I was in Ireland, the Southwest corner, gathering reference material to produce a yardage guide for Doonbeg Golf Links. The photograph used for my avatar was one I had shot 4 days earlier after taking off from Newark on my way to Shannon. There were delays taking off and it got dark before we flew over Manhattan. I remember being pissed because I was up front on the right side with a perfectly clear window to shoot out of. I shot anyway but remember thinking, it's alright, there will be other chances.
I was on the giant 8th green, measuring and drawing it, when the BBC interrupted the program I was listening to. They didn't know much, just an aircraft had hit the first building. I left my equipment there and headed for the clubhouse a mile away, shortly after I got there, the second plane hit. I recognized the United paint job and that it was a wide body aircraft...... they still weren't sure what aircraft had hit the first one but from the size of the hole it must have been similar. At the time, I had 3 brothers that were all Captains with a major airline, not having a clue where they were was very scary.
I remember feeling terrible about being across the Atlantic when my country was being attacked, a helpless feeling and so little information.
The Irish people were wonderful to me, they had a very strong feeling of sorrow and support, a lot of Irish were killed that day. At one point, in a very crowded pub one night, I stood at the bar and banged on my pint of Guinness with a knife.... the overly crowded place went silent. I held up my pint and shouted....."A toast, to my President, may GOD give him the Strength and the Wisdom to do the right thing!".... the place erupted in applause and shouting "USA", I didn't have to buy any more Guinness that night.
I had my laptop with me, with the photos I had shot 4 days before of Manhattan and the Trade Center buildings that were no more...... I witnessed grown Irish men tear up looking at those photos. It hit me hardest on that Friday. Ireland had shut down everything for the day in honor of those who lost their lives. I went to the golf course to work and listened to the radio. Standing on the 18th green, looking at the Atlantic towards America, I cried as I listened to letters written to America from Irish kids.... a moment of loneliness and despair I will never forget. The golf course was in the flight path of all aircraft coming into Shannon, the silence was deafening. Only one of my brothers was flying at that time, he was ordered to put it down at the closest airport which was Kansas City.
It took 2 weeks to get back, very stressful ride back into Newark on one of the first international flights going in there. They put me in first class sitting next to an Irish priest, the crew kept coming to him to bless the flight deck, the galley, the plane itself........ very interesting flight back.
Working for an airline now, and able to walk underneath the 767s like the ones that hit the Trade Center buildings, it's amazing to me that a building could take the huge hit something that size with over 30,000 gallons of fuel and traveling over 500 miles an hour would put on it.