CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Douglas is one of the busiest airports in the world, but 25 years ago, 9/11 turned it into a parking lot.
“The word that comes to my mind is just fear, the fear, the unknown, the fear, the confusion, the uncertainty and what it meant for our future in life,” said Jennifer Long, concessions manager at Charlotte Douglas.
Twenty-five years ago, Long was a 22-year-old intern working in the PR unit at Charlotte Douglas. She says the day began normally enough, until the images began coming out of New York.
“Definitely scary because, again, there was so much unknown,” Long said. “We didn’t have that instant information like we do today.”
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Any questions about whether America was under attack that day ended when the president ordered a nationwide ground stop 39 minutes after the first plane hit the tower.
Planes landed as soon as they could, at the nearest airport.
“It was strange because you would look out at our airfield and see aircraft parked in places that you don’t normally see and aircraft with a different livery that we normally don’t see in Charlotte because they don’t have a base here,” Long said.
“After the shock of 9/11, we were all ready to serve in some capacity,” said William James, a TSA agent.
Twenty-five years ago, James had just gotten out of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was not 100% sure what he would do with the rest of his life, but 9/11 happened, and he would become one of the inaugural members of the first TSA class to work at Charlotte Douglas.
He was joined by Desiree Villareal, who had just gotten out of the Army.
“I applied, and I feel like it was within two weeks, I was going through interviews and going through the process,” said Desiree Villareal, a TSA supervisor. “It seemed really fast.”
Before the skies could return to normal, security would have to improve significantly, which meant the public would have to adjust — something still in place today.
“The majority of people who come through here are more than willing to cooperate,” James said. “You have a few bad apples, but we explain calmly and get them through.”
A lot of security measures now are accepted as normal, but back in the day, families were welcome to go past security to greet loved ones. And believe it or not, some merchants would actually sell pocketknives, which is something that would never happen today.
A generation of flyers may not even realize why things are done the way they are today, why liquids are limited to a certain size or why you may have to take off your shoes.
“I do because I was working here at that time, but I know a lot of the younger generation, they don’t really understand the impact that it had,” Long said.
Long says for a while, she wondered if her work would make her a target. But 25 years later, and no longer the shy intern, she is still in the business. Long manages concessions for the entire airport. She hopes the way the country handled 9/11 told the world that we will not give in to fear.
“I loved being here,” Long said. “I felt like working at the airport really mattered. I enjoyed helping people. It had a lot of meaning to me.”