This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Birmingham Reflects on Sept. 11: Honoring a Close Friend

'I was no casual observer,' former American Airlines cabin crew member says.

Memories of Sept. 11, 2001, are shared broadly, but are also personally distinct. So are reflections on the enduring impact of that life-altering day a decade ago.

This week, Birmingham Patch presents 12 diverse perspectives on what happened that sunny Tuesday morning 10 years ago and the ensuing decade — including comments by a pastor, a sheriff, civic leaders, a state representative, a county commissioner and a woman widowed that awful morning.

'Airline crews are like families'

Kristen MacKay
Former American Airlines flight attendant

Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Like the rest of the world, I was going about my business on Sept. 11, 2001. When I heard about the first plane, I ran to the television. As a former cabin crew member, I was no casual observer and immediately knew it was no accident. What I couldn’t know was the profound effect the terror attacks would have on my life here in Birmingham, 600 miles from Ground Zero.

American Airlines Flight 11. Boston to LA. Boeing 767-200. I knew that trip and that plane well. I had worked that trip many times while based in Boston. I kept saying to no one in particular: "Please don’t let me know anyone, please don’t let me know anyone.”

Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

I left American three years earlier and had transferred to Chicago several years before that, but Boston was a small base and airline crews are like families in many ways. Each trip was a reunion of sorts.

One close friend was Betty Ong, the flight attendant who relayed information about Flight 11 hijackers to ground authorities via cell phone. She was very brave and her training, which I had provided as an emergency procedures instructor, surely led her to assume she wouldn't survive. She was the first person I met when I got to Boston. She was the last person I saw when I retired from American Airlines in 1998. She traded assignments to work with me on my last trip. Betty was that kind of friend, and we had so much fun during the layover in her hometown of San Francisco.

I think about Betty almost every day. Ten years later, I honor her memory and the memory of all who gave their lives that day by being as brave in my life as she was in the final minutes of hers. I teach my children to be strong, to be good to their friends and to love their country. That's who Betty was and that's who I want all of us to be.  

Birmingham resident Kristen MacKay was a flight attendant and trainer for American Airlines from 1989-98. She graduated from Novi High and the University of Michigan, and now is an intellectual property paraglegal at Harness Dickey in Troy.

For more accounts of where Birmingham's leaders and residents were on Sept. 11, stay tuned for more in our Birmingham Reflects series or check out what residents already had to say.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Birmingham