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Hundreds of FAA people worked to improve security and restore aviation,
so important to our nation's economy and our quality of life. Here are some of their portraits.
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Tweet Coleman, FAA's representative for the Pacific, reports that for people in Hawaii news of the attacks was typically received through urgent early morning phone calls from mainland relatives. (MORE)
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Ron Horak is an inspector based at the Flight Standards District Office in West Mifflin, Penn. On the morning of Sept. 11, he was at Latrobe airport when he caught a glimpse of the tragedy unfolding in New York City. About an hour later, Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. (MORE)
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Jerry Clark had the day off on Sept.11, 2001. He remembers the television program being interrupted "with the event that no one watching, especially an air traffic controller, will ever forget." (MORE)
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Doug Davis lost his voice after spending Sept. 11 staffing the Air Traffic seat in the Washington Operations Center and another four days at DOT's crisis response center. But he felt so guilty about taking a break, he headed right back to work. (MORE)
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"I like to handle things with a sense of humor, even under stress," says Melody Cardone, team leader with FAA's Aviation Careers Division in Oklahoma City. Cardone would need all the sense of humor she could muster as the agency embarked on a huge effort to hire federal air marshals. (MORE)
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"I can't tell you how proud I am of the people who worked that day," says Terry Biggio who on Sept. 11, 2001, was on duty as operations manager at the Boston Center. (MORE)
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It was a call about "the tower" that caused Veronica Garcia, regional operations officer in Jamaica, Queens, to look up at the panel of television screens in front of her desk. Within moments, she saw what many other Americans were witnessing at the same time - an unknown aircraft crashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan. (MORE)
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"After the first plane flew in, I got a call from one of our guys in New York. 'Hey, a plane just flew into the World Trade Center…I don't know, it looks small.'" (MORE)
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"There was a time when there was no security at airports and hijackings were practically weekly events," recalls FAA's manager of air carrier training Martin "Hop" Potter. (MORE)
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Jeniffer Donahue of the New England Regional Operations Center and her staff always see their role as the "first point of contact." This was a key factor on the morning of Sept. 11 and for the many hectic days that would follow. (MORE)
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On the morning of Sept. 11, Special Agent James Smith, along with fellow agents Alan White and Michael Houle, found themselves being whisked across three states under police escort to get them to Logan Airport as quickly as possible. (MORE)
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"Are you reporting an emergency?"
That's how specialists under Watch Manager Mike Daniel's supervision answer the telephone in the Transportation Security Operations Aviation Command Center housed in the FAA operations center in Washington, DC. (MORE)
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Flight Service Specialist Ron Hillman was working the day shift on Sept. 11 at the Bridgeport, Conn. Flight Service Station. His job: briefing private pilots about weather and other critical information about flying conditions. (MORE)
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Tucked away in the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City is the Law Enforcement Assistance Unit. This group of FAA employees does just what the name says - provide assistance to law enforcement agencies. As investigator Lu Fountain says, "The information could be about suspicious aircraft, about pilots, about flight schools." (MORE)
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It was hot in San Antonio, but Jerry Lavey, executive assistant for internal communications, didn't leave the hotel - he planned to have breakfast and give the keynote address at the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Systems conference. (MORE)
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On Sept. 11, 2001, Bob Blunk, regional manager of civil aviation security, was driving to work in Seattle when he heard about the terrorist attacks. With more than 20 years of aviation security experience, Blunk jumped into action. (MORE)
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"It's one thing to hear about it, and another to see it," is how Selim Haber, airway facilities deputy manager in Jamaica, NY, summarizes his thoughts about Sept. 11 and the hours and days following the terrorist attacks. (MORE)
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Hundreds of FAA people worked to improve security and restore civil aviation after the skies were closed on Sept. 11, 2001. Here are some of their portraits.
Week of September 2
Week of September 9
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