> I never heard this story....just amazing.....this is unity and compassion,
> according to snopes it 's true
>
> Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written
> following 9-11:
>
> "On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of
> Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic . All of a sudden the curtains
> parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain.
> As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look
> on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta 's
> main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All
> airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air
> traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."
>
> "No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious
> situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined
> that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander , New Foundland.
> He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic
> controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked. We
> found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our
> request.
>
> "While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message
> arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New
> York area. A few minutes later word came in about the
> hijackings.
>
> "We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told
> them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at
> the nearest airport in Gander , New Foundland to have it checked out.
>
> "We promised to give more information after landing in Gander . There was
> much grumbling among the passengers, but that 's nothing
> new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander . Local time at Gander was
> 12:30 PM! .... that 's 11:00 AM EST.
>
> "There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the
> world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. 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. The reality
> is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the
> little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and
> stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in
> Gander told us to stay put.
>
> "The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was
> allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come
> near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around
> periodically, look us
> over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes
> landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of
> which were U.S. commercial jets.
>
> "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 U.S. were either blocked
> or jammed.
>
> "Sometime 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.
> By now the passengers were emotionally and physically
> exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We
> had only to look
> out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were
> not the only ones in this predicament.
>
> "We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes
> one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to
> deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not
> happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise
> and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.
>
> " Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory
> servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical
> situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who
> was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night
> passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
>
> "About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up.
> We got off the plane and were taken to
> the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to
> register with the Red Cross.
>
> "After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken
> in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We
> learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of
> 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all
> the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at
> the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but
> not to expect that call for a while.
>
> "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 had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of
> Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people."
> We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and
> ended up having a pretty good time.
>
> "Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport.
> Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what
> they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.
>
> " Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer
> radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other
> large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to
> mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up,
> some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.
>
> "ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take
> care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called
> Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up 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 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 facility. There was a dentist
> on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the
> duration.
>
> "Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to
> everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion"
> trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and
> harbors. Some went for hikes in 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 schools. People were driven to
> restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given
> tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still
> on the aircraft. In other words, every single need
> was met for those stranded travelers.
>
> "Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they
> were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the
> airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or
> late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of
> each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when
> all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was
> absolutely incredible.
>
> "When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise.
> Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay,
> impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to
> Atlanta looked li ke a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of
> their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were
> calling each other by their first names, exchanging
> phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
>
> "And then a
> very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked
> if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow
> that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the
> mike. He 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 continued by saying that he
> would like to do something in return for the good folks 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 college
> scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He
> asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper
> with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and
> addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!
>
> "The gentleman, a MD
> from Virginia , 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. As I write
> this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted
> 134 students in college education.
>
> "I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now.
> It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far away
> place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on
> them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."
>
> "In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in todays world this
> story confirms that there are still a lot of good and Godly people in the
> world and when things get bad, they will come forward.
> "God Bless America ...and the Canadians.">
>
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