On Sept. 11, 2001, planes flying to destinations across the country had to make emergency landings at the Memphis International Airport.
Hundreds of people flooded the airport, many of them stuck in Memphis for days with no idea when they could return home. They slept on air mattresses, benches or the floor.
Nearly 4,500 planes had to land within a few hours that morning, according to previous USA Today reporting. From the command center in Virginia, Federal Aviation Administration employees worked to land every flight as soon as possible, even if the planes were hundreds of miles from their final destination.
Memphis' central location and runway capacity made it an ideal spot to ground flights. Locals rushed to the airport and rallied around the strangers
that had landed in their city.
Twenty-five years later, James Hay is the only remaining employee in the airport's administration that was there that day.
Hay is now the senior director of planning and development for terminal modernization at Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, but back in 2001, he helped to coordinate the emergency response.
Watch the video above to hear Hay's recollections about Sept. 11, 2021.
Annie Goldman covers government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at annie.goldman@commercialappeal.com or 901-930-7431, and followed on X @AnnieSGoldman.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis airport employee recalls emergency landings in Memphis on 9/11
