It was a beautiful Tuesday morning and not having to jump into the car and immediately drive to the airport, I had a more relaxing time as I had a meeting scheduled with Mayor John Rowswell at 10 a.m. to talk about an upcoming event in the city.
I had Canada AM on in the background as I was preparing to get out of the house, however there was no volume turned up.
In the corner of my eye, I saw a burning skyscraper that immediately grabbed my attention and I cranked the volume to see what was going on.
It was at this time I realized that an aircraft had flown into one of the twin towers in New York City.
The media was buzzing with all sorts of speculation saying that eyewitnesses described the aircraft as a small private aircraft, then changing the story to a small cargo carrying aircraft.
The hole in the office tower was much too large to be a small aircraft and my heart sunk.
It was shortly after this when a second aircraft hit the south tower.
The entire atmosphere then changed from an accident to an attack.
I jumped into my car and left Goulais to make the trip to City Hall to meet with John, while listening to CBC all the way and taking in as much speculation as possible.
Once at City Hall, John and I discussed the events unfolding and cut our meeting short.
I had a photo shoot at the Station Mall for a promotion I had recently done, and quickly cancelled this from my cell phone and headed out to the airport at a very fast pace.
My phone buzzed and it was my staff informing me that the FAA and NavCan will be shutting down the airspace over North America immediately and that all aircraft must land at the nearest airports as soon as possible.
Not knowing the full extent of the impact of this decision, I advised my staff to contact the large hotels and block off as many rooms as possible until we knew what this all meant.
This was done and sufficient rooms were held at Algoma’s Water Tower Inn and the Best Western. By the time I arrived at the airport, three Air Canada aircraft were out front of the terminal - a DC-9 scheduled from Winnipeg to Montreal and Halifax, an A320 from Saskatoon to Toronto and Air Canada Regional’s Dash-8 which was to depart for Toronto.
The estimated count of the passengers was 170.
I immediately met with the flight crews and asked if their batteries were serviceable to start the APU’s, (auxiliary power units on board each aircraft to allow for engine start).
They replied yes and we shut all the systems down on both the Air Canada aircraft suspecting our wait would be lengthy.
At this point we did not know the answer to several questions such as: how long would these folks be with us?
Should we transport these people to hotels now?
And what are we expecting for additional aircraft in the Sault?
Sault Ste. Marie is directly on a main vector that serves overseas traffic from larger airports in America such as Chicago and Detroit.
There were rumours abound that we could expect United Airlines flights en route to their destinations diverting into the Sault since they are a member of the Star Alliance as is Air Canada.
It would be three hours, before we knew no more aircraft will be arriving.
All aircraft, North America wide, were on the ground somewhere, within a two-hour period.
The Red Cross and the City of Sault Ste. Marie immediately jumped into action arranging bus transportation, passenger lists and assignments to hotels.
My phone was ringing off the hook with calls from the press and good citizens volunteering to put passengers up at their homes.
As the days passed and the information was slow coming from the regulators such as the FAA and Transport Canada, our displaced guests enjoyed city tours, the Agawa Canyon Tour and good friendly hospitality.
My mornings and evenings were spent between the two hotels trying to update the passengers on any news I could regarding the situation and when they would travel to their destinations once again.
The hotel staff were excellent as they put flip charts in the lobby with any information that was available.
The news finally came on day three from Air Canada Dispatch that Transport Canada would lift the ban on air traffic and we may be launching at 6 a.m.
Bus transportation was at the hotels before 5 a.m. as the lobbies emptied and anxious people were ready to go.
Back at the airport the aircraft were being prepared and passengers checking in.
Some had previously departed in rental cars while others had been picked up by family, however the majority were still here.
The news finally arrived that we were ready to go.
The time was somewhere around 10 a.m.
The captain from the DC-9 advised me that Dispatch wanted him to go to Toronto as opposed to Montreal.
This concerned me as the passengers just wanted to get to their intended destination without any further delays.
The captain stated: “Don’t worry, we’re going direct Montreal, I will make sure of it!”
I liked that.
There were a lot of late nights and early mornings for all of us.
When I did get home, I struggled to explain to my kids, then 10 years younger, how somebody could hate so much as to cause all this destruction and pain for so many.
It was difficult.
I look back and know that our small part of this attack will not be mentioned in the national press and I’m OK with that.
I believe that the people here should know what happened behind the scenes in the Sault during this truly awful time.
The actions of our city staff, the service organizations such as the Red Cross, the hotel staff and my staff at the airport were second to none and these people should always remain proud of their contributions to our new friends that “dropped” in on us 10 years ago today.
The Sault Airport waived the landing and parking fees for the aircraft involved as well.
Many of the passengers praised the city and promised to return to enjoy a less stressful holiday.
I do not know if this has happened or not, but I will not be surprised if on this anniversary date, some return.
It was different to look to the skies during the three days of shutdown and see no contrails that so often blocked sunlight during normal operating days.
Weeks later, I was still receiving calls at home and work when aircraft high above were doing circles only to find they were being sequenced into arrival patterns in the larger U.S. centres.
There have seen countless programs, videos, and books written about these tragic events of Sept. 11, however we all have our individual thoughts and feelings based on our perceptions of that day.
It is a time that is forever etched into our memories and it is with hope, a similar event does not occur.
I am no longer in the commercial airline business, but still remain very focused on aviation with the Ministry of Natural Resources, and still in Sault Ste. Marie.
I know for me, those days in September will be remembered for the remainder of my life.
Tyler Wilson, (former) general manager Sales and Service, Air Canada Regional Airlines. SSMADC Board Member