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WMU remembers Sept. 11, 2001

WMU honors the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States with 10 stories of remembrance: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Skies over aviation college silent for two weeks

by Cheryl Roland

Sept. 4, 2011 | WMU News

Sept. 11, 2001, was scheduled to be a day of celebration in the skies over WMU's College of Aviation. By day's end the sky was empty and the college's planes sat on the ground in Battle Creek and at small airfields across the state.

Photo of WMU College of Aviation in 2001.
WMU College of Aviation in 2001. Photo by Neil Rankin
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration immediately ordered all flights in the nation canceled and all flights in the air to immediately land. WMU dispatchers ordered flight students to put their planes on their ground at the closest available airport.

By 10:40 a.m., all WMU aircraft were accounted for and were on the ground—some at airports across the state as student fliers curtailed cross-country flights and responded to the FAA closing by landing at the nearest airports.

The last three aircraft to report landed at Michigan airports in Marshall, Mount Pleasant and Lakeview in Montcalm County. Vehicles were dispatched to retrieve the pilots and return them to the WMU campus.

Meanwhile, a flight carrying officials from Mesaba Airlines' Minneapolis headquarters to WMU was among the thousands of flights canceled that morning. The Mesaba team was headed to WMU's Kellogg Airport facility for a 2 p.m. celebration and announcement of a new partnership between WMU and the regional passenger carrier. The planned event dissolved and was not rescheduled until the following April.

For commercial airlines, the flight ban was lifted within days. A continuing ban on VFR—Visual Flight Rules—flights kept WMU and flight schools around the nation shut down for two weeks. The ban was finally lifted and students retuned to normal flight operations on Sept. 24.

WMU honors the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States with 10 stories of remembrance: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10