Reflections on 9/11

Those who are old enough to remember 9/11/2001 will be spending the next few days reflecting on the changes and effects that day had on us as individuals and the world as a whole. For me, the day means different things in the contexts of my time in the fire service and my time in aviation; my reflections that follow will focus on the aviation part.

My logbook shows that I was at Washington National Airport on 09/10/2001. It was a rainy, overcast day. It was my third trip to DCA and my second as PIC in a King Air. It was my copilot’s first visit. As we flew the LDA Runway 15 approach I mentioned to my copilot that we would probably break out of the clouds over the Pentagon, and we did. DCA was one of the airports where you had to work extra hard to focus on the flight and not be distracted by the environment.

A visit to DCA called for skipping the usual read-the-newspaper-and-go-to-lunch routine then common to the corporate pilot lifestyle. Instead, the plan was to get a ride from the FBO to the Metro station and take the train to the National Mall and spend the day viewing the Capitol, taking a rushed trip through a Smithsonian museum, and just otherwise enjoying a nice trip to a challenging but fun airport.

The departure was into the same rainy and overcast skies which gave way to a beautiful September early evening as we headed back to the west. That same weather provided the backdrop for the events on the East Coast the following day.

Many things in aviation changed after 09/11/2001. My takeaway as the 20th anniversary approaches is to not take anything for granted. Anything you do as a career can have its moments that seem like a grind, no matter how much you love that career. I’ve certainly had moments over the years where the trip to the airport was viewed as something I HAD to do instead of an opportunity to do something I truly enjoy. I didn’t know that day 20 years ago would be the last day I would get to fly into DCA; very few times in life do we know as we are doing something that it will be our last. We should treat every flight we take as something special and an opportunity to make the best flight we can possibly make.

Be safe.