'Gut-wrenching': 9/11 anniversary reminds that more can still be done for security
American Airlines pilot Dennis Tajer was on a layover when he heard a plane had crashed in New York City.
Expecting it was an accident involving a small aircraft, “I turned on the TV and saw the smoke billowing out of the first (World Trade Center) tower,” Tajer said.
Then, “I watched the second (plane) hit the tower. 'Is this real?'” he recalled thinking.
Piloted by terrorists, American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the WTC's north tower at 8:46 a.m., Sept. 11, 2001. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower.
By 10:03 a.m., American Flight 77 had hit the Pentagon and United Flight 93 had crashed into a Pennsylvania field as dauntless passengers fought the hijackers.
Whenever the anniversary approaches, “you feel like it happened last week,” said Tajer, an Arlington Heights resident.
“It's gut-wrenching.”
For American Airlines flight attendant Dray Howard, “you wanted it to be a joke, you wanted it to be a movie, you wanted it to be anything but what it was,” said the Woodridge resident, her voice catching.
“Since that day, I have not seen one movie, not one documentary on it. It's still hard to see a movie that has the twin towers.”
When commercial air service resumed in mid-September 2001, Howard wasn't afraid but “it was kind of surreal.”
She worried about nervous or upset passengers, but received a pleasant surprise. “The first week, they were so fabulous. They were the best passengers in the world,” said Howard, an official with the Association of Professional Flight Attedants.
After 9/11, the federal government created the Transportation Security Administration and beefed up screening and surveillance at airports. With TSA checkpoints, cameras and undercover officers, “I come to work feeling safe,” Howard said.
But “forever in my heart — I will never get closure. Because I'm never going to know the whys and the wherefores and what really happened on the back side” of 9/11, she said.
Paradoxically, “I know I have to find closure, so I can move on.”
Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks, including 33 pilots and flight attendants. The hijackers used knives and box cutters to kill or injure airline crews and passengers, the 9/11 Commission Report found.
“The first casualties happened when those planes were still flying,” said Tajer, a spokesman with the Allied Pilots Association.
The government subsequently required reinforced cockpit doors, but there are still vulnerabilities, pilots say.
APA and other unions are pushing for secondary cockpit barriers to be installed on all aircraft. The barriers — gates typically made of metal rods or cables — provide another layer of protection when cockpit doors are opened during flights.
In a worst-case scenario, the barriers “buy us the most critical tool we have when someone wants to take over the airplane — and that is time,” Tajer said.
“Time to resecure the door. Time to fight off the attack — because the name of the game when it comes to the flight deck is to protect it at all costs so that someone doesn't get up there and use the aircraft as a weapon.”
The Federal Aviation Administration in June instituted a rule requiring newly manufactured airplanes to have the secondary barriers starting within two years. But the policy doesn't cover retrofitting thousands of planes currently in use, according to union officials, who criticized airlines for pushing back against the changes.
United Airlines had no comment on the issue and American Airlines did not respond to emails from the Daily Herald. Cost estimates range from $5,000 to up to $35,000 per plane for the barriers, installation and training.
Meanwhile, FAA officials said the agency considered all public comments before adopting the rule, which follows requirements in the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act.
“The FAA continues to monitor threats to aviation security in conjunction with the TSA and other agencies. Should additional flight deck security measures be deemed necessary, the FAA may propose additional rule-making,” a spokesman said.
Threats to aviation didn't end with 9/11, Tajer said. “It's not fantasy talk. It happened. People with a nefarious intent would love an opportunity to do that again. On this solemn occasion ... it's outrageous that we still have to talk about things that can be done that aren't being done.”
And officials who point to success in aviation security should ask themselves a question, Tajer said. It's: “Do you feel lucky?”
Got a transportation comment or question? Email mpyke@dailyherald.com.
One more thing
IDOT's mixing it up this week with inbound Kennedy Expressway ramps opening and closing as part of a massive improvement project. On Monday, the expressway ramp to Addison Street will shut down, followed on Tuesday by the Diversey Avenue ramp to the Kennedy. Work should last two weeks. Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Sacramento Avenue ramp to the expressway and the Kennedy ramp to California Avenue will be open for business starting at 6 a.m.