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Copyright 2001 Akron Beacon Journal
All Rights Reserved
Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)
September 12, 2001 Wednesday 1 STAR EDITION
SECTION: METRO; Pg. A4
LENGTH: 850 words
HEADLINE: CHAOS, FEAR LAND AT AIRPORTS IN REGION AKRON-CANTON TERMINAL
REMAINS
OPEN AS TRAVELERS FIND LODGING, BUT HOPKINS CLOSES AND EVACUATES
BYLINE: Kymberli Hagelberg, Betty Lin-Fisher, and Mary Ethridge,
Beacon, Journal
staff writers
BODY:
Thousands of travelers were stranded yesterday after the Federal
Aviation
Administration grounded all flights across the nation in the wake of
yesterday's
terrorist attacks.
"This country is under attack," said Fred Krum, the director of
aviation at
Akron-Canton Regional Airport, as he dealt with the first national
grounding of
air traffic.
The terminal at Akron-Canton remained open as about 250 travelers
made
arrangements for the night, but the scene at Cleveland Hopkins
International
Airport became chaotic as the airport was closed and evacuated.
Travelers were forced to walk out toward Interstate 480 - hauling
their bags
behind them - to look for their rides or find accommodations. There
also was
uncertainty and fear for several hours at Hopkins while authorities
searched a
Delta airliner forced to land there for signs of terrorist sabotage.
The Federal Aviation Administration had been informed at 9:45 a.m.
of a
possible hijacking or potential bombing of a plane headed for
Cleveland, said
FBI spokesman Mark Bullock.
Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White also said during a morning news
briefing
that initial reports were that the plane had been hijacked and
booby-trapped. He
also said there were reports of "screaming in the air tower" from a
second
plane, which was diverted to Toledo.
None of the reports turned out to be true.
The scene inside the air traffic control tower yesterday morning at
Hopkins
was sober and calm as controllers brought down the Delta, a 767 from
Boston,
that was feared to have been sabotaged.
"We have contingency plans for this. No one panicked," said Jerry
Crady,
assistant director of air traffic operations. "Everything was very well
organized and went exactly as it should have."
Crady said after making contact with the pilot, controllers knew the
plane
had not been hijacked. They were unsure if a bomb was aboard, but
apparently the
message didn't reach White.
"No one was screaming," said controller Crady. "I don't know where
he got
that."
The flight to Los Angeles landed at Hopkins at 10:45 a.m., and was
directed
to a secure area of the airport. The plane was evacuated of its 78
passengers
shortly before 1 p.m. They were taken to NASA Glenn Research Center to
be
interviewed by FBI agents. (The center had been evacuated about an hour
before.)
No bomb was found after a thorough search by law enforcement agents and
bomb
-sniffing dogs.
Kurt Voelkel, 18, of Parma watched as the Delta sat on a remote area
of the
Hopkins tarmac near the I-X Center.
"I heard about it (the incident) and went into tears," said Voelkel,
who said
he came straight to the airport after Parma High School let out early.
Voelkel said he has three cousins who work on the 85th floor at the
World
Trade Center.
"I'm hoping they weren't at work today," he said.
Anthony Vaccaro of Chicago arrived on a flight to Hopkins from his
hometown
at 10 a.m. not knowing what had happened.
"This just isn't supposed to happen in the United States," he said.
Krum, who could not say when flights would resume, was told to
expect as many
as 60 planes, but only six flights were diverted to Akron-Canton. He
said the
airport moved to a "state of high security."
An emergency command center was established with Summit County
Sheriff Drew
Alexander, detectives, and personnel from the State Highway Patrol, FBI
and the
Summit County bomb squad involved.
Steve Appelbe, a 37-year-old real estate developer from Providence,
R.I.,
looked out of place in a sea of double-breasted commuters. Dressed in a
blue
flowered luau shirt and shorts with white shells at his tanned throat,
he
watched his father, Joseph Appelbe, proceed in line to a Hertz rental
booth that
snaked 50 feet into the concourse.
The Appelbes were returning from a family trip to Hawaii.
"I guess we're at war. Nobody knows with who yet," said Steve
Appelbe.
"Within two minutes (after entering the terminal), everyone was on
their
cellphones calling relatives."
He had reached his girlfriend's cellphone by the time Joseph Appelbe
returned
with a set of car keys in his hand.
"They're only renting cars if you promise to bring them back here,
so I said,
'Sure I promise,' " the father said. "What are they going to do, sue
me?
"I know where we are," he told his son. "We can be home in 12
hours."
Anna St. Pierre flew out of Knoxville yesterday morning with her
husband,
Pete, to meet his parents in Rhode Island.
"We're stuck," she told relatives from her cellphone.
She was told the plane was being diverted to Akron-Canton "because
of an
emergency" but passengers were not given other details, she said.
While the couple waited in a small lobby opposite the airport
bookstore, Anna
answered constant calls to her phone from concerned relatives with
questions or
bits of information.
While she talked, her husband watched taped reports of the World
Trade Center
collapse into a fiery heap into the streets of Manhattan. The St.
Pierres later
rented a motel room rather than take advantage of a Red Cross shelter.
"We're going nowhere until tomorrow," Anna St. Pierre said.
NOTES: A Day of Terror: Kymberli Hagelberg can be reached at
330-478-6000 (Ext.
14) or 1-800-478-5445 or khagelberg@thebeaconjournal.com; Betty
Lin-Fisher can
be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com; Mary
Ethridge can
be reached at 330-996-3545 or methridge@thebeaconjournal.com.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: KEN LOVE, Akron Beacon Journal;
Summit Sheriff's Detective Richard Palucci (left) and Sgt. Robert
Rhodes talk at
the Akron-Canton Regional Airport yesterday.
LOAD-DATE: October 31, 2001
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