Century Man Recalls Flying On 9/11, Not Knowing Attacks Had Occurred

September 11, 2011

Ten years ago, Freddie McCall of Century and his son were preparing their small plane to fly to Texas. It was a major business decision for the McCalls…should they bid on a contract for the Texas company, or should they not? They knew that landing the contract for their company, Brewton Aviation, would mean hiring a new pilot or perhaps one of them moving to Texas. It would be a day that would change their lives. But little did they know how much the lives of all Americans were about to change that morning…September 11, 2001.

McCall flew out of the Brewton airport early that morning, headed for brief stops in Mobile and Baton Rouge before heading to Texas. Plans quickly changed, as the weather became too foggy to fly. The McCalls set their small plane down on a grassy strip near Jay to wait for the fog to burn off. They had no communications… no cellular phone and their radio was not turned on.

We all know the sequence of events that most people saw unfold on live television before our eyes. At 7:45 our time, a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Television anchors were talking about the terrible accident, speculating how a pilot could make such a grave mistake. As millions watched the TV, a second plane hit the second Twin Tower at 8:03. We all knew…we were under attack.

But McCall and his son still had no idea of the horror unfolding in New York. A world away, the fog had lifted in Jay. They took off, flying under the level of airport radar, toward Mobile. Their biggest concern was still the trip to Texas and the business deal.

At 8:40 local time, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights in the United States, for the first time in American history. Brewton Avation’s plane continued toward Mobile. They had no idea that they were flying in increasingly empty skies .

“Our big concern that day was the contract for our company in Texas,” McCall said. “I had thought long and hard about it, and we had prayed about it.”

As they approached Mobile, McCall contacted the Mobile Regional Airport to let them know they were approaching at about 500 feet, still below the level of the airport’s radar.

“A voice came back real prompt like and asked where we were,” he said. “They told us to fly directly to the airport and get that plane down as fast as we could.”

McCall and his son knew something was going on, but they had no idea what.

Upon landing in Mobile, the Brewton Aviation plane was met by authorities who told them to get anything out of the plane they ever wanted to see again. McCall said that he still did not know what was going on in New York, and by that point, at the Pentagon in Washington.

McCall and his son were escorted to a room that had a TV. They watched the replays of the towers being hit again and again.

They called their wives to get rides back home. Their plane was held by federal authorities for a week before it was released.

Post-9/11 business has changed in many ways for Brewton Aviation and McCall. Insurance is up 20 times what it was before the terrorist attacks. Flight plans are required by Homeland Security and the FAA.

“The Lord was good to us, increasing our contracts in other ways,” McCall said of his business, post-9/11. “We have kept our head above water, and we have survived.”

“And our country has survived; the Lord took care of all of us,” he said.

McCall now serves as mayor of Century.

Comments

One Response to “Century Man Recalls Flying On 9/11, Not Knowing Attacks Had Occurred”

  1. james lamar on September 11th, 2011 8:51 pm

    Interesting well written story.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News