9/11/01 from an air traffic controllers perspective

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thought i would share this, written by a female atc i work with a few years after the occurance. i came to work that afternoon, and there was not a plane in the sky. there is a radar video display somewhere of all the planes landing in the continental united states and it is just awesome! thought it was interesting and well written, thanks carol.

September 11, 2001 "A Rememberance" September 11, 2009by Carol Mendenhall on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 5:40pm

I still get a lump in my throat any time I think about that awful day 8 years ago. I wish that I had written this down then, but of course I thought that I would never forget...but although some things are a little fuzzy after 8 years, there are some things that are so crystal clear, I still tear up.

I went to work on a glorious September morning. The sky was blue and there were scattered cumulous clouds that looked like cotton candy puffs. It was Tuesday. I was scheduled to work the 7am to 3pm shift at the Kansas City Enroute Center in Olathe. I was also scheduled to come back and work from 11pm to 7am. It was the same schedule I'd been working as an air traffic controller for the past 11 of my then 16 years working for the FAA.

My area surrounds the Kansas City International Airport. It also encompasses high altitude airspace up to Salina, Ks. It is called, in ZKC speak, the Trails Area. I don't recall the first sector I worked, but I was in the control room from 7am until approximately 7:55. As I was heading off to break, a Flint Hills controller (sorry Mike, I can't spell your last name) told me that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. At the time, they suspected that it was a small commuter aircraft. He suggested that I go watch the news.

I wandered down the hall to the cafeteria, to see what the news was reporting. As I turned the corner into the room, the shot on the television was from a helicopter showing the smoke from one of the towers of the Trade Center. I took two steps into the room and my stride was halted by the harrowing picture of a Jet crashing into the second tower. Without even thinking, I turned around and headed back to the control room. I knew something was drastically wrong and I didn't wait for the TV anchor to deduce what it was. Little did I know how bad things really were.

As I walked to the end of the control room, which is where my area is, I could see that the impact of what was happening on the news had not reached the control room floor. I advised my supervisor of what I had seen, and for the life of me I can't remember who it was (see..fuzzy), and he decided to open up additional sectors. I opened up Sector 46, which at that time combined at Sector 48. This was the area West and North of MCI. (For those of you who care to know, Sector 48 was where 26 is now, and 46 is where 24 is....funny how you remember some things, and not others!)

Soon after opening the sector, we received word that there were several planes in the air that were not responding to air traffic control. The word Hijack was used, and I suppose that that term fits, but this was much, much worse. We were told to be extra vigilant for suspicious aircraft activity, which had us all "nose to scope". The reports from the East Coast were sketchy at the time. I had heard at least two and maybe up to four aircraft were not responding appropriately.

Then, while still in the control room we hear about the jet that crashes into the Pentagon. Everyone was still dumbfounded that something like this could be happening. It was unreal. Then a decision was made, and it took me months to find out who made the call from within the FAA, "Put all the aircraft on the ground!" It was surreal and still is in my mind.

So....everyone was called into the control room to put every flight in the system on the ground. What an unbelievable undertaking. And to top it off, we were not allowed to tell the pilots why. We were only allowed to say that it was a matter of 'National Security'.

Most of the pilots that were in the air had no clue that anything unusual was happening until we cleared them to a new destination. There were a few that had some vague information that something out of the ordinary was happening, but to tell you the truth, we didn't know much more. I have no idea how many aircraft I worked. I know that I was talking to 8 at the time of the decision.

Most of the pilots complied with my instructions without question. I specifically remember two who tried to argue. One was a MO20, who departed ICT and intended to go to MLE. He was 25 miles north of TOP when I cleared him, "Cleared to TOP, via radar vectors. Turn left heading 210, descend and maintain 80". I suppose I remember that because he argued with me, though I can't remember his call sign. He said, "But I'm going to Omaha" and I repeated my clearance, with the preface, "Due to a matter of National Security". He still declined the clearance and tried to cancel his IFR. I instructed him then that I would have to contact the military to scramble a plane if he didn't comply, and restated my clearance. This time, there was only compliance!

The other aircraft was a UAL from LAX to JFK. He had been cleared to MCI by the high altitude controller. His first words to me, in a condescending manner were, "Center, we are enroute to JFK" and I replied, "UAL???, no sir, as a matter of National Security you are cleared to MCI". He attempted to argue with me again, I just issued his holding instructions, and went on to the next aircraft's holding instructions.

I can't tell you how long I was at the sector that morning, or how many clearances I gave, or how many aircraft were holding NW of MCI for a spot to land, but I can tell you I have never seen the nation's air traffics controllers work so diligently and cohesively as I did that day. When I left the sector, my intestines in knots, I knew that something had devastatingly changed the USA forever.

I think the worst part was yet to come, though. I left the facility through a road block and the armed police that had gathered for our protection. I drove home in a daze and then glued myself to the television to find out as much as I could about the "How" and the "Why" this had happened. Knowing that I had to come back into work that night, I should have slept. But I ask you, who could have slept after the morning of 9/11/2001. Not I! So with no sleep, I drug myself back to work. The way in was unreal. The barricades, the police...each car was searched with dogs so that no firearms or bombs could enter the facility. I suppose I should have been grateful, but those of you that know me, I was a little irritated because I didn't leave for work early enough for a pat-down.

So the next thing I'm in the area, sitting in front of a radar scope...with no airplanes! Hundreds of square miles of empty sky. No one but the military was allowed to be in the air, so our job was to make sure that no one was out there. That's when the tragedy hit me. Hundreds of square miles of empty airspace...for a week. There were a few planes that took off small airports, that for some reason, had no clue what had happened in New York, DC and Pa. I found that unbelievable! You would have had to live in a secluded bunker to not know...but there were a few.

That's my story, with and with out the fuzz from 8 years sitting on it. I reiterate my wish that I had written this down years ago, but perhaps I wasn't able. I do know that that day changed many things for me, and as devastating as that day was for some families, we did not suffer any tragedies. I still pray for all those that were lost that day, and for all those that have fought against terrorism since.

The one beautiful thing that I take away from that day, was America United. America was united like I had never experienced before. From the Fire-Fighters, to the Military, to the Air-Traffic Controllers....and the long list of people that opened their hearts to those who died, or survived, or were stranded, or were in need...That is what I take away from that awful moment in history. That is why I say "I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"


.......... XT ...........