Nov. 29 - The first thing that passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 49 heard about the Sept. 11 attacks was an announcement from their captain, Beverley Bass.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Bass," they heard. "We've been advised that there has been a crisis in the United States. All of the airspace has been closed, and we will be landing our airplane in Gander, Newfoundland."
Flight 49, heading from Paris to Dallas, was one of hundreds of U.S.-bound airliners that were in the air over the Atlantic Ocean when U.S. airspace was hurriedly shut down.
The planes were either turned around or diverted to destinations in Canada - including Gander, a small town on the island of Newfoundland off Canada's northeastern coast.
On board Air France Flight 004, bound for Newark, passenger Sue Ricardelli knew something was wrong when she saw a flight attendant tell his colleague something, and saw the colleague nearly faint. When the pilot made an announcement in French soon afterward, Victor Muro, another passenger, only made out one word: "terrorist."
Flight 004 was also being diverted to Gander.
The town, which stands at the easternmost edge of North America, was a refueling stop on the early transatlantic flights of the 1940s and 1950s. But the advent of long-haul jets in the 1960s ended its life as an aviation hub.
The Gander airport still has a big runway, but big jets touch down less often now. On Sept. 11, there were dozens of big jets in the area, and they all needed to land immediately.
In the space of three hours, Gander's air traffic control team landed 38 jets, packing them onto the tarmac.
With more than 6,500 passengers arriving unexpectedly, airport personnel were overwhelmed. While security and customs officers made preparations to process them, the passengers had to remain on board - worried, confused and cut off from the outside world. They were unable to view the attacks that kept the rest of the world glued to their televisions.
"We felt hopeless and helpless at the same time," recalled Muro, who along with his wife Anne-Marie was concerned for their young children back home in New York.
As the hours went by, food became scarce, toilets overflowed and nerves were frayed. Like many of the other passengers, Muro did not even know where Gander was. "I'm embarrassed to say I never heard of it before," he said.
Some of the passengers remained on the airplanes for as long as 30 hours. But when they finally disembarked, they got a warm welcome. It turned out that the people of Gander had come together like never before to make sure every single person would be taken care of.
Although Newfoundland is the poorest province in Canada, everyone helped out. When calls went out for food and bedding, Ganderites emptied their cupboards and closets and went to the airport.
"They had been there all night long bringing food and standing at the tables, passing it out," said Bass.
Asked who was manning the tables, Ricardelli said: "They were the grocer, they were the postman, the pastors. They were your everyday citizens of Gander who just came out."
Gander has a population of just 10,000, and only a few hotels, with a total of 550 rooms. So the locals opened their schools, churches and homes to the visitors they called "the plane people." The town's school bus drivers, who had been on strike for weeks, came off the picket lines to shuttle passengers to their new quarters.
The local telephone company set up long-distance phone banks so that passengers could call home. Wires and cables were strung so that television and Internet connections were available.
Local Liz Gilbert invited the Muros to her log cabin on the banks of the Gander river. She housed and fed them for four days, but doesn't think she did anything out of the ordinary. "This is all I know of Newfoundland. This is the way everybody is," she said. "Thousands and thousands of people volunteered and everyone did the same thing as I did and more."
Finally, after four days, the airport and the skies reopened and the "plane people" headed home - after tearful, heartfelt goodbyes.
Soon after, the town began receiving cards, gifts and thank-you notes in the form of donations. Even though the citizens of Gander neither asked for nor expected anything in return, their grateful guests have raised more than $60,000 for the town. Many of the town's new friends even promised to come back for vacation, under better circumstances.
Today, when Captain Bass flies around the world, she makes sure to tell her passengers about her time in Newfoundland. "Whether they want to listen to me or not, I want to tell the Gander story," she said.
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