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The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York changed aviation for ever. Security was tightened, baggage was screened, and thorough searches caused frustration and long delays. Passengers were advised to check in three hours before departure.
It was the death knell for the notion that flying was romantic.
Four aircraft were hijacked, the terrorists forced their way into the cockpits and slashed the throats of the pilots with box cutters. They flew two of the aircraft into the Twin Towers in New York, one into the Pentagon and the fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
Airlines were forced to fit armoured cockpit doors and no one was allowed onto the flight deck apart from crew. The door was locked at all times and a security camera system monitored the access. We were not allowed into the cabin to talk to the passengers and we became hermetically sealed in our lonely and boring eyrie.
I was a Captain of a Boeing 747 and I must admit that I kept the emergency fire axe by my side just in case.
Excerpt from my book — “Dancing the skies and falling with style.”
We were preparing a flight from London to Chicago. It was snowing lightly and we were de-icing the aircraft as a…
