The following is VERY long. “Cliff Notes” are at the bottom so you can judge whether it’s worth your time, but please take the time to read the whole thing. I’m an engineer, not a writer, so I apologize for the stilted writing style.
What you are about to read is the absolute truth. Here’s my story:
On September 11, 2001, I had a job interview scheduled with Constellation Nuclear Services, a consulting firm based in Crofton, Maryland that does nuclear power plant license renewals. I, a nuclear engineer, had been out of work for four months and was living at my house in Dresden, Maine with my wife, enjoying the summer in Maine until I could find another contracting position in the nuclear power industry. I set up the interview so I would be able to fly in and out of Baltimore the same day, getting home just in time for dinner.
So, early in the morning of September 11, I traveled to the Portland Jetport to catch a 6 AM flight to Boston and connect to Baltimore to go to my job interview. I checked in at the US Airways counter, went through security, and waited at the gate for the announcement to board the plane for Flight 5930. Not a whole lot of people were traveling, since it was about 5:30 AM in the morning.
The announcement to board was made and I got on the plane – a small propeller plane with one row of seats on each side of the plane. I waited for about 10 minutes while others boarded. The last people to board were two Arab-looking guys. They both looked confused and the one in front asked me with a thick Arab-sounding accent, “Where are the seat numbers?” I replied, “There aren’t any. You have to count,” since these small planes usually don’t have numbers above the seats like on larger airplanes. He smiled and sat in the opposite seat in the row behind me and the guy with him sat directly behind me. The steward closed the door and we took off, were served drinks and nothing eventful happened during the flight; it was pretty quiet. I read my car magazines during the flight and some guys in front of me chatted about computer software. The Arab-looking guys behind me didn’t say a word for the whole trip.
We landed in Boston-Logan Airport. I really had to go to the bathroom, so I made a beeline to the men’s room after they let us out of the plane. When I came out, all the other passengers had left the area and I didn’t see the two Arab-looking guys again. I made my way to my next departure gate and boarded my flight to Baltimore (US Airways Flight 2611) which left at 7:30 AM. I had another quiet flight and landed early in Baltimore at about 8:40 AM. I then proceeded to get my rental car.
I got my rental car papers after waiting in line at the Alamo counter for about 45 minutes (I later realized why it took so long! The agents were probably watching the TV in the back!). When I went to get the car, a guy from Spain who had been talking on his cellular phone asked me if I had heard about a fire at the World Trade Center. I replied that I had not. When I got the car and turned on the radio, this was the first I heard of the World Trade Center attacks. I recall that the attack on the Pentagon occurred while I was on-route to my interview.
I proceeded to the Constellation Nuclear Services offices in Crofton, where in spite of everything, the interview went on. It went well and I even knew some people that worked there. I think they were just happy that I still got there in one piece. I got a hold of my wife on the phone and assured her I was OK. Later, it became obvious that I was not going to be able to fly back to Portland that day since all flights were grounded, so I contacted Alamo car rental and they said that it would not be a problem if I drove the car all the way back to Maine.
I set off driving north at about 2 PM. When I got to the middle of New Jersey on the Jersey turnpike, you could start seeing the cloud blowing south from Manhattan. At times, I passed large numbers of ambulances and rescue trucks with all their lights flashing, as well as trucks carrying earth moving equipment, as I drove closer to New York. At a certain point (I think it was just north of the Newark airport), the highway was blocked and you had to take a long route around the New York metropolitan area, crossing the Hudson River on the Tappan Zee Bridge. I noticed that, at times, the highways were almost deserted during “rush-hour”. At times I exceeded 85 mph in my rental car, because I really wanted to just get home. I continued north into Connecticut and Massachusetts, seeing state troopers parked in the medians, but not pulling over anyone. I figured that this was just a show of force.
I finally got home to Dresden, Maine at about 11 PM after nine hours of almost continuous driving. After hugging and kissing my wife and telling her some of my stories, we went to bed.
The next morning, I returned my rental car to the Alamo center at the Portland Jetport and retrieved the car I had left parked there the morning before. After returning home, I was watching CNN at about 11 AM and it was mentioned that two of the terrorists had gotten on a plane in Portland. This piqued my interest and I watched further. Then they mentioned the very flight I had been on, US Airways Flight 5930, as being the flight where two of the terrorists had entered the flight system. I immediately thought of the two Arab-looking guys on my flight. I grabbed the phone book and called the only number listed in it for the FBI office in Augusta, Maine. I got a receptionist and told her I had been on US Airways Flight 5930 the day before and that they might want to talk with me. She said she’d pass it on.
About an hour later, I got a call from the FBI agent in charge of the investigation in Maine and he wanted to talk with me that afternoon ASAP. I told him I’d be home. My wife made coffee as we waited. At about 3 PM, an unmarked police car entered my driveway (you have to realize that I had 18 wooded acres in Maine, so the sight of a police car coming down my long dirt driveway was a little unusual, to say the least). A state trooper and the FBI agent I talked with earlier came up to my door. They came in, listened to my story, taking lots of notes. It was pretty obvious that they were under a lot of pressure. They did appreciate the coffee. The agent asked me about the two Arab-looking guys, what they were wearing, what they said, etc. They were at the house only for about an hour, and then they thanked me for my information and said they’d call back if they wanted to talk more.
A couple of days later, the FBI agent called and later came by again with lots of photos. I picked out the two that I thought most looked like the Arab-looking guys that sat behind me. Later that day, the networks started showing Mohammed Atta’s photo on TV and I recognized him as the Arab-looking guy who sat behind me. The other guy, the one who had spoken to me, was Abdulaziz Alomari. His photo was shown on TV a few days later. To my surprise, I had picked both photos correctly from the dozens shown to me by the FBI agent.
I guess this story doesn’t really have a firm ending, other than to say that I did get offered the job with Constellation Nuclear Services, but turned it down to do more nuclear contracting. I finally started a new job in October 2001. Since then, I sold my house in Maine and moved to Omaha, where I obtained a more permanent job.
I guess the reason for me writing this for you is to tell you the things I learned from this experience – Life is precious; I feel lucky to be alive, to come that close to evil and live.
Also, evil will smile at you and then kill you with no warning or good reason. This is why I will always support the complete destruction of terrorism, whatever the cost and wherever it exists. Oh, and I’m not even planning to sue anyone……
Cliff Notes: Absolute truth: Flew on a plane on September 11 from Portland Maine to Boston with two Arab-looking guys. Drove back home past NYC from Maryland the same day. Later realized the two Arab-looking guys were Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari. FBI and Maine State Police interviewed me. Terrorists are ev