| I had a layover in Managua,
Nicaragua, on September 10. We were pushing back from the
gate the morning of September 11, 2001, with a fully loaded
B-737-800. Things were going smoothly until calling for
taxi, and the ground control says that U.S. airspace is
closed; say intentions. Of course, we asked him to repeat
it. Meanwhile, we heard that an American Airlines B-727 was
direct to return, also. I called the local Ops, and they did
not know what was happening. So I returned to the gate, and
went to Ops to call our dispatcher in Houston. He did not
know what was going on, either—rumor of a bomb threat in NYC
was heard. While talking to the dispatcher, I saw the second
aircraft hit the World Trade Center on a television in Ops.
I asked the dispatcher if he had a television in the office,
and told him to turn it to CNN. He saw the replay of the
impact and said, “Oh my God.” I told him that this was not
going to open up the airspace in the near future, and we
were going to return to the hotel. We agreed to that plan of
action.
It was six days before
things settled down and we returned to Houston on that
Saturday. In the meantime, the crew huddled around the
television (we thought the BBC gave the best factual
reports). The former Sandinista president was running for
the office, again, so Managua was a tense place to be at
that time. Telephone communications were poor, but the
Internet service was good at the hotel. It was two days
before my wife checked her e-mails to learn that I was okay.
Captain Glen R. Cernik, Continental |
