Operation Yellow Ribbon

[bkepley]

JIM SWIFT
TWS

After the United States shut down its airspace after the September 11th attack, a unique problem emerged: international flights.

Sure, some planes took off shortly before it was announced the entire U.S. air grid was on lock down, and they could turn back. But what about those beyond the point of no return, or those just about to land? What if the terror threat was broader than what we knew?

Insert our neighbor to the north, Canada, which instituted Operation Yellow Ribbon, a plan to land those international flights safely in North America. Of course, the biggest airports in Canada, outside of military bases, are in major urban centers. Given what we didn't know, it wouldn't have made much sense to send potentially hijacked planes to Toronto, so Canada chose airports that weren't in large urban centers, often facilities that were joint airports and Canadian Air Force installations.

During the 2010 Olypmics in Canada, Tom Brokaw produced a pair of videos on Operation Yellow Ribbon:


In our darkest hours, Canada has been with us. On September 11th, as the United States shut down its airspace, Canada instituted Operation Yellow Ribbon, landing 239 U.S.-bound flights with 33,000 passengers at 17 different Canadian airports.

And then, amid the uncertainty that followed, entire communities housed and fed those thousands of passengers for days afteward.

More here: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/operation-yellow-ribbon_1028853.html

My wife was in the air on her way back from Europe when 911 happened.  The plane was routed to Canada and for some reason when my wife finally was flown back to the US she had the entire plane to herself (plus the crew.)