The following is from a letter by a co-worker and her return flight to D.C.
early this week. I thought I'd share it with you all.

__________________________________________________________________

"I just wanted to drop you all a note and let you know that I arrived safe
and sound into Dulles Airport tonight [9/15] at about 6:00. It was an
interesting flight.

The airport in Denver was almost spooky, it was so empty and quiet.
No one was in line for the security check point when I got there so that
went fairly quickly, just x-ray of my bags and then a chemical test to be
sure nothing explosive was on them.

Then I waited 2 1/2 hours to board the plane. What happened after we
boarded was interesting and thought I would share it with you.

The pilot/captain came on the loudspeaker after the doors were
closed. His speech went like this:

First I want to thank you for being brave enough to fly today. The
doors are now closed and we have no help from the outside for any problems
that might occur inside this plane. As you could tell when you checked in,
the government has made some changes to increase security in the airports.

They have not, however, made any rules about what happens after those
doors close. Until they do that, we have made our own rules and I want to
share hem with you. Once those doors close, we only have each other.

The security has taken care of a threat like guns with all of the increased
canning, etc. Then we have the supposed bomb. If you have a bomb, there is
no need to tell me about it, or anyone else on this plane; you are already
in control. So, for this flight, there are no bombs that exist on this
plane.

Now, the threats that are left are things like plastics, wood,  knives, and
other weapons that can be made or things like that which can be used as
weapons.

Here is our plan and our rules. If someone or several people stand up
and say they are hijacking this plane, I want you all to stand up together.
Then take whatever you have available to you and throw it at them. Throw it
at their faces and heads so they will have to raise their hands to protect
themselves.

The very best protection you have against knives are the pillows and
blankets. Whoever is close to these people should then try to get a
blanket over their head--then they won't be able to see. Once that is done,
get them down and keep them there. Do not let them up. I will then land the
plane at the closest place and we WILL take care of them.

After all, there are usually only a few of them and we are 200+
strong! We will not allow them to take over this plane.

I find it interesting that the US Constitution begins with the words
"We, the people"--that's who we are, THE people and we will not be defeated.

With that, the passengers on the plane all began to applaud, people
had tears in their eyes, and we began the trip toward the runway.

The flight attendant then began the safety speech. One of the things
she said is that we are all so busy and live our lives at such a fast pace.
She asked that everyone turn to their neighbors on either side and introduce
themselves, tell each other something about your families and children, show
pictures, whatever. She said "for today, we consider you family. We will
treat you as such and ask that you do the same with us."

Throughout the flight we learned that for the crew, this was their
first flight since Tuesday's tragedies. It was a day that everyone leaned on
each other and together everyone was stronger than any one person alone. It
was quite an experience.

You can imagine the feeling when that plane touched down at Dulles
and we heard "welcome to Washington Dulles Airport, where the local time is
5:40". Again, the cabin was filled with applause.

Last night I saw a program with college students where one of them
said that at their campus there are no more hyphenated titles, i.e.,
African-American, etc., everyone is just an American. No one will ever be
able to take that ride away from us. "






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