Editor’s note: In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, The Legal asked readers to send in their stories of where they were that day, and how they felt about the tragedies then and how they feel now.
“The airplane caught my attention because it was close — close enough for me to see the faces of the passengers. It further caught my attention because many of those passengers were looking out their windows and some were making gestures. Although I did not know at the time, I later knew the gestures were made out of desperation. They were hostages.
“The plane flew directly beneath us, close enough that we experienced turbulence as they passed. Our pilot apologized on the intercom for coming so close to another airplane but explained that air traffic control had not alerted him to the situation. Minutes later, the pilot again came on the intercom to tell us of the terrible news of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
“I won’t ever forget the faces of those innocent victims of a terrorist-caused tragedy.”
— Kenneth Komoroski, Fulbright & Jaworski, Canonsburg, Pa.
“On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on a business trip. Approximately two hours into the flight, I was watching a movie when the screen went blank and the pilot announced without explanation that the flight was being terminated and that all civilian planes had been diverted to land at the nearest airport. He ended his brief message with ‘God Bless America.’ That was all I knew. The flight crew did not have any additional information and I could tell that they were also concerned and confused.
“We landed 45 minutes later in Wichita, Kan. Our airplane was one of the first of the diverted planes to land in Wichita, and local reporters met us at the gate to get our reaction. I asked, ‘Reaction to what?’ That’s how I found out about the events of Sept. 11.
“The rest of the day is a blur. I immediately tapped the ATM for as much money as I could withdraw, and then set up in the airport’s passenger lounge where a television set played and replayed the deadly events. I had a cell phone and a charger, and hundreds of fellow passengers used my phone that day to call their families.
“Dozens of planes landed in Wichita that day, and the airport was overwhelmed. However, the diverted passengers and people of Wichita could not have been nicer.
“I did not get to a motel until late in the evening and settled in for what could be a long stay. The national transportation system was shut down, and reliable information was hard to come by, so we waited in the airport for news.
“Three days after landing in Wichita, a man walked into the airport waving a set of car keys for what he described as the last available rental car in Kansas. He asked if anyone wanted to join him for a trip to the East Coast, and I happily agreed. The only national map we could find was in a Cracker Barrel restaurant, which showed the location of all Cracker Barrel restaurants in the country. That’s how we found our way back to New Jersey — one Cracker Barrel at a time.
“I later found out that the my flight from Philadelphia left about 30 minutes before the last doomed flight left from Boston. There but for the grace of God.”
— Lary I. Zucker, Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, Cherry Hill, N.J.
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