This day we are threatened by nature. Yesterday, the winds of Hurricane Harvey hammered Texas, and tomorrow Irma will be slamming Florida. It is a storm we will weather. We know we will, because we have lived through worse. We must remember this, because today is September tenth. And September 11, 2011 is a date no American can forget, marked as it is by four scars that will never heal. Four hijacked airliners carved the names of nearly three thousand victims into our memories, names written in blood. Three thousand names with more than three thousand families—and that is not even adding the number of injured, the number of rescuers, all losses that destroyed the innocence of our country. We were initiated on that day into a sad new world, scarred by tragedy that turned the sky from blue to red. How could we understand what was going on? The mass murder of our people, the senseless destruction, the planes crashing, buildings burning before our eyes. I’m just an ordinary guy. When it happened, I was bewildered by it all.
On Sept 11, this day, in 2011, Flight 11 and Flight 175 hit the twin towers.
The tragedy was filmed as it happened. We were glued to our screens, helpless, terrorized, mesmerized along with the international audience, the terrible scenes of desperate people making impossible choices: die in the burning towers, or jump to the unforgiving pavement. We cried, but we did not cry alone. The world cried with us.
American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, 64 aboard the plane and 125 in the impact, all fatalities.
On Flight 93, we saw our people become heroes. We learned of Burnett, Beamer, and Bradshaw, of passengers fighting the hijackers. “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.” They rolled into history as heroes. How many lives they saved by their actions—an incalculable number—and these were passengers who acted against the hijackers knowing they would lose their own.
Children of today who ride airplanes are accustomed to today’s security protocols. It must be impossible for them to believe that there was a time when we simply walked aboard. There was no threat. But these days are different. We live in a world that irrevocably changed that day. It is a day we can never forget.
We tightened our belts.
We sharpened our defenses.
And we are not alone in this. The whole world is a more vigilant place.
The twin towers were a symbol of our prosperity, a couple of the world’s greatest buildings in one of the world’s greatest cities; and though the towers stand no more, our cities and our country goes on. The Pentagon was rebuilt. A Pennsylvania park commemorates the heroes of Flight 93.
I certainly mourn those who were lost on September 11; and I feel for the families of the injured, as I believe we all do. I may mourn our loss of innocence, but I can also take pride that we stand now, scarred perhaps, but stronger because of what we have survived. We have taken measures to make our world safer, but we can never relax our vigilance. We can never such a thing to happen to us again. On the ashes of the towers, we rebuilt. Some of us are still rebuilding. On the ashes of history, we rise.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Alexander Foss, 20, was a junior majoring in aviation flight at Purdue.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
The pilot and his dog were on board the single-engine Piper PA-32 when it crashed off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes in California.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Flight Radar 24 shows the moment a small plane flew over Hartsburg Tuesday and lost contact after it crashes into the woods.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Pilot reported engine issues before small plane crashed just off California coast on Sunday
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
MOSCOW: Air New Zealand announced on Wednesday that it will launch the first flights of the Beta ALIA electric cargo aircraft for commercial demonstra…
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Planes battled through flash floods at the Dubai International Airport on Tuesday 16 April, as heavy rain battered the United Arab Emirates. Planes arriving into Dubai airport – the world’s busiest for international travel – were also temporarily diverted on Tuesday evening to other locations. A spokesperson for the airport told The Independent on Tuesday: “Due to the intense storm, operations were temporarily suspended for 25 minutes this afternoon, but have since recommenced, and are now in recovery mode.”
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
A U.S. Navy patrol aircraft flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, just hours after a conversation between the Chinese and U.S. defence chiefs, in which Beijing warned Washington of the ultra-sensitive nature of the Taiwan issue.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
There were two people in the plane, and Honolulu EMS confirmed no one was injured.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
A small plane made an emergency landing in Kapiolani Park on Tuesday afternoon, in a spectacle that shocked bystanders and triggered a large response.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — A small plane has made an emergency landing in Kapiolani Park. Honolulu EMS said no injuries have been reported.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
With all the conflict going on in the world, there have been reports of doomsday planes being spotted. What is this aircraft and when is it deployed?
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
One Houston man hopes smart devices are savvy enough to track down criminals after the AirPods he left on an airplane pinked at a Houston area home. FOX 26’s Damali Keith has more on what the man did to get his electronic devices back.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
This is perhaps the most funny aircraft design you have ever seen.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
A new NTSB report offers disturbing details.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Both the man and his dog were uninjured in the crash.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Part 2 in an in-depth series looking into the mid-air plane collision that killed 37 people on April 8, 1954.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
The Lockheed Martin L1011 Tristar plane, which was previously speculated to be the MH370, has been hailed a top diving spot in Jordan – incredible footage shows parts of the plane is still intact
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A pilot and his dog swam safely to shore after their small plane crashed off the Rancho Palos Verdes coast
Read More
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
Datadog suggests AWS Amplify users conduct “an audit of your roles and potential threat activity” after investigation.
To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.