Touching History

Posted By Pinch

I just finished a book called Touching History by Lynn Spencer.  It is an absolutely superb account of what the skies above America were like on Sept 11 to the pilots, aviators and controllers who had to sift through - and live through - the confusion of the day.

John Nance, author and ABC News Aviation Analyst, said the below about the book:

We need this book! Far too few Americans really understand what happened in the aviation system of the United States on 9/11: The heroic and selfless decisions and the heartrending attempts of airmen and controllers to respond to a developing catastrophe despite the lack of a viable domestic air defense system.

Which is exactly right.  Too many people out there, working from an initial foundation of ignorance of the aviation business (both civilian and military) don't understand the complexities and confusion that occurred that day - from the flight deck of a 757 inbound to Seattle or LA or Honolulu with the pilots, in that vast stretch of open Pacific where there is no radio coverage, having absolutely no idea what was going on or what they were flying into, to the Air National Guard pilots in their F-15 Eagle, watching the WTC burn but not having clearance to do anything - or mission guidance - in the initial stages of this tragic day, getting vectored out into Whiskey 105, the military operating/warning area south of Long Island, until the situation became a clearer.

Spencer is an airline pilot herself, and as such the book is easily digested by those with “lifties” in their blood (lifties, for the uninitiated, are the little critters that run around the wing of an aircraft and make it fly).   At the same time, however, those unfamiliar with the vernacular and the language of the sky will take very readily to this book since Spencer is meticulous at spelling out those pesky acronyms and translating the sometimes archaic and mystifying code spoken by those who fly.

Some great summertime reading, with a BONUS in that the next time you come across some moronic idiot (but I repeat myself) who talks about a "military stand-down" on 9/11, you can dismiss them with great disdain and a "Pfffft....you know *nothing* of what you speak!" because, thanks to Lynn Spencer,  you know what that day was like in the air above America.

I have this crossposted over at the Instapinch with some more information from the book, including what I would call a definitive passage that shows how frustrated and confused things were that day.

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Touching History

I just finished a book called Touching History by Lynn Spencer.  It is an absolutely superb account of what the skies above America were like on Sept 11 to the pilots, aviators and controllers who had to sift through - and live through - the confusion of the day.

John Nance, author and ABC News Aviation Analyst, said the below about the book:

We need this book! Far too few Americans really understand what happened in the aviation system of the United States on 9/11: The heroic and selfless decisions and the heartrending attempts of airmen and controllers to respond to a developing catastrophe despite the lack of a viable domestic air defense system.

Which is exactly right.  Too many people out there, working from an initial foundation of ignorance of the aviation business (both civilian and military) don't understand the complexities and confusion that occurred that day - from the flight deck of a 757 inbound to Seattle or LA or Honolulu with the pilots, in that vast stretch of open Pacific where there is no radio coverage, having absolutely no idea what was going on or what they were flying into, to the Air National Guard pilots in their F-15 Eagle, watching the WTC burn but not having clearance to do anything - or mission guidance - in the initial stages of this tragic day, getting vectored out into Whiskey 105, the military operating/warning area south of Long Island, until the situation became a clearer.

Spencer is an airline pilot herself, and as such the book is easily digested by those with “lifties” in their blood (lifties, for the uninitiated, are the little critters that run around the wing of an aircraft and make it fly).   At the same time, however, those unfamiliar with the vernacular and the language of the sky will take very readily to this book since Spencer is meticulous at spelling out those pesky acronyms and translating the sometimes archaic and mystifying code spoken by those who fly.

Some great summertime reading, with a BONUS in that the next time you come across some moronic idiot (but I repeat myself) who talks about a "military stand-down" on 9/11, you can dismiss them with great disdain and a "Pfffft....you know *nothing* of what you speak!" because, thanks to Lynn Spencer,  you know what that day was like in the air above America.

I have this crossposted over at the Instapinch with some more information from the book, including what I would call a definitive passage that shows how frustrated and confused things were that day.

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