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Gander 9/11 - The Kindess of Strangers
Video of how a tiny village in Newfoundland welcomed the passengers from the aircraft forced to land on 9-11. Canadians already know of Newfoundland hospitality, but this is the story of individuals who received first hand exposure to man looking after their fellow man in distress. (vimeo.com) المزيد...
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Newfies are among my fav people. Always welcoming and a joy to be around. The people of Gander made us proud to be Canadian.
I could not agree more on both your points. You can add equipped with amazing senses of humour to go with their generosity. Our favorite alternate was Torbay on the many occasions Shearwater had disappeared into the fog.
I think you can add Goose Bay, Moncton Halifax to Gander as Canadian cities and citizens who opened their hearts and homes on 9/11. Not a lot has been written or talked about on this issue but they willingly took strangers in to their homes and cared for them in a time of need. Thank you to all of them. We will not forget.
I agree, there were many cities big and small that helped out, without any hesitation. It was really an endeavour from east to west, from Gander to Whitehorse, Yukon. What sets Gander and area (the effort was not limited to Gander proper) apart is the fact that their population doubled within a few hours, and they still brilliantly managed to feed, house, console and entertain everybody.
In Gander the school bus drivers were on strike for higher pay. They immediately returned to work at no pay.
Thanks Wolfgang. I did not know about the western cities. I was in Halifax about a month after 9/11 and saw a whole page ad from a lady from NY city who thanked the people for their kindness.
Were there other western cities as well as Whitehorse?
Were there other western cities as well as Whitehorse?
As far as I remember there were several, Vancouver among them, but to be sure you may have to look it up.
Here's a detailed report, with the list of Canadian airports that took in the flights, including the number of planes for each. In all there were 17 airports with a total number of 238 aircraft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yellow_Ribbon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yellow_Ribbon
THANKS!
I remember two stories in particular that were in an issue of Airways Magazine, where one was from the FO's perspective. I want to say that it was a DAL flight.. anyway, the pilots found out what happened about 1/3rd to 1/2 way through their RJAA-KLAX flight, and were worried about what they should do. They knew that US airspace was closed, and they were just past the point of no return for their flight (ETOPS, B772). Either way, they decided (no other choice) but to divert to CYVR, but had to maintain calm heads, as they didn't want to cause panic among the passengers. They even went as far as finding the cables to the flight map portion of the IFE and ripped them out. It wasn't until they were on final before they thought about what to tell everyone. IIRC, the article ended with, "ladies and gentlemen, if you look out your windows, you will see that we currently are not at our destination..."
There was also a KAL flight from RKSI to KLAX that ended up diverting to CYXY (Whitehorse), but was one of the last flights to enter Canadian airspace, as the US was closed. However, they had no radio contact with the flight for a while. I'll try to find that article as well, but it all ended well (relatively speaking for that day).
There was also a KAL flight from RKSI to KLAX that ended up diverting to CYXY (Whitehorse), but was one of the last flights to enter Canadian airspace, as the US was closed. However, they had no radio contact with the flight for a while. I'll try to find that article as well, but it all ended well (relatively speaking for that day).
My fault.. it was a RKSI-PANC-KJFK flight that was diverted to CYXY, not one going to KLAX.
