Flights diverted to Canada following Sept 11 Attack on World Trade Center

I believe photo credit for these photos belongs to Halifax Airport Staff.

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In less than 30 minutes after the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept 11 2001, 250 planes were diverted to Canada in an attempt to remove all further planes from US airspace.  Many planes (about 250) were sent back to their overseas destination points if they hadn't reached the halfway point in their trip.  Many planes within the US were directed to immediately land.

This story is just one of the tiny little side stories that happened on Sept 11.

Included are 4 pictures of the relatively small airport at Halifax on the East Coast of Canada.  In many instances the planes were landed at small Canadian airports in very small communities and these small communities were scrambling to feed and house the unexpected thousands of sudden visitors.  For many Canadian communities....this day was the chance to test emergency preparedness for a disaster situation.  Canadians did their best to roll out the welcome mat and make all of theses tens of thousands of passengers as comfortable as possible under the very extreme situation until the skies were again opened up to air travel.

 

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