Jerry Clayton: When the US was attacked on 9/11, airspace over the country was completely shut down. Thirty eight aircraft headed for the United States from Europe were diverted to the small Canadian town of Gander, Newfoundland.
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When the U.S. closed its airspace soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 238 planes were diverted to Canadian airports. Seventy-five of those were sent to Newfoundland and Labrador. Gander, with its vast runways, took in 38, according to data from NAV Canada.
September 11, 20017:59 AM – Flight 11 takes off from Boston, headed for Los Angeles, California. There are 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board. 8:15 AM – United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston, also headed for Los Angeles.
On Sept. 11, 2001, 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed, most when the towers collapsed. Now, an equal number have died from 9/11-related illnesses, the FDNY says.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when the hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon near Washington, DC, and when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside outside of Shanksville, PA.
On September 11, 2001, after flights were rerouted to their nearest airports, thirty-eight jets suddenly landed in Gander, stranding some seven thousand passengers for up to five days in a town with only five hundred hotel rooms.