I am curious as to where airline flights were diverted, when the US airspace was closed on 9/11. I know the list of cities and flights is probably huge. Being a new user to this system I apologize if this is an old subject, I just have not seen it listed before.

I can tell you that flights were generally diverted to the nearest airport period. I had friends on 4 flights that day. One was MIA-LAS via DEN and they landed in Birmingham, AL. Another was a MIA-LAS nonstop, they landed in MSY. Another was PHL-LAS, she returned to PHL. I was on MIA-LAS via DFW in a 777. We were over Louisiana when all flights were ordered down immediately, but since we were in a 777 we got clearance to fly through to DFW. I guess we couldn't land the beast anywhere else. I guess you can tell by now that my company had a national meeting in Las Vegas that day and none of us made it there. Thankfully my company lost no one from the 3000+ employees flying that day. We did have a couple of girls that missed the AA flight out of BOS. They really got lucky!

Many flights coming either to the US from Asia and to the US from Europe landed in Canada.

The scene in Halifax was impressive:

View Large View Medium Photo © Halifax International Airport

View Large View Medium Photo © Kevin G.

I just posted the same two photos as in the above reply, I deleted them.

Lets try this one....

View Large View Medium

Photo © Rob Rindt - SPOT THIS!


[Edited 2004-04-06 03:06:42]

>>>I know the list of cities and flights is probably huge.

It was...

Almost all of Southwest's flights at the time ended up at "online" airports (with SWA service), and only three (3) didn't. One went to Colorado Springs, CO (COS), another went to Moline, IL (MLI), and the third went went to Grand Rapids. MI (GRR). Fortunately, the 737 can get into most airports, and needs only rudimentary ground support, namely, ground stairs.

I recall seeing a newswire picture that showed a UAL 757 (diverted to Garden City KS (GCK) having to deplane pax with airport fire department equipment due to the absence of ground support at that airport. One can only image the hassles involved had that been a widebody going into an airport like that...

There was also Gander :

View Large View Medium Photo © 103 Rescue Unit

View Large View Medium Photo © 103 Rescue Unit

CL215T

A friend of mine was en route from NRT-SAN via SEA and was diverted to YVR. He ended up taking a bus from Vancouver to San Diego.

A client of mine was enroute to YYZ from ATH via LHR on a BA744. About an hour from the Canadian coast, the pilot announced they may have to turn back as all borders in the USA had been closed and Canadian airports were full.

No explanation.

They eventually made it all the way to YYZ without any diversions, but can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of the pax? On the ground, we all knew what was going on, but onboard they had no idea.

While it certainly doesn't compare to the trauma endured by the victims, nor their friends and families, I can only imagine how panicked those aboard felt while flying in other aircraft.

G

My father was in SAN at 6:00AM checking in for a flight to DFW on AA when the news hit the wires. He went through security only to be evacuated about a half an hour later.

My company was having a meeting in Phoenix and one in Atlanta during the attacks. One of our senior managers was enroute from ATL - PHX and he ended up in MEM.

We were all already at our destination as our meeting started on the 10th. We ended up continuing our meeting and then going home via cars later that week.

A memory that will never fade.

John

My dad flew EWR-BOS that morning, and was preparing to fly back to EWR when the airpace was closed. The plane was already boarding, and everyone got off. He got a hotel in Peabody (it was the closest to BOS available). He was going to overnight in LAS that night. instead he flew out on the 13 or 14 on a repositioning flight to BWI (he was the second departure from BOS).

There must be some other pilot stories from that day

My grandmother was on DL 106 (or was it 107?) from BOM-FRA-JFK. Several hours before landing, the pilot told them that the plane was being diverted to Halifax due to a "National Emergency" in the US. After landing, the pilot told everybody on board what had happened. My grandmother was in Halifax for 4 days. Long story short, a wonderful Canadian couple took my grandmother into their home and made her comfortable there. The flight then took off from Halifax and went to Atlanta and she was then routed to LGA. I remember the morning that my Dad and I went to pick her up (it was Saturday September 15) and both of us remarked about how few planes were over the New York sky. The mood at the airport was miserable.

Anyway, point being, thanks Canada and all of the wonderful Canadians who helped their southern neighbor. Americans should think about this the next time they make an anti-Canadian remark or do any Canada bashing.

A lot of the transAtlantic flights were diverted to Gander, in northeastern Canada I think.

-A330Fan1

My best friend was on SQ221 from Singapore to Sydney (9/11) and when he got on the ground he had no idea what had happened until we broke the news. He mentioned that during the flight the IFE was switched OFF. Good idea.

whatever - this is the past and nobody wants it to repeat...
may everyone at a.net please pray for the 3000+ victims and wish ourselves a very peaceful world, at least in the near future.

I think there were some flights diverted to Calgary also.

Musapapaya,

I too pray to God, through Jesus, for the victims of 9/11 and there families and loved ones.

From Frontier Airlines archived press releases:

BEGIN QUOTE

Frontier Airlines Updates Operations Status

DENVER (Sept. 11, 2001) - Frontier Airlines (Nasdaq: FRNT ) ) reports that all Frontier aircraft are accounted for and are on the ground as of 10:15 a.m. MDT. Effective immediately, the airline has suspended operations for the remainder of today, Sept. 11, 2001. Frontier will issue flight updates through the media and on the airline's web site at www.frontierairlines.com.

All Frontier passengers scheduled to travel between today and Sunday, Sept. 16, 2001 will be allowed to cancel their flight for a full refund or make changes without penalty for travel up to one year from their originally scheduled date of travel. Frontier will accommodate confirmed passengers on new flights, as soon as possible.

Frontier requests that all passengers refrain from going to the airport until Frontier has provided further clarification on its flight schedule.

END QUOTE

Source: http://www.frontierairlines.com/news/articleDisplay.asp?article=/general/2001/pr_09112001.news

The BOS-DEN flight was diverted to YYZ and the LGA-DEN flight was diverted to DTW. Those were apparently the only two non-network cities they used.

F9Fan

Here's CO's flight status report on 9/11
http://www.continental.com/vendors/default.asp?SID=7E0A26EA32484C9597E2555112A5CB31&s=&i=PRNews

My mom, grandmother and aunt were flying BA LHR-LAX that day. They boarded the plane, taxied out, then the captain said over the PA that they had to return to the gate due to "unfortunate circumstances." They deplaned and waited in the boarding area for a while. Then the airport people distributed a paper to everyone explaining the situation. So my family got stuck in London for 3 or 4 days waiting for a flight to go home. They said that the British people were extremely nice to them.

There was a UA 737 that was flying from YVR-SFO, and diverted to either PDX or EUG.

Absolutely...special thanks to all the wonderful Canadians who helped us out that terrible day.

That was really nice of Canada to host all our diverted airplanes for us. Did the U.S. compensate them in any way?

I believe all of NW flights from Narita-US Mainland were diverted to YVR.

Where any aircraft diverted to airports in Mexico? It would seem logical to send aircraft to northern Mexico.

EALSYS1, I cant even imagine the feeling those girls must have had knowing they could have been on that plane. That in itself would probably cause me to be a wreck. I cant beleive how many planes some of the airports had.

As for Mexico:
CO1120 Guatemala City to Houston: Monterrey, Mexico
CO1929 Caracas to Houston: Cozumel, Mexico

on 9/11 i was onboard a UA flight from MIA to SFO on a 762... we took off at 7.30 AM that morning and about 2.5 hours into the flight the the pilot ordered all cabin crew to the front of the plane and we started a very, very sharp descent....IFE and cabin lights were switched off.... we were told nothing as the plane kept dropping in altitude.... the IFE came on for a minute, with our destination changed to Oklahoma City.... then it went off again... as we kept dropping passengers were yelling to know what was going on, with some crying....we eventually leveled off at about 2,000 feet and were ordered over the intercom to brace for landing.... the cabin was completely silent as we touched down, and we found the airport full of diverted planes. it wasnt until we got into the terminal beforer we were able to see what had happened. we were there for 3 days....

As has been mentioned before, lots of planes ended up in Gandor or Halifax. I had lots of friends in Whitehorse, YK when 9/11 happened, and they told me of a KLM 747 diverting there. There are lots of stories of our Canadian friends putting up people in there own homes as a result, same with this one.

I know that IND had a lot of diversions that morning. I tried to research for an article that was printed in the Indianapolis Star (newspaper) that told of the number of diversions and told of the story of the people working both Indy ARTCC and Indy APP/Dep & Tower. It was an interesting piece. Those people did a fine job controlling all of those planes.  

That was really nice of Canada to host all our diverted airplanes for us. Did the U.S. compensate them in any way?

We are compensated every day with $1B in trade, so no need to ask  

Many flights were diverted to St. John's, Newfoundland (YYT/CYYT) as well.

Thanks

Lee

My wife and a few co-workers and her boss were stuck in Canada. While she and the rest of the staff were concerned about what was going on and how to get home, the boss wanted to stay and enjoy museums and his wife wanted to shop.

Some people are just oblivious. And to think all of them worked in aviation.

As far as where the planes went... First available airport with a long enough runway and a parking spot.

[Edited 2004-04-06 14:58:31]

I remember working in the city-county building in Indianapolis when they told us to go home early. As i was driving by the airport you could see the planes come in one by one; i think IND had like 62 planes all over the place.

From an aviation point of view the photos from that day with aircraft parked all over the place are impressive. It's just a shame that we saw these scenes because of the terrorist attacks.

View Large View Medium Photo © Rob Rindt - SPOT THIS!

View Large View Medium Photo © Alan Ling

View Large View Medium Photo © Brian Peters

View Large View Medium Photo © 103 Rescue Unit

View Large View Medium

Photo © Michiel Jas


Tom

You know it's bad when FOUR CO planes were diverted to Youngstown, OH. A 764 EWR-HNL (Imagine, going to HNL, and ending up in Youngstown!), an EWR-OAK 735, and two COEX aircraft.

Of course CLE had a fairly "famous" diversion, with that DL 767 going BOS-SFO. DL landed it, on it's own, before the order was given to ground all planes, simply because of the routing of that aircraft, and the routing of the two that slammed into the WTC. It was thought it had been a hijacked plane-in fact, I arrived at Hopkins right as about 40 CLE police cars were entering the airport to surround that aircraft. A very scary moment, indeed.

Why does EVERYTIME we revisit this day as a result of a new thread, the same old feelings come bubbling back?
Understandably, new members will ask certain questions, but as a New York City resident It just pains me to relive it over and over again.
Got that out!
Whew!
I know I didn't have to read this thread, but its like an accident, you just cant help but looking!
Ok so use the search feature, and WELCOME newbie!

Nearly all aircraft more than halfway to the US from International Destinations were diverted to airports all across Canada. I remember driving by YYZ and seeing many of the diverted planes parked at the Central Deicing Facility.

My boss was enroute OSL-LHR-YYZ and had to stay in London for a week before being able to return home.

Cheers,
Kaz

I was told that THAI's flight from NRT to LAX was the first international aircraft to land in US soil after the 9/11. The B744 aircraft was accompanied by US Air Force F-16 until it landed at SFO. And also, the aircraft used that morning was "The Royal Barge."

To all who have answered I certainly appreciate your responses. I was aware of the Canadian diversions and have read the wonderful book, "The Day the World Came to Town". I in no way intended to cause anyone pain or upset by asking the question. I agree it was a HORRIBLE event in our history and I do pray for all those involved. Again Thank You.

I saw someones post on UAL at Garden City Kansas and also wanted to point out that Air Canada 767 landed there I have pictures and have tried to submit them to airliners but they are always rejected. You can see people using the airport fire trucks to climb out of the planes.

Also SLN Salina, KS got a few aircraft i think 3. one I remember was a Fedex Md-11.

How is it that these threads always end up as arguments?

I'm not much for writing religious stuff in posts, but as long as the main focus of the post is vaguely aviation-related, knock yourselves out. If I (an agnostic) got pissed at every reference to religion in society, I would be a pretty cranky person.

"Be overpolite, apologize profusely, scoot over."



Back to the thread, those lovely crowded airports must have seen some heavy beer action with all the pilots involved. Oh to have been a fly on the wall!!!

There was a USA Today story on the diversions a couple of years ago. According the article, in the US Memphis and Indianapolis handled the most diversions.

If any one has the numbers of how many diversons MSY handeled that day I would greatly appreciate it.

And looking at those pic's, when the airspaces reopend on 9/12/01, how did they keep order? On the ground and in the skies?

its true about the TG 744 being tailed by fighter jets.

ive also heard of a KE 777 was also tailed either on 9/11 or shortly after it, i believe SEL JFK, because the pilots misunderstood the situation and switched on something that 'identified' them as being hijacked... they were forced to land by the FAA somewhere in Alaska.

also... there was a discovery channel special showing the radar images of the US during the shutdown: 5,000 planes were forced down all over the US and its quite eerie to see the entire country cleared of dots. a study in the days following the attacks (when for the first time in recent history there were no flights in US airspace) revealed a 1 degree C rise in air temperatures... they say that the high number of flights in the airspace overhead actually lowers the temperature by one full degree C each day. dont know how they measured this.

From an AWST article:
--------------------
The FAA's 325 en route centers, Tracons and towers, and the air traffic
controllers who staff them, "did a superb job" getting all aircraft out of the sky
in little more than 2 hr., Schuessler said. But it was all in a day's work,
however extraordinary the day, according to John Carr, National Air Traffic
Controllers Assn. (NATCA) president.
At any given time before Sept. 11 there would be about 5,000 aircraft
airborne, Carr commented, and when FAA ordered all aircraft down, there
were 4,546. The number had been reduced because of the ground stop 19 min.
earlier. Airplanes were landing at their destinations during this period, but
none were taking off.
Thus controllers weren't handling more aircraft than they
usually do; they were simply bringing all of them down, Carr noted. They
landed them about twice as fast as they would have done normally, but with
no takeoffs the numbers weren't unusual. Controllers used minimum spacing
and maximum efficiency, Carr said, but "we didn't cheat." They broke no
rules. With no commingling of departures and arrivals, and no need for en
route separation of climbers and descenders, the job was simpler in many
respects. "Everybody was a descender," Carr said. "This was not unlike a
very, very heavy arrival rush for every airport in the country."
Considering that controllers hadn't ever tested or trained for clearing the sky,
the process was surprisingly smooth, Carr said. The easiest aircraft to deal
with were commercial flights that were near their destinations, and general
aviation (GA) aircraft--low, slow flyers, perhaps in the vicinity of the airports
they were headed into or out of. For the GA pilots, it was a question of
sending an order to land, finding the nearest available and suitable airport,
directing them to that airport and bringing them down.
The hardest part often turned out to be overcoming disbelief among pilots,
even a few airline pilots, that everyone was going to land. Some GA pilots
flying VFR didn't know what had happened.
Another problem was commercial aircraft that were too big for the nearest
available airports. It was up to flight crews to determine whether they could
land at airports to which they were being directed, and in some cases airline
operations people told pilots where the carrier wanted them to land. These
factors produced what Carr termed "give and take between flight crews and
controllers" about where to land. "There were more than a few instances
where controllers had to talk pilots into understanding what they were being
directed to do," he said.

Aircraft headed for the U.S. from other
countries were not admitted after the
order to land. Halifax, Nova Scotia, was
one of several Canadian airports filled to
capacity by arrivals from Europe. Two
days later the aircraft were permitted to
leave for the U.S., starting with this
United flight.
Coordination between en
route centers, Tracons and
airport towers was normal.
Whatever facility was
controlling an aircraft at 9:45
continued to control it until a
normal handoff.
Communication between
pilots and controllers "is no
different during an
emergency than it is during a
normal operation," Carr said.
"Air traffic control is a very
tightly woven net of
responsibility. It is not unlike
a relay race, with airplanes as
batons." Aircraft were passed
in sequence from centers to
Tracons, to towers, to ground
controllers, to gates. "It
wasn't hard," Carr said. "It's what we do. We work airplanes . . . We didn't
find it to be even the least bit extraordinary. We found it to be challenging,
extremely important, deserving of due caution and care . . . But I don't think
you could find a single controller who would tell you they did something
extraordinary that day. They did their job."

NJ was lucky enough that only one of its aircraft (flight NJ 400) was away from MCI on 9/11, and it was nearing ATL, which was its destination, anyway. All other aircraft were on the ground at MCI or near the area.

We go sooooooo lucky.

B6 diverted one of its aircraft to MCI, and AA diverted a 767-300. I'm unaware of any other diversions to MCI.

If I am correct, no aircraft where diverted after the grounding notice, into any NYC metro airport or DCA, Dulles also. Were BOS and PHI airports allowed to accept diverted aircraft after the grounding notice?
As to the diversion of aircraft to Halifax and Gander, some people were on the a/c for 15 or more hours on the ground due to the delay to unboard them. The efforts of the Canadians to deal with the diverted pax were extraordinary. The Canadian government, local and provincial governments, local branches of service groups like the Salvation Army, Red Cross, schools and local citizens taking people into their homes was a great story. I believe the National Government helped with some emergency funds to the disrupted communities, but many passangers and citizens of the area gave donations to the local groups too. Some passangers gave monies later to groups there to fund scholarships for local young people. I believe there was a documentry done for Canadian TV, shown in the US on PBS on the groundings in Canada.
I am quite sure that those grounded in the US got help when in city not their home, and helped with people getting home too. Some people shared cars, the renting of cars, used Greyhound, ect, to get home or to their destinations too. This should get some attention too as part of a documentry.

what did FLL, MIA, or PBI recieve?
Also, what happened if a plane could not land at a given airport? (ie what exceptions were made, if any?) How did they do it...it amazes me! Even though it was a dark day, it still is one of the most incredible feats in avaition history!

CO63 MAD-EWR went to BOS so BOS did accept flights.
CO1971 MEX-EWR went to IAD so I am not sure about the IAD story.

FLairport: CO did not send any flights to PBI, FLL, or MIA, mostly because of their location in the southeast corner of the US (much the same reason BGR did not get many diversions)

What about KALB and KSWF?

Hamilton (yhm) Got a United Airlines A320 that was parked at the gate next to one of the aircraft involved if I recall correctly Also received 2 American Airlines 767-300s and a Northwest DC-10.