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. We didn t talk about plans, Kathyrn said. We talked abouttime.Well,  whatever he does, one thing we know, he won t be late,said her friend.Again the two laughed, since Chic s uncanny ability with timewas legendary.Flight attendants knew how, with his supreme effi-ciency, Chic could make up time in flight as well as any pilot.Oftenhe would trim forty-five minutes off a coast-to-coast trip and bring alate departure in early.Murphy.front-214 6/19/06 8:03 AM Page 41kathryn | 41 | All I remember is he kept tapping his watch, Kathryn said. Time to go, time to go.Soon the plane swooped down and the wheels touched groundin Dulles, early of course, and Kathryn and her friend smiled.After the plane reached the gate and the cabin door was opened,Kathryn waited at the rear of the plane.That was her job, to wait forall passengers to exit.Then she walked to the front of the plane, thelast to leave.Kathryn poked her head in the cabin to look for Chic;she wanted to thank him for a good flight, another of her practices,but he was already gone.Ah! she thought.Typical Chic.Never one to sit still.Kathyrn stepped off the plane, wheeling her Travelpro bag be-hind her, but as she left that evening she regretted that she had nothad a chance to say good-bye.Murphy.front-214 6/19/06 8:03 AM Page 42Chapter SixTONI AND MICHELLEAt 5 am on Tuesday morning, September 11, Toni Knisley sat downat her desk in the American Airlines flight services office at ReaganNational Airport in Washington, DC, to begin her day.Toni had started with American Airlines as a secretary in 1986.She had worked her way up by working hard, taking every possiblejob in the office, from clerical positions to operations before becom-ing the flight service manager, second in command to Rosemary Dil-lard, the flight service base manager.Toni was a tireless worker, butwith a great laugh.Run something ironic by Toni, and you d get agreat laugh, with her head tossed back. Oh, come on! she d say.Shewas famous for  oh, come on!Toni had grown up in the small town of Mt.Vernon, Indiana.Her mother had been poor but smart and became a college ad-ministrator.Toni s father, a machinist, eventually took a job with thespace program, which required the family to move to San Diego.There, Toni met and married a Navy man, and they moved to Wash-ington, DC, which is where Toni was in 1986 when the call camefrom American Airlines.Because of her tireless work habits, friends and co-workers con-sidered her the  glue that held everything together, a depiction borne| 42 |Murphy.front-214 6/19/06 8:03 AM Page 43toni and michelle | 43 |out as she worked her way up to a senior position at the station inWashington, DC.It was a reputation she had earned by being the firstone into the office every morning, which is what she was again themorning of September 11, when her phone rang. Do you miss me? asked the voice on the other end. Who is this? It s me, Toni.It s Michelle!Michelle Heidenberger, a veteran flight attendant who hadstarted her career with American Airlines in 1971, flew regular  turnsout of Reagan to Dallas.Michelle was a tall, dark-haired woman witha quick smile.She was married to a pilot with US Airways, TommieHeidenberger, and they had two kids, a daughter in college and a sonstarting high school that fall.Michelle loved to tease Toni, to see ifshe could elicit an  oh, come on! The two had a lot in commonthey were the same age, both had two kids and they loved to talkabout the challenges and delights of raising a family.Still, it caughtToni off guard to be getting a call from Michelle, rather than seeingher in the doorway at Reagan. Michelle! Where are you? I m at Dulles. Oh, come on! What are you doing at Dulles? Aren t you flyingyour regular turn to Dallas today? I m working Flight 77 to L.A.because I want to take time off inOctober to go to Italy with Tommie and the kids.I ve been biddingDulles, to build up time.Be sure you tell Rosemary how hard I mworking. Rosemary Dillard, the flight service manager, was Toni sboss.When Toni talked, Rosemary listened. I will.Listen you get back here soon, you hear.Michelle?Toni could hear voices behind Michelle, voices telling her it was timeto go, the voices of the other flight attendants she d be working withthat day. Listen, Toni, I gotta go.Chic and David are on the plane already.Ken and Jennifer, Renee, they need me on the plane, too.Murphy.front-214 6/19/06 8:03 AM Page 44| 44 | that day You get back here, you hear. Remember to tell Rosemary how hard I m working.Tell her togive me some good turns on the bid sheet. I will, but you come see me when you re at Reagan next. Always, she said.Then she was gone.Much about Flight 77 the flight back to L.A.that Kathryn Barbourhad come in on the evening before remains a mystery, even today.After departing from Dulles at 8:20 AM, the plane flew west overVirginia and West Virginia without incident until 8:46.Then sud-denly it turned north.Several minutes later, the plane turned aroundand flew south again.During this period the plane traveled off courseby about fifteen miles and remained off course for five minutes.At8:56 AM, flight controllers tried to make contact with the pilot oncethey saw that the transponder, the device that sends and receives theexact location of a plane in flight, had been turned off.According toregulations, a military fighter jet should have been sent up to see whatwas going on.There are very strict rules on this.If a pilot in flightdoes not answer a call from an FAA tower, then fighter jets are re-quired to be dispatched to find out why.But this time, no plane wassent up by NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Com-mand) to look for Flight 77.The lapse remains unexplained.While this was occurring, American Airlines Flight 11 out ofBoston struck the World Trade Center s North Tower, as a secondplane, United 175, with Marianne and Jesus aboard, flew south fromBoston toward New York.Across the Hudson at Newark Airport,United Airlines Flight 93 lifted off after a long delay on the taxiwayand ascended toward its cruising altitude.With its transponder off, Flight 77 flew east toward Washingtonat four hundred miles per hour.FAA flight controllers continued totry to make contact with the cockpit in the minutes following 9 AM,but without success.Murphy.front-214 6/19/06 8:03 AM Page 45toni and michelle | 45 |On Flight 77, flight attendant Renee May called her father in anattempt to reach Toni Knisley, while a passenger, Barbara Olsen, a tel-evision commentator, called her husband, United States SolicitorGeneral Ted Olsen.Barbara told him she was standing in a bathroomat the back of the plane.She asked Ted what she should do.This oc-curred at 9:25, nearly half an hour after Flight 77 had turned aroundand headed back east.Barbara Olsen s call cut out, but five minutes later she called herhusband back, telling him that all the passengers had been herded tothe rear of the plane.Hijackers had used knives and box cutters toovertake the plane, she said.Her husband asked her to describe whatshe saw out the window, and she told him she just saw houses. Whatshould I do? she asked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]