Dear Readers,
September 11, 2001, is a day none of us could ever forget. Like everyone, I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news. All were glued to televisions, confused and scared by what was unfolding before our eyes. That day is embedded in my memory as if it were yesterday. I think those of us in aviation may have experienced another layer of fear and loss that binds us still.
That was the day my first son went home from the hospital after his birth. It was the first day of a new job so I wasn’t home for my family. I remember feeling incredibly afraid for my new son, worried for his future and trepidatious about what would happen in the coming days and weeks. My little world was changing and now, the whole world seemed to collapse like those towers. My heart had a wound like the Pentagon and my mood was a bleak as the blackened earth where the third jet crashed.
Out of the smoke and ashes of our tragedy, the people of this country rose up and spoke out against the people who attacked our country and their ideology. We came together as one nation. We could use another dose of unity today ¬– without the tragedy.
We all said we would never forget. This is me never forgetting.
Fly Safely,
Craig Pieper
