Flying AA1330 on A321S. Need Another Day.

~ Live & Learn

First flight out of Dallas. 6:36 a.m. on-time departure.

Foot traffic unusually light at DFW, as are the lines at Security and at the Gate.

Ah yes, September 11. And, the morning of September 11th.

Pilot gets on the intercom, and announces that we’re flying on an Airbus A321S. 168,000 pounds, 450 mph at cruising altitude.

Plane unusually quiet. More seats empty than usual for this flight.

Pilot dims the lights in the cabin.

Cabin is silent as the plane taxis up to the runway.

It’s dark in the cabin, my seat mate snoozes. Me? Restless. Churning.

I bend my thoughts to a different place. A happier place. It was Monday morning. My flight out of LaGuardia. I get through Security and I’m approaching Father and young Son. That’s my photo of the two below.

I slow to follow them. Mind races back 20+ years. That’s me. Holding Eric’s hand as we walk down the concourse. He squeezes my fingers and tugs: “Dad, I want to see a plane. Let’s go to the window.” I squeeze his hand back, and we walk.

This Airbus makes its turn to the take-off runway and pauses.

I don’t go to Church, not on Sundays, not on Easter. But in this moment, I Pray.

The 168,000 pound steel bird accelerates down the runway, its breast bone shudders as does the seat under me. She lifts, and climbs, her wings steady, and we’re up.

Dear God, please, Flight AA1330 and Airbus A321S can’t be the lead story on tonight’s evening news. I’d be grateful to see another sunrise, to feel the brush of an autumn breeze on my forearms, and hug my family as I walk through the door.

Photo: Time Magazine

28 thoughts on “Flying AA1330 on A321S. Need Another Day.”

  7. Assume that you are safely home or at work by now? I like the father and son photo, the importance of family & how a Dad helps to shape a child…I think of all lost from many nationalities that day 18 years ago the exact # still not known, a high % still not identified….I think of the children of 9/11 those who lost a parent or parents, I think of the children who were not yet born who had a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle who was killed in the attack and how some are starting college and I think of the individual, collective and grief experienced around the world…I think of the first responders, the hospital staff, the people who were displaced from their homes and jobs, the people on the planes and the communities where they went down…and then I think about how strong all the people are as they have stood strong, going forth in courage…How Prayers are an important communication with God…and I am thankful you took that step today to pray…I am grateful for you…You are an intelligent and poignant writer…Your gift moves many…

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  11. Dave, I have read many articles on that unimaginable event – yours is one of the most moving. Thank You. YES; we thought of that day too, I even remember the exact moment of hearing about it in the car back to work. I stormed into the office, called Hero Husband and told him to go on the internet and report back to me (while I listened to BBC)….. That was also a time not everybody was online 24/7. And I’m still quite able to cry over the atrocity and the human misery created, as have been many more since.

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