Twenty years ago, Wichita welcomed air travelers stranded by Sept. 11 terror attacks
Twenty years ago, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks tore apart the United States’ sense of safety and security. The horror and shock of such an act committed on American soil rattled nearly everyone living in the U.S. and many abroad.
People still recall with incredible clarity exactly what they were doing when they learned four airliners hijacked by al Qaeda militants had hit the World Trade Center’s twin towers and the Pentagon and crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
In all, nearly 3,000 people died.
Twenty years ago, amid the chaos, fear and tears, the city of Wichita pulled together to make travelers stuck at Mid-Continent Airport when their flights were grounded not only feel safe, but welcome.
Letters from those travelers published in The Wichita Eagle in the days after the groundings are filled with gratitude.
One woman, Patricia Kelly from Redlands, California, wrote:
“It was a terrible, frightening day, but I just wanted to thank the warm people in Wichita with whom we came in contact during our two-day stay. I can’t tell you how many times since I returned home that I’ve sung your praises.”
Another woman far from home, Jaime Geiger of Haley, Maine, thanked the city for its hospitality during the three days she was stranded.
“The terrible events last week went beyond anything I can express in words,” she wrote in a letter. “But one thing I can express — the citizens of Wichita opened their doors and hearts to many of us, and I will never forget it. You are what makes our country so great.”
Other diverted travelers appreciated what Wichita did during that time, too.
The warm reception is something those working for the airport and city at the time have never forgotten, either.
Here’s what three of them remember.
Landing in ‘flyover country’
Valerie Wise, the airport’s longtime air service and business development manager, arrived at work on that beautiful Tuesday morning and quickly heard over the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers in New York City.
Immediately, her mind went to terrorism.
“Life as we know it just changed,” she recalled thinking.
She turned on the television in her office. A Boeing 767 loaded with jet fuel had flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. eastern time.
Several minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., a second Boeing 767 struck the south tower.
The Pentagon was next at 9:37 a.m. The plane that crashed in the Pennsylvania field went down at 10:03 a.m.
Soon, Wise learned that all planes flying in U.S. airspace had been ordered to land immediately at the nearest airport.
She called the acting airport director — “He couldn’t believe it,” she said remembering his reaction to the news — then phoned airport concessionaires and restaurant managers to warn more food would be needed to serve an influx of unexpected passengers.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” she said.
It didn’t take long for news of the airline groundings to spread across the city. Or for Wichitans to start contacting the airport, offering their own homes to air travelers with no place to stay, Wise said.
There were so many calls that the airport needed extra staff to answer the lines.
“They were opening up their homes to these perfect strangers … which was a pretty neat thing for the people of Wichita to do.”
When she finally went to the airport terminal, intending to help at the information desk, it was crowded with nervous passengers unsure why their pilots would land at an airport in “flyover country.”
Later, organizations including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Sedgwick County Emergency Management and others packed in, too, armed with food, drinks and welcoming smiles.
Many of the more than 1,300 stranded travelers ended up in hotels, taken there by bus.
Some rented cars and drove to their final destinations, unwilling to cope with further delays.
A few stayed at the airport, hoping for a short layover.
At least one group spent the night at a local resident’s house, Wise recalled.
“The people that called opening up their homes, it just made me feel so proud to be a Wichitan,” she said.
“It was just a really good feeling to know that we are that kind of people.”
Coming together
Chief Roger Xanders had been working for the airport’s police and fire department for about nine years when terrorists hijacked the airliners on Sept. 11, 2001. He was fresh off of a long shift and at home when he saw the gut-wrenching news about planes flying into the World Trade Center in New York.
It didn’t take long for his phone to ring. The airport needed him back on the job right away.
“At the time I didn’t really know exactly what was going on,” Xanders recalled.
But as he drove toward the airport, he saw planes coming in to land — more than ever before.
“Aircraft after aircraft after aircraft. I’d say at least five, six, seven deep just stair stepped off” the runways, he said.
Xanders got dressed and started his emergency shift with a patrol around the terminal ramp.
More airplanes were on the ground than the airport gates could handle.
“We were having planes wait out on the taxiways, on ramp space,” Xanders said. “When a gate would open up, we would bring an aircraft in to the gate, offload the passengers and then that aircraft would then go back out.”
That went on for hours.
“It took a while to get everybody off.”
One jet in particular from that day sticks out in Xanders’ mind.
A plane carrying more than 100 Israelis on a flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles happened to be near the Wichita airport when the Federal Aviation Administration suddenly suspended all air travel.
The passengers were scared, spoke little to no English, and required extra security.
Xanders helped protect them until the city of Wichita could arrange their stay at Camp Hiawatha, a local retreat center.
He saw them again a few days later, when the government let flights resume.
Every passenger tried to shake his hand or thank him as they boarded, he recalled.
“I definitely saw the humanity effort, from anyone and everyone as to what could they do to help,” Xanders said.
“City of Wichita, Sedgwick County residents, all of them came together and tried to make a terrible situation the best that we could.”
Providing hospitality
Sandy Evans said she learned about the terrorist attacks from her husband. He called and told her to turn on the radio.
Back then, her husband was an avid listener of a radio show hosted by a couple of guys known for pulling pranks.
But talk on the airwaves of hijacked airliners that morning was no joke.
The photos and video footage she saw later on the news were horrifying.
At the time, Evans was about a month into a new job as director of marketing of the Old Cowtown Museum, where she worked until 2005. She has since moved to Enid, Oklahoma.
Not long after hundreds of air travelers were unexpectedly grounded at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, she got a call from the Sedgwick County Zoo.
Some attractions in town were offering free admission to entertain the passengers. Cowtown agreed to help.
Eager to get a taste of the Old West, several travelers — many from overseas — decided to take in the museum’s living history.
Cowboy interpreter Galen Arnett was on horseback the day they came.
One stranded passenger Evans remembers fondly was “so excited” to meet a “real cowboy.”
“It touched my heart that we were able to provide free admission to those particular guests,” she said. “They appreciated the opportunity to visit the museum and all the other attractions.”
Back in the air
In the days after the forced groundings, the usually bustling airport was eerily quiet, Wise and Xanders recalled.
The usual noise of incoming and departing flights was gone. No new faces arrived in the terminal building.
The stranded passengers were grateful for the hospitality.
No one complained or fought, Xanders said, just accepted the circumstances and hoped a way out would come soon.
Wise isn’t sure exactly how many planes landed in Wichita the day of the terrorist attacks.
But everyone seemed relieved when commercial planes were given the OK to fly again two days later.
One woman from the Israeli flight was in tears when she was forced to set foot in Wichita that awful Tuesday. By the time she and her fellow travelers left Mid-Continent Airport, she was grinning and waving an American flag, Wise remembers.
“I’ll never forget that because everyone was smiling. Everybody was happy,” she said, adding: “That’s what Americans do. They rise to the occasion.”
