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September 11: FAA Closure of US Airspace
Although this animation was published 10 years ago, it gives an excellent visual of our airspace as things shut down on 9/11/01. From the description: This animation was created by NASA using FAA air traffic control data from September 11, 2001. It shows the rapid grounding of air traffic across the US, and redirection of incoming international traffic, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Time is at lower left, number of planes in the air lower right. At 9:06am, FAA issued a ground stop… (www.youtube.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I was working in midtown Manhattan that day. We heard what was going on and went down to the street where we could see the towers burning. They told us all to go home, but all the transit lines were shut down, so it wasn't easy to get off the island. While waiting on line for a ferry on the West Side, we could hear fighter jets overhead, but they were moving so fast that we never saw them.
I was flying with a student near statesville when I heard a female pilot flying a jet call statesville unicom about an emergency landing.I called to find out whaat the problem was.statesville informed me that all aircraft had to land at the nearest airport .I figured if I did, I would be stuck there for a whiles I told him that I was nearer 14A lake norman my home base where we were we were grounded for some time.
I worked in a hospital only 3 miles from the end of 27L. Any time of day you could see at least a dozen aircraft in the sky. By 11:00am on 9/11 the silence was deafening. There were planes lined up all over the airport.
Missed identifying the airport, O'Hare.
I was at my desk in America West HQ in Tempe, Az, with a window facing north, and an up close view of the Sky Harbor glide path. I sat mesmerized, tears rolling down my face, watching planes streaming in, the time between growing longer and longer. Until - there were none. You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone still in shock. A sobering experience piled on top of heartbreaking events.
Kalitta quickly obtained the necessary approvals from the government and secured contracts with the USPS and the DOD. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, when airports were closed and all flights were grounded, there was one plane in the sky that night that was not an F-16 fighter. It was a Kalitta Air 747 hauling relief supplies from the West coast to aid disaster workers. In 2003 Kalitta was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for support of the Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom Operations and Kalitta continues to support the USPS with scheduled flights delivering mail and packages to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. (From the Kalitta Air LLC webpage)