In the skies, confusion and chaos reigned

DODGE CITY, Kan.--Shortly after taking off from Baltimore-Washington International Airport at 7 a.m. on Sept. 11, US Airways Flight 29 to Los Angeles entered the skies just north of the nation's capital. The crowded downtown lay quietly, tucked into the fold of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, as a most terrible day began to stir. I had never seen the city on such a clear, lovely morning, and I stared at it to see if I could pick out any landmarks. The Washington Monument was the only recognizable building. Then my thoughts turned to my schedule in southern California, where I would spend four days interviewing federal officials for a feature story for Government Executive. The day could not seem to be dawning more smoothly. The plane pushed west. Around 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the pilot announced that the U.S. government had ordered our plane to land in Garden City, Kan., because of a national security emergency. Where was the emergency? On the plane? Back home? We didn't know, and the pilot provided no additional information. Soon we found ourselves landing on a small airstrip next to a short air traffic control tower surrounded by farmland. Two planes--an Air Canada flight en route from Houston to Calgary and a United flight on its way from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles--had landed before we did. We taxied up behind the other planes, past some prop planes that looked far more at home in Garden City than did our 757. As soon as we stopped, passengers began dialing their cell phones, and horrific bits of news began to make their way through the plane. Airliners hijacked...World Trade Center hit...Pentagon hit...Washington evacuated...Flights going to Los Angeles taken over by terrorists. Passengers shared the news and talked on their phones with family and co-workers, calmly but shocked. I looked about the cabin, wondering whether terrorists had selected our plane as well, waiting until we neared Los Angeles to take over. Other passengers later told me they did the same. The crew told us that the Garden City airport had no ladders tall enough to reach the doors of a 757. We would have to wait. A fellow passenger let me use his cell phone to call my family. A fire truck arrived on the tarmac 20 minutes later, and passengers from the first two planes began climbing down the truck's ladder. Local police, firefighters and agents from the Garden City office of the Drug Enforcement Administration helped people off the planes and then put them through a security check. The security checks were thorough--one person and one bag at a time went through the only metal detector and X-ray machine at the facility. We got off the plane about three hours later, but it wasn't until all the passengers had gone through security that I felt a sense of relief. Then in the airport terminal, I saw the television reports with its images of the World Trade Center crumbling and the Pentagon burning. Only then did I realize the horror that had been dealt by the terrorists. They used planes just like the one we had just evacuated. Each of us was sure that someone we knew was affected by the attacks. Later, some of the passengers surely would learn that co-workers or friends were dead, missing or had barely avoided the attacks. US Airways officials boarded the passengers on a bus. They took us to Dodge City, an old western town dotted with cowboy attractions, 55 miles east of Garden City on U.S. Route 50. There, officials and residents jumped into action to accommodate the 78 people who had found themselves dropped into their town. Wal-Mart donated food and telephone calling cards, the American Red Cross sent volunteers to offer assistance and the Dodge City government provided shuttles to tourist sites and shopping centers. Even the Boot Hill Museum opened its doors to the passengers for free. After making calls to family and friends and watching the news throughout the evening, I went to sleep in my hotel room. My rest was made possible by the kindness of strangers and the actions of federal and military officials, here in Kansas and throughout the nation. This morning, the kindness continued. Dodge City Community College opened its computer lab so we could use e-mail and check the Web for information, fed us at the cafeteria and set up a phone bank so we could call our families, free of charge. US Airways and town officials are arranging activities to fill our time as we await word on when we will be able to return home. This remote town in southwestern Kansas, 150 miles west of Wichita, is far removed from the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, but the effects have rippled across the nation. For now, I send prayers from Dodge City to all who are coping with the aftermath of yesterday's terrible deeds.