English 2-2

Please find the Main Idea & Pre-reading Worksheet and 9-11 essay attached below. Read the essay and answer the worksheet.

What is the title of this essay?

____________________________________

____________

2. Just based on the title, what do you think this essay is about?

3. What do you already know about the subject?

4. When was the essay written (exact date)?

_____________________________

5. Is it current or old?

[ ] Current (within the last year)

[ ] Old (older than one year)

6. Where was the essay published (newspaper / magazine / textbook / etc.)?

[ ] Magazine (online or in paper form)

[ ] Newspaper (online or in paper form)

[ ] Textbook

7. Who wrote it?

____________________________________

8. Is the author male or female?

____________________________

9. Do you know anything about this author? If yes, what do you know about him/her?

10. Now read the essay, marking the information that is crucial and/or interesting to you. Also,

be sure to look up vocabulary words you are unfamiliar with. Remember to figure out what

the essay is about!!

11. Mark / take note of the factual information that you want to retain.

12. What is the main point?

13. Is the main point stated or implied?

[ ] Stated (written directly in the essay)

[ ] Implied (not written directly in the essay)

14. What is one item you have learned from reading this essay?

2

�1

An Amazing Story from 9-11 You
Probably Haven’t Heard
By Meridian Magazine · March 7, 2017

We all remember where we were when we heard that
someone had flown a plane into one of the World Trade
Center towers in New York City and that not long after, a
second plane had struck its target. A third would hit the
Pentagon and a fourth would go down in an attempt to reach
another target in Washington, D.C. The ripple effect of those
events continues even to this day, but we don’t often stop to
remember those that stepped forward with common
kindness in the midst of the terror.

This is one of those stories as told by a flight attendant on
Delta Flight 15, a flight on its way to the U.S. and diverted to
a small town in Canada:

https://ldsmag.com/author/no-author/

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On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5
hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic.
All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to
the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain.
As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that “All
Business” look on their faces. The captain handed me a
printed message. It was from Delta’s main office in Atlanta
and simply read, “All airways over the Continental United
States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at
the nearest airport. Advise your destination.”
No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it
was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma
quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport
was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland.
He requested approval for a route change from the
Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted
immediately — no questions asked. We found out later, of
course, why there was no hesitation in approving our
request.
While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing,
another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about
some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes
later word came in about the hijackings.
We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in
the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument
problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport
in Gander, Newfoundland, to have it checked out.
We promised to give more information after landing in
Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers,
but that’s nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in
Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM …. that’s 11:00
AM EST.

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There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground
from all over the world that had taken this detour on their
way to the US.
After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the
following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, you must
be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same
instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are
here for another reason.”
Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the
situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of
disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground
control in Gander told us to stay put.
The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation
and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on
the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts.
Only airport police would come around periodically, look us
over and go on to the next airplane.
In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander
ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of
which were US commercial jets.
Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft
radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were
flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the
Pentagon in DC.
People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable
to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some
did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian
operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were
either blocked or jammed.
Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the
World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a
fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the

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passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not
to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly
calm.
We had only to look out the window at the 52 other
stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones
in this predicament.
We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people
off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport
told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next
morning.
Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned
themselves to this news without much noise and started to
prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.
Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed,
water, and lavatory servicing.
And they were true to their word.
Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about.
We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her
pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night
passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping
arrangements.
About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school
buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the
terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs
and then had to register with the Red Cross.
After that we (the crew) were separated from the
passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel.
We had no idea where our passengers were going. We
learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a
population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500
passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were
forced into Gander!

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We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be
contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to
expect that call for a while.
We found out the total scope of the terror back home only
after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours
after it all started.
Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that
the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started
calling us the “plane people.” We enjoyed their hospitality,
explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty
good time.
Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the
Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with
the passengers and found out what they had been doing for
the past two days.
What we found out was incredible…..
Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about
a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting
halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They
converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all
the stranded travelers.
Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags
and pillows set up.
ALL the high school students were required to volunteer
their time to take care of the “guests.”
Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte,
about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in
a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only
facility, that was arranged.
Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were
taken to private homes.

�6

Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a
private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent
Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and
female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.
Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world
were available to everyone once a day.
During the day, passengers were offered “Excursion” trips.
Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors.
Some went for hikes in the local forests.
Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the
guests.
Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the
schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice
and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens
for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage
was still on the aircraft.
In other words, every single need was met for those
stranded travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories.
Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had
reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time
and without a single passenger missing or late. The local
Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of
each and every passenger and knew which plane they
needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They
coordinated everything beautifully.
It was absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been
on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were
swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with
who had the better time.

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Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party
flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-
boggling.
Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other
by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses,
and email addresses.
And then a very unusual thing happened.
One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could
make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever
allow that. But this time was different. I said “of course”
and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and
reminded everyone about what they had just gone through
in the last few days.
He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at
the hands of total strangers.
He continued by saying that he would like to do something
in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.
“He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the
name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the
trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high
school students of Lewisporte.
He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow
travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us
with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses,
the total was for more than $14,000!
“The gentleman, an MD from Virginia , promised to match
the donations and to start the administrative work on the
scholarship. He also said that he would forward this
proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.
As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5
million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

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“I just wanted to share this story because we need good
stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that
some people in a faraway place were kind to some
strangers who literally dropped in on them.
It reminds me how much good there is in the world.”
“In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s
world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good
people in the world and when things get bad, they will come
forward. Let’s not forget THIS fact.