, Yankee Stadium, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. That’s really all I knew and could point out, but the sky was so beautifully pristine.

I could not point out the World Trade Center as I was not very familiar with its location. I am now as are we all. I also did not know at that point that American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were right behind us and quite possible on the same radio frequency as us. I did not know that this beautiful city I was looking at and describing to my 137 passengers was, within minutes, about to become a scene of unfathomable horror, that over 3,000 people would lose their lives, that families were about to be torn apart, and that our world as we knew it was about to change forever.

We continued on our flight and began our descent into Baltimore Washington Airport just as we crossed abeam New York City, as is common with East Coast Air Traffic Control. We had no idea what was about to happen right behind us in a matter of just a few minutes. No-one knew, except the 19 hijackers that had taken over the controls of 4 heavy jet airliners, full of fuel, and turned them around headed back towards the city.

We landed in Baltimore at 0843 EST, 3 minutes before AA Flight 11 hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. Dick parked our airplane, and we began to get ready for our outbound flight on to the next destination. I don’t remember where it was to because it never happened. Our day was done, but we didn’t know it yet.

After parking, I went up the jetway into the airport terminal. It was dead quiet, eerie, and people were huddled all together in various parts of the terminal. All the televisions were on the same channel and people, hundreds of people, were gathered around each one, staring up in silence at the many screens of the high mounted television monitors. I asked the agent what was going on and he said that an airplane just flew into the World Trade Center. I looked at the screen filled with smoke as the tower was black and burning. I said out loud, “We were just there!” Someone mentioned that a small plane had accidentally run into the building and I replied with, “That’s no small plane, that is a large plane, like a 757 or 767.”

I stood there with all the silent people, just hearing a few whispers, and gasps of disbelief from our awaiting passengers. Then, while glued to the screen, I watched the second plane, UA Flight 175, hit the second building. Everyone now knew that something was wrong, that something terrible has happened to our world just then. This was no accident.

We all know the events that transpired on that day from this point on. Everyone knows where he or she was at that moment in time. Everyone has a story of how it did and still does affect their lives every day, especially today, 10 years later.

As an airline pilot, and now Captain, I know how it changed me. I recall the events of that day often, just like it was yesterday. It replays through my head like a movie. We were right ‘there’…we were right in front of those planes by minutes. I don’t know what I’d done if, on that day, our plane was one of the ones selected by the terrorists. We were full of fuel. Our flight path took us right down the coast by New York City within minutes of the attack. Things (procedures) were different back then. Cockpits were breached. Those pilots were removed from their cockpit seats and their aircraft were taken over. Nothing like this had happened before.

Why not us? I do not know. I do know, however, that we were completely full, every seat on our airplane was occupied. The terrorists had flown and watched the routes of the different airliners and selected big airplanes, on long-haul routes requiring an immense fuel load, and schedules where the flight was not full of passengers, thus allowing easier access to the cockpits. Ironically, we were probably not a good choice.

I also know that the hijackers had flown the routes numerous times, as passengers and sometimes posing as flight crew (pilots) in uniforms with badges and sitting sometimes even in the jumpseat of various airlines. It’s been said that Mohammed Atta, posing as a pilot, sat in the jumpseat (in the cockpit) numerous times while traveling up and down the coast during the planning stages of the attacks.

Aircraft security, airport security, and our in-flight procedures when faced with that type of situation was different back then. It’s different now and still changes frequently as new terror threats transpire in our world. I do know that I will never allow anyone to access the controls of my aircraft while in flight. No one will ever get another chance to use it as a weapon, as was done on 911. I'm sure all pilots feel the same way now. At that time, 10 years ago, none of us considered such an act conceivable. Those brave and professional pilots on board those aircraft had no idea what could and was about to happen. None of us were, at that time, trained for this type of invasion.

So, on this day, 10 years later, why do I write this? Like I mentioned, everyone has a story, everyone remembers the details of that day and how it affected him or her. That day, September 11^th, changed our world and it changed me as a pilot, a Captain of an airplane. How I fly, who I fly, what I look for when I stand in the jetway and greet each and every one of MY customers that comes on board. I do it with a smile and an immense sense of pride because I have the privilege to earn my living flying people so many different places. I get to meet new friends, see those Grandmas and Grandpas, watch those families going on vacation to Disneyworld, show young kids the cockpit, and calm the first time flier. I love my job.

But safety is serious business and always my first concern. I still feel for the crews and passengers that our profession lost on that day. I feel for the people and families that were innocently traveling or working, the ones that lost lives and their loved ones. Do I profile the passengers that board my plane? You bet I do! I look for many things, not race or gender, but a myriad of subtle signs. Air travel is different today. I will continue to fly professionally and to do all I can to secure the safety of my passengers and customers (my friends). Things have changed. The brave crew and passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 showed us heroism in the face of unimaginable tragedy. America is different, air travel is different, and passengers are different. We, Americans, are all now united against a common enemy.

Never again.

God Bless America

Timeline:

11 Sep 2001

Flight 145

Aircraft 357 (Boeing 737-300)

Captain Dick Hoover

First Officer Robert Mitchel Svetz

BDL/BWI (Bradley International / Baltimore Washington International)

Depart: 0745 EST

Arrive: 0843 EST

137 Passengers / 5 Crew

North Tower: 0846 EST

South Tower: 0902 EST

Pentagon: 0937 EST

Mahalo for flying with Captain Bobby Mitchel