story10219.xml

story10219.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-11-30

I was working that morning at General Mitchell International Airport located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My job title is (Aircraft Fueler) and on that day I was responsible for serving 14 flights for my daily task. I ended up only servicing 3 of the 14 flights and I will tell you why. I (Mike) was going into the Midwest Express Operations room to get a fuel release for my next flight. As I entered the room I saw 5 people watching cnn on tv with live coverage. I did'nt pay no attention to it, so I left the room with my fuel release and got back into my fuel truck. My co-worker (Jeff) asked me (Mike) if there were any more fuel loads up I said no, and told him to go inside and find out where the rest of our fuel loads were. That is when all hell was broke loose. Jeff came back out and said Mike there is about 20 people in here watching this cnn coverage come lets both go in and see what is happening. We soon find out that planes are being used as weapons to fly into buildings. No sooner after seeing the coverage on tv our dispatcher (Linda) calls us back to the office, she says come now County Ops is locking all gates. Linda had also told us that all flights were grounded by the FAA. By the time we made it back to our office, flights from Chicago's O'Hare were being diverted to Milwaukee. We had 727's,MD-80's,757's and DC-9's just piled up on the ramp. All of are employees were back at the office watching the tv, and calling home to families. The rest of the day we sat and watched the sad coverage on the tv of the twin towers falling to the ground, and people just terrified. That day will stay in my mind forever and my co-workers too. I work in the Aviation field so my heart and prayers go out to the pilots and flight stewards on the flights that crashed that day. They died doing something they loved and cherished, flying and serving the people. That is something the terrorist will never take from them, there love and passion for flight. Again my heart and prayers go out to the Aviation families they are wonderful people.