Aviation’s Impact on World Events

A discussion on the impact of aviation worldwide after the September 11th attacks.

Not long after the 9/11 attacks, the entire airspaces of the United States and Canada were closed by order of the FAA National Operations Manager (NATCA, 2020). All grounded passengers and planes were searched for security threats. This safety precaution affected approximately 6,500 flight passengers and crew to be grounded and searched in order to keep everyone safe (Bailey, J., & Cummins, N., 2019).

The actions of the FAA to “ground stop” a large number of people can be observed as a reactive and short-term type of change because the “ground stop” order only lasted about 2 days, but needed to be done in order to ensure safety. When the ground stop was ordered Canadian Transport Minister, David Collenette, announced that all inbound aircraft to the U.S. that were past their "point of no return," or more than halfway to their destination, would be allowed to land at one of Canada's military or civilian airports. On 9/11, Gander International Airport’s air traffic control successfully re-routed 200 flights, bringing the planes down to small airports located in Eastern Canada. Gander’s own airport took in 38 jumbo jets, parking them wingtip to wingtip on its runways. Around 6,600 passengers and crew were onboard those planes. The Halifax International Airport took in 40 flights, while St. John's International Airport, Greater Moncton International Airport, and Stephenville International Airport took in the remainder of the transatlantic flights. Over on the west side of Canada, the only airport capable of landing the wide-body aircraft used on transpacific routes was Vancouver International Airport. It took in 34 flights carrying 8,500 people. Nav Canada reported that a total of 239 airplanes carrying between 30,000 and 45,000 passengers were diverted to 17 different airports across Canada (Wendorf, 2021).

Thanks to the flexibility of the various Canadian airports, flights were able to safely land and abide by the “ground stop” order. This resulted in the grounding and safety of thousands of passengers and crew on 9/11 that were eventually able to return home. Thanks to the efforts made by the many airports, especially Gander Airport, the passengers are able to come back and visit the site on the anniversary of the tragic event. 9/11 will live long in the memory as a day of terror and grief, but thanks to the countless acts of kindness and compassion done for those passengers, it will live forever in memory as a day of comfort and of healing unless acts of kindness and compassion (Wendorf, 2021).

References

Bailey, J., & Cummins, N. (2019, May 27). The story of Operation Yellow Ribbon. Simple Flying. https://simpleflying.com/operation-yellow-ribbon/.

NATCA (2020, September 11). Honoring the work of NATCA members on 9/11. https://www.natca.org/2020/09/11/honoring-the-work-of-natca-members-on-9-11/

Wendorf, M. (2021, September 30). Operation yellow ribbon: A tiny Canadian town's remarkable response to 9/11. Interesting Engineering. https://interestingengineering.com/operation-yellow-ribbon-a-tiny-canadian-towns-remarkable-response-to-9-11