OT: 9/11 Thanks to Gander and ALL of Canada

Posted by Tia Mary on September 11, 2005, 10:40 pm

Hi Guys,
I just finished watching several specials about 9/11. The last one
was about having to ground all of the airplanes. It reminded me that
hundreds of the planes had to go to Gander and other places in Canada.
The Gander ATC personnel are unsung heroes as are the personnel at that
airport. The show said that there were something like 240 airplanes
safely landed and parked at Gander in about 2 hours -- a phenomenal feat
for a small airport.
The other thing I had totally forgotten was the Korean Air passenger
jet that was headed to Alaska -- Anchorage, I think. The pilot kept
sending the code for hijacking and the officials didn't know WHAT was
going on. The pilot spoke very broken English yet he responded
correctly to all commands from the ATC. Because it was feared the plane
had been hijacked, was running low on fuel and it was proving near
impossible to evacuate the large destination city, the plane was
diverted to Whitehorse in Canada. Again the Canadians came to our aid
and accepted a potentially hijacked airplane at their airport --
something that could have been disastrous for that small town. Also,
even tho' the runway was more than long enough, it wasn't wide enough
for one of the big jets and it was feared that debris kicked up from the
sides of the runway on landing might be sucked into the engines and
cause a catastrophic accident on the ground! But the small Canadian
town accepted hand off of the suspect jet which was thankfully just a
regular plane load of passengers.
On this fourth anniversary of the disasters on 9/11, I want to make
sure that the Canadians -- especially the airport personnel at Gander
-- are properly thanked for the care and kindness they showed the USA,
our citizens (both stranded in Canada and here at home) and the other
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--
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Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Posted by KI Graham on September 12, 2005, 12:13 am

On behalf of all the Canadians who had friends and family grounded, with
flights cancelled or diverted so that we could accomodate the US-bound
flights, you're welcome. At the time, I don't remember hearing ONE word of
criticism of this decision by our government to accept potentially dangerous
flights into OUR airspace. I do remember the shock and dismay when the US
president named Britain and Mexico as "best friends" and made not one
mention of Canada, even while Canadians were opening their homes and
communities to provide shelter, food, [and at least one entire wedding
ceremony, complete with banquet, cake and wedding dress!] for displaced US
passengers.

Even so, when Californian forests are on fire, Canadian firefighting crews
came to help battle the flames [despite Softwood Lumber disputes]; and when
US cities are flooded, Canadian urban rescue squads are dispatched all the
way from Vancouver, BC to help in Louisiana, while truckloads of volunteers
and supplies head across the border each day. Maybe this time the US
government will remember who your friends are? [or maybe not...]

Hoping you'll excuse a little maple-leaf Flag waving...

--
Kim Graham
http://members.shaw.ca/kigraham
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
THE WORD IN PATCHWORK

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Posted by Debi Matlack on September 12, 2005, 6:44 am

*gentle snippage of things I'm glad to know*
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Well Kim, if our government, such that it is, doesn't ever say anything,
please know that *I* appreciate the friendship and assistance that Canada
has provided. It's really sad to realize that all this has gone on and very
little news coverage is given to such selfless acts of kindness. I, for one,
never realized what a risk Canada took in landing planes from the US. If it
was ever covered by the media, I don't recall it. Maybe I'm just out of the
loop, but it certainly seems that the news media would much rather show us
the horrors and ugliness than when good is done.
Again, thank you.
--
Debi

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

Posted by Tia Mary on September 12, 2005, 7:22 am

KI Graham wrote:

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No problem at all Kim, you go right ahead :-). The only thing I have
ever been able to understand about the odd attitude our Government often
displays towards Canada is that Canada doesn't "seem" like a foreign
country. In Mexico everyone speaks a different language so it seems
very foreign -- Canadians by and large speak English. The UK is in
Europe and way across the Atlantic but Canada is right there snuggled
along our Northern border.
DH has to travel to Winnipeg a lot and people are absolutely
horrified at the cost of the airfare. When we talk about it, I have to
remind them that Canada IS a foreign country. Fortunately, for us
(IMNSHO)you don't often act like a foreign country -- more like cousins
to us -- and I mean that in a very good way. Thanks again for always
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--
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Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

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