Vol. 10 No. 89                                                                                                                                Friday September 9, 2011

 

Oliver Evans
Chief Cargo Officer
Swiss International Airlines

    I was in the regional head office of my former employer, we were locked up in a top level meeting which was interrupted by the assistant who said "something really big" was going on, and she thought we should know. We ignored her and carried on, so that it was only hours later that we emerged, all the sensible people had left the office already, and I only learned about the enormity of the event when I got home that evening and saw the television. Yet from that moment on I was gripped, not only because of the drama of the pictures, but because I had worked for several years on the 49th floor of one of the towers and had a chest of memories and connections from that office.
     My initial thoughts were therefore a largely incoherent jumble of questions: Who did this? Why? Were any of the people who shared that office with me still working there, and if so were they safe? Slowly, on that day and successive days, and intermittently ever since, my brain restored order in my thoughts, allowed me to digest the news and the pain.
     The core of my reflection is always the recognition that we human beings, under very special and fortunately relatively rare circumstances, are capable of the most horrific brutality towards each other, and in fact, there is no limit to what we will do. This has happened in all parts of the world and throughout history, and the holocaust or 9/11 are just particularly shocking examples.
     The most disturbing thing is that it is not only desperation that drives us to such acts (poverty, lack of jobs or prospects, lack of education), but also fanaticism, so that well educated and skilled people (like the 9/11 pilots) pervert their intelligence to such scarcely imaginable goals. And it is incumbent upon all of us to reflect upon what the circumstances are, that bring our brothers or sisters from whatever cultural background they come from, to such acts of ghastly cruelty.
     That day of course changed the course of history. It triggered a chain of events that led to the sad years of sectarian violence in Iraq, but it is also connected to the possible new dawn in parts of the Middle East and Africa that had only known repression and inequality for decades.
     It also changed the course of air cargo history. It triggered knee-jerk reactions from governments and regulatory authorities, resulting in improved security at a huge cost. Not only the cost of x-ray equipment and all of the policing that goes on around it, but also the cost of countless hours of often futile, uncoordinated debate and reactions.
     Security is akin to an armaments race, there will never be 100% security because there will always be perverted brains plotting to find the next loophole. Ultimate security will come about when we have found ways of sharing wealth and opportunities in an equitable fashion all across the globe.
     In the meantime all we air cargo professionals can do is to strive for that goal of 100% security, by implementing intelligent, coordinated layers of deterrence throughout our supply chains.
     Those endless hours of debate do have a happy ending though, as we are seeing today far more coordination between governments, and between industry and regulatory authorities, than ever before. And numerous people are busy working on far better technology and processes so that hopefully, one day, you and I will be able to travel without the ludicrous and horribly expensive burden of taking off our shoes or presenting a laptop.

 

Kay Kratky
Member Lufthansa German Airlines Board,
Chief of Frankfurt and Flight Operations Division

     On September 11, 2001 I had met a friend for lunch at the Lufthansa Canteen in Frankfurt and we were sitting at the table with our meal in front of us as the news came in.
     Someone said:
     “Have you heard? An airplane crashed into the World Trade Center towers!”
     I looked at my friend and said right away. That cannot be true. I thought the guy was mistaken and just could not believe that had happened. So we just continued with eating our lunch.
     But a few minutes later came a phone call from my crises center (Jade Cargo) to report in right away and we knew it was true.
     As realization of this tragedy started to sink in then came an uneasy feeling like I was standing on a high bridge without a safety net looking down.
     I could not identify from the early reports exactly what was going on but I had a damn bad unsettling feeling for some hours after the news.
     In all my hours piloting aircraft I had never had this feeling before.
     Of course we moved into immediate action to secure all aspects of Jade Cargo.
     Now a decade later that infamous bright September day lives on in almost everything we do, impacting the airline business and air cargo every day.
     The entire industry now moves slower and costs have skyrocked connected to security, as everything including simple procedures are much more complicated.
     Maybe worse is the constant underlying concern and even fear that something bad might happen again.
     One thing for certain is that the world we once knew in commercial aviation is gone forever.
     Ahead lies more spending on enhanced security by the industry in both cargo and the passenger business.

 

Apollo Puts LAX On Ice

     “I am extremely proud of Apollo’s growth, strong customer relationships and talented employees.
     “Signing up for this new facility makes perfect sense as we chart an aggressive course for Apollo Freight’s future,” Joseph A. Czyzyk, (right) Chairman & CEO of Mercury Air Group, Inc., parent company of Apollo Freight said as Los Angeles Apollo Freight began building a perishable center as part of an off-airport warehouse center.
     Grand opening of the 37,000 square foot facility at 5330 West 102nd Street, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), is slated for early October
     “Our expansion comes as we celebrate our second anniversary,” said Ivo Skorin, (left) Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Apollo Freight.
     “Our customers can benefit from our hands-on service both on-airport and off-airport at LAX.
     “No other perishable logistics provider can offer that level of service.”
     Apollo’s LAX Perishable Center features temperature controlled working, staging & cargo screening areas with three individualized units to handle specific products at temperatures ranging from to 28 to 40 degrees.
Apollo LAX Perishables also will feature customized pre-cooler units for flowers, fruits and vegetables, also a freezer and 13 truck high loading positions and will be bonded and USDA, APHIS and PPQ certified.
     The facility will also be a TSA certified cargo-screening facility.

 

     I was living and working for Virgin Atlantic Cargo in the UK at this time, I had traveled to New York on September 10, on a BAA (British Airport Authority) promotional to give a speech along with other carriers (BA) and various other UK airports/handlers to help promote the Airports of Britain.
     On the morning of September 11, I and my colleagues from Virgin Cargo in NY, along with the other participants were setting up the venue for our presentation to the Cargo industry at the JFK Holiday Inn Hotel (now the International Hotel).
     For the people who know this hotel or have been to it, you know when standing in front of the building looking West you have a clear view of Lower Manhattan and the Twin Towers. That morning was one of those clear crystal days in New York. As we were setting up, someone came into the room telling us a plane had hit Tower 1 (north tower), we stepped outside and we were able to see clearly the smoke coming from the upper floors and blowing thick smoke south towards tower 2 and lower New York harbor.
     We were shocked and stunned watching this unthinkable sight taking place in front of our eyes. Having friends who worked in the towers, I remember saying, ‘God Help them get out.’
     As we watched the horror unfold and the first tower collapse, there were screams from people around me and when I looked at them I saw that they also had tears streaming from their eyes. When the second tower was hit I could not believe my eyes and when that tower went down it was just surreal, the sounds around me at the hotel at that time, besides people crying, were the many sirens from the fire trucks from the Queens fire houses responding and racing to lower Manhattan.
     The horror of that morning continued when I got home to Port Washington, seeing the TV reports and getting phone calls about personal friends and friends of family who were missing and never to return home.
     This tragic day changed and rocked our lives, our country and the world . . . and nothing and no one has ever been the same since.
     We all know in the aviation, Cargo and traveling sectors how this has changed the entire industry and our lives and the way we do business.
     As I'm writing this on a sunny day in New York, almost 10 years to the day, I'm traveling on the Long Island Railroad approaching Manhattan and looking south towards lower Manhattan. I can see the freedom tower just starting to rise above the surrounding buildings towards the beautiful blue sky . . . the events of that day seem so long ago, yet the friends and countless others lost and the horror of that day will never be forgotten. May they all rest in peace.

 

Wolfgang Korte
Managing Director
LUG aircargo handling GmbH


     9/11/2001 was the second Tuesday of that month, so we had our regular ACD (Aircargo Club Deutschland) meeting in the then Esprix Hotel in Cargo City South at Frankfurt Airport. Someone came in and shouted that a plane had hit the WTC. In a rush, a TV set was installed and we could not believe what we then saw with our very own eyes, an unprecedented terror attack. Later on we also learnt of the other incidents.
     Initially I had problems to accept the WTC incident as reality. To me it was like watching a disaster movie. It was extremely difficult to understand that what I saw was a real-time event. Incidentally, 9/11 is also my oldest son's birthday, so instead of having a party as planned, that day ended up in a gathering of a very sad and disillusioned bunch of young folks.
     All the measures, that as a consequence had been taken make aircargo a labor intensive, much slower and much more expensive product.
     There are globally too many different rules, regulations and procedures for air cargo security in place. This fact jeopardizes their effectiveness as such.
     Continuous improvement of security technology and the international harmonization of regulations and security standards for air cargo obviously are the key success criteria for maximum effectiveness.

 

     Emirates SkyCargo, already active in Ireland gets busier starting January 9, 2012 as the Dubai super carrier launches A330-200 daily flights to Dublin, its first route to Ireland.
     “Dublin will be our 29th route in Europe and Emirates' customers in Ireland who currently travel through some of our UK gateways will be able to fly non-stop to Dubai and conveniently connect onwards to our broadening route network,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group.
     SkyCargo to date has been moving cargo via Manchester, but that changes as A330-200 lifts14 tons including pharmaceuticals, which make up nearly a quarter of Ireland's exports expected to be amongst the commodities carried, along with electronics.
Geoffrey Arend

 

Rendering of the future World Trade Center from the World Trade Center rebuilding update news conference held in New York, the United States, on Sept. 7, 2011.

     We conclude our exclusive, ground-breaking series, begun earlier this summer, with more than three dozen air cargo people relating their feelings surrounding the events during and after that fateful day of September 11, 2001.
     These stories mark an industry first - we stand as the only major air cargo publication to not only turn over the story writing to its readers, but also ask the cargo community how that fateful day affected them collectively.


September 8 Aerial view of Ground Zero taken from 140 Washington Street.

     Thanks to everyone who participated and watch for the entire series to appear later this year in a collector’s edition of Air Cargo News.


Pentagon Memorial in Washington, D.C. is a collection of individually inscribed benches for each of the 184 victims of the attack.

     The reason FlyingTypers reads as well as it does and has, in our humble opinion, become a thrice-weekly journal that has raised the bar for all air cargo publications is due in part to our Managing Editor, Flossie Arend, who spent the better part of her adult life preparing in university and now on the job to be among the best and brightest creative writers and editors on the planet.
     That is not just a father’s boast, either.
     Upon entering a writing conservatory at University, she was named among the top creative writers in America by Scholastic Publications.
     Scholastic Publications actually thought enough of Flossie to hire her straight out of college before she joined Air Cargo News FlyingTypers.
     Now, after our brief look at the future for air cargo, Flossie writes about her experience and thoughts around 911.
Geoffrey Arend

 

Flossie Arend
Managing Editor
Air Cargo News FlyingTypers

    I remember waking up on the morning of 9/11 and wishing I could go back to sleep. I was a junior in college and had chosen to have early morning classes on Tuesdays - a big mistake for me as I naturally kept night owl hours. My dorm apartment was relatively quiet when I got out of bed, but I could hear the television on in the living room; this was a normal occurrence as my actor student roommates were always up early and put the television on while they had breakfast and got ready for the day.
     I remember walking in to the living room and feeling as if I had walked into a museum. My roommates, coffees in hand, were sitting and standing as still as statues, their eyes focused on the television set. The first plane was hitting Tower 1 on a loop, like some nightmarish broken record. It was probably about 8:55 in the morning then.
     I don't remember what we said to each other, but they must have acknowledged my presence with something like, "A plane hit the World Trade Center." I was frozen. I think I had the opposite reaction from everyone else, at least from what I've read in editing together FlyingTyper's 9/11 responses: my brain immediately began buzzing with negative thoughts. A plane of that size would never fly so low, so close to the city. Some instinctual part of me knew it was terrible, and not an accident.
     I stood with my roommates, watching as the second plane hit Tower 2. I don't know what came over me then, but something in me clicked on, like an automatic coffee drip. I picked up my things and left my apartment to go to class. I don't know why I thought class would still be going on, but I guess when something like that happens - the kind of thing that attempts to tear through the fabric of a routine life - the brain and the body struggle to operate normally. Like when someone dies and we comb their hair just so, and fix their collar, and wipe something from their cheek.
     My morning class was all the way on the other side of campus, across a large field. I had to pass through several dorm apartments to get there. I remember that it was an absolutely gorgeous day. A robin egg sky, a warm, yolky sun and very few clouds. The only sound I could hear was the soft wind through the trees and the gossiping birds. No one was outside. I was the only person still on schedule, walking to a class that was surely canceled but walking anyway, I'm not sure why. I distinctly remember taking a path between dorm apartment buildings and seeing the blinds closed on all the windows, as if no one was willing to let this day in - as if they could somehow keep it out. Every window was flickering ghostly blue behind those blinds, the lit staccato coding of television sets humming in dark rooms. That image will stay with me always - the long, green path between buildings and those eerie, flashing blue windows - my campus as a ghost town.
     I reached the door of the building that my classroom was in and it was locked, of course. There was no sign - no time for signs, I guess. Looking back on it now, I suppose it is somewhat ironic how determined I was to get to my Tuesday morning class - Self Defense. Something unconscious was clearly at work there; I don't think I have to explain it.
     I got back to my dorm in time to see the towers fall. I can't describe the feeling of watching something like that happen in real time. We take for granted the landscape of life and the world so that when the topography changes, it is a grim reminder of impermanence - our own and our world's. Perhaps it was my youth, but I wasn't prepared to see a piece of New York City crumble to ashes; I naively thought of the buildings like bone in the body of the city, and a broken bone - a tooth falling out - was unfathomable.
     The days that followed were jumbled and confusing. I didn't feel in them so much as outside of them, peering in. My siblings were scattered all over the city, and I was only interested that they were ok. My parents were meant to be in the Towers delivering the Air Cargo News that day, and I am forever grateful that the stress of a family business left them too tired to go in.
     Everything changed that day. We became a nation that didn't just look on horror, but experienced it as well.      For decades we had seen war come to others and had seen how it ravaged and destroyed, but it had never come to us like with the World Trade Center. Even Pearl Harbor had occurred within some kind of pretext, however awful it was. I feel as if this was like a shot to Achilles' heel - we were not some ambling God-nation that could remain impenetrable and immortal. There were arrows that could take us down. I only wish we had the foresight to see it earlier, to know that we were, in fact, capable of crumbling, and that just because we had wealth in our coffers did not mean we could be kept safely outside the realm of the horrible. Money won't protect or save you - it might just put a target on your back.
     The idealist in me wishes we could have gone in another direction somehow - one that didn't lead to fear, suspicion, hate, racism, greed, war. It's been 10 years and we only just recently took out Osama bin Laden.      What do we have to show for those ten years? How did we grow - not as a nation, but as people who share a planet? I know I'm probably 1,000 times safer getting on and off a plane now, but is life in general any safer? It seems we are treating symptoms and not illnesses. How can we heal ourselves at the source?
     Some would say the hate and anger at the root of all this is like the common cold - it can't be cured. They've given up hope.
     Why give away the one thing that can't be taken?

 

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