San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Pilot recalls diversion to Gander on Sept. 11
On Sept. 11, 2001, Beverley Bass was piloting an American Airlines 777 from Paris to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Westbound over the North Atlantic, she received word that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City.
American airspace was soon closed, and Bass was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. When David Heim and Irene Sankow started writing “Come From Away” 10 years later, they made Bass a character and wrote her an upbeat signature song, “Me and the Sky.”
The actress who played her on Broadway, Jenn Colella, was nominated for a Tony Award and became a close friend of Bass’. For the touring production, Becky Gulsvig plays the part.
In 1986, Bass became the first female pilot promoted to captain by American Airlines. She flew 32 years for American and works today as a private pilot. Bass, 66, has seen “Come From Away” 121 times. Here is her story:
We landed in Gander about 10:15 in the morning on Sept. 11, No. 36 out of 38 airplanes to land. The planes are parked nose to tail. They’re on taxiways, on runways, they’re packed like sardines.
I’m coming in on final approach, and there’s a road that’s parallel to the runway. As far as I can see, cars are parked on both sides of the road. It literally looked like everybody in Newfoundland had come to see all the planes. There had never been that many planes on the airport since World War II. And never that many wide-bodies. When we landed, two men came on board — I believe they were customs officials — and the very first thing they said was, “You will not be getting off the airplane until tomorrow morning.” We had already flown for seven hours. When we got off the next morning, it was 7:30 a.m. Sept. 12. We had been on the airplane 28 hours.
I didn’t get to mingle with the townsfolk the way so many of the other “come from aways” got to do. There was one person in charge of every airplane and its crew, an air traffic controller named Pat Woodford. As soon as we get checked into the Comfort Inn, he shows up. He has a brand-new pickup truck. He hands me the keys and says, “Here, use this as long as you’re here.” And I’m like, “You don’t even know me.” He says, “That’s OK. Use my truck.”
So I drove Pat’s truck every day to the Knights of Columbus Lodge, which is where my passengers were staying. We had them take all the blankets and pillows off the airplane, because they were sleeping on cots and a lot of them on the floor.
“Come From Away” has been a huge success for so many reasons. I think a big part of it is it’s the most incredible display of humanity. It shows what it’s like when a very small town like Gander can be invaded. Nearly 7,000 passengers, nearly doubling the population of their town in three hours.
Overnight, the Ganderites mobilized every stove in town. When we got off the airplane at 7:30 on Sept. 12, the terminal was literally lined with tables full of endless supplies of food. None of us could believe it.
We knew immediately that we had landed in a very unique place. And I think the show has taught us what a reward there is in being kind to people, instead of the way we’re treating people today in our country. All the divisiveness is very sad to me.
I would like to think that I’ve always been a good person. But “Come From Away” and being in Gander taught me to live my life in a very different way. Last year when south Texas was ravaged by hurricanes, I coordinated with all the “Come From Away” actors to donate clothes and toiletries and other items for hurricane victims.
They shipped them to my house. I loaded up all those boxes. And I have a very close group of young aviator friends in Texas, some with their own airplanes, some who rent planes. It was called Operation Air Drop, and I cannot tell you the thousands of pounds of food and clothing that we loaded onto those planes with those young pilots.
I then flew to Austin, because they were beginning to evacuate people and put them in shelters in Austin. For two days I took people to Walmart to buy clothes, whatever they needed. I paid for it all. I wouldn’t have done that before “Come From Away.” It’s not that I wouldn’t have wanted to. I just wouldn’t have done it.
I think what I have now is a tendency to say, “WWTGD?” What would the Ganderites do? And when I answer that question, it is “Be kind, be nice, pay it forward and do the unexpected when nobody is watching.”
Beverley Bass is an airline pilot whose plane was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, on Sept. 11, 2001.