9/11 remembered by YHZ airport worker on 12th anniversary
Posted Sep 11, 2013 07:30:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
On the 12th anniversay of 9/11, an employee from Halifax Stanfield International Airport is recalling a day she won’t ever forget.
The airport was able to land 47 diverted planes following the tragedy in New York City while North American airspace was closed to air traffic.
As the airport authority’s terminal services coordinator, Kelly Martin says her job was to get everything ready for the more than 7,000 passengers arriving on diverted flights.
“My first thought was disbelief really, and then you don’t have the time to think any further on it, you just swing into action and that is what we did,” said Martin. “If there was any needs that they had and just trying to comfort people who were there. Some of those passengers were on the plane for many hours before they could be released,” explained Martin.
“We had sandwhiches and food and drinks ready for them when they got off…it was just very quiet, it was very, very quiet.”
Martin says even so many years later, she finds it hard to think about.
“It still draws so much emotion from me. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget and I’m glad I was able to be there to help and I hope we never have to go through it again ever.”
She adds she’s filled with a sense of pride when she remembers what the airport authority and Nova Scotians were able to accomplish.
Halifax accomodated more diverted flights than any other airport and was the first to have all of those flights leave.
Operation Yellow Ribbon was launched by Canada to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic were removed from U.S. airspace as quickly as possible, and away from potential targets, diverting aircraft to military and civilian airports in N.S., Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia as well as N.B., Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
When none of the aircraft proved to be a threat, Canadians subsequently undertook the role of host to the many passengers aboard those aircraft until they could reach their destinations.
