Login  Join!      Schools/Clubs  Incidents  Safety  Regs     Used-Gear  Events  News      Resources  PPG-Info

Reflection on Lost Innocence

One Person's Story

Ann Marie, a long-ago hang glider pilot, had been a TWA flight attendant for well over twenty years. The morning of Sept 11, 2001 was to start her last trip before retirement. 

As it happened I was in her home base, San Diego, the day before; a trip chosen because it allows leisure time with great friends and great soaring. Torrey Pines Gliderport is there and is almost always soarable. After arriving on the 10th, Alan Chuculate was gracious enough to come fetch me. He whisked me quickly to the lift band. His wife Mary tolerates me in grand fashion and helps make for an enjoyable visit. 

It was another one of those perfect days when I arrived. It's always good to see that truck and it's hang glider rack come around the corner...usually good flying is soon to follow. Alan smiles a lot anyway but still shows excitement over flight prospects.

The soaring was good as Phil, Alan and I plied the cliffs, tried various wings and soaked up the smooth rise. Then that evening enjoyed some top notch people...Michael and his wife Ann Marie were among them. I was happy to find out that Ann Marie and myself would report at the airport before our respective flights left. Cool, I'd be able to wish her well on her retirement flight.

I was at the airplane early the next morning and an FAA rider was going to be observing, it's part of our job to have these "route checks" done periodically...it's a hassle but this fellow seemed a cheerful sort. When Ann Marie came over to my airplane he even snapped the picture below with us in the cockpit. That was the last picture of me before our nation lost its innocence.

It was early...more nighttime than morning. After the picture was taken we finished our cockpit flows and were about to read the "Before Start/Originating Checklist." Then the world turned. It was Ann Marie...frantic and nearly crying. She had run down the jetway to tell us of two "727s" that had hit the World Trade Center buildings.

"Are they still standing?" I asked. "Yes" she said. The rider offered "Those are sturdy buildings...it would probably take a lot more to actually topple them".

Oh my God. 

The same thought, I'm sure, was felt nationwide. The same hatred, the same rage. But I still had a job to do and tried to keep focused on getting THIS airplane safely on it's way to Chicago. We were scheduled to depart in 10 minutes. Little did I know how unimportant those preparations would become. News trickled in about another airplane, then another. 

Twenty seven years of flying didn't prepare me to hear the air traffic controller's directive come across the speaker "Ground Stop for the Entire Country".

We'd lost our innocence indeed. 

I spent the next four days there in San Diego and even flew the ridge until they shut it down. But it was so bitter. So painful to know what was going on at that very instant. The suffering and pain. And to know that it was no random act of nature...that our fellow man actually inflicted it intentionally. Wow. What murderous contempt for humanity.

That night in the restaurant we asked for the TV to be off. More replays wouldn't ease the pain...the numbness wouldn't change.

Finally on Friday our company had, along with many others, got clearance to fly a limited schedule and I flew home. The hardest aspect of flying was staying focused through the lens of anger. It was a quiet flight...what do you talk about. But it was good to be in the air again...doing what I know, contributing to the emergence of our psyche, the emergence of our freedom.

Not only is this freedom not free but there are those who don't even want it tasted. We can only hope to learn to love the freedom we treasure, the freedom on our wings, the freedom of choice, the freedom to live. Most of all, we can hope our fellow man finds something significant enough to make their own life worth living. 

Jeff Goin

All Contents Copyright © 2007 USPPA