| Football practice had just
finished up on Monday. I was a sophomore in high school. My
mother came to pick me up from practice, but had to rush to
Midway because she had a show time for a flight to SFO. I
managed to talk my way into going along. She was a flight
attendant for ATA at the time. Anyhow, the crew was great,
as all ATA crews are, and as a young kid who wanted to be an
airline pilot, I was having a great time. As we were getting
ready to head out back to Illinois in the morning, and I’d
be in school in time to catch one or two classes before the
end of the day, the phone rang. It was another crewmember
who said to turn on the TV. We turned on the TV, I don’t
remember which channel. It showed the smoking tower, if I
recall correctly, and then the second plane hit. The rest is
history. We didn’t get out until the 14th. The pilots of
that flight were continuing on to LGA after they left us in
Chicago. I missed the Friday night football game. A girl who
knew I was traveling had been worried about me. It was an
interesting time, to say the least. I’ve been flying
professionally since 2007, and been in the air on two
September 11ths since 2001. I was recently back in San
Francisco a month or so ago, and it definitely reminded me
of the events on 9/11. Just thought I’d share.
First Officer Paul Meyer, PSA |
