The stories of "pride" shown in this segment form an impressive mosaic. They offer tribute to the character and unparalled achievements of our colleagues who each day meet challenges with grace and determination. Each week we will feature one story from among those submitted. Below the current selection you'll find "past" week's featured stories. For other stories of pride, return to the main "Pride" section on the Message Board.

Name: Stephanie Vigilotti
Airline/airport: EWR-Station Manager Air Jamaica
story:: I am PROUD of what I do because each day as I see my brightly colored Airbus A-320 push off Gate 56 in Terminal B at 1340L loaded safely with baggage, food, fuel, crew and passengers and look at the faces of my gate agents and see the sense of accomplishment on their face I am proud! Proud to be their leader and proud to have trained them to do their job diligently.

Proud to have raised their awareness on everything from coming to work in a clean and ironed uniform to airline security to safely evacuating Terminal B in case of an emergency.

Proud because while growing up in a house that sat directly under a departure and approach path for JFK, I still can remember the feeling when the big jets took to the sky, sometimes shaking the house, listening to the sound of the engines roar above or smelling the burnt jet fuel on a damp morning. I still can remember when at 0900 and 1300L in elementary school my teacher always having to stop for a few seconds while the Air France and British Airways Concorde flew directly over our school making it impossible for anyone to hear anything but the piercing but exhileratingly exciting roar of those engines.

I am proud because for the past 12 years I have been a part of the most fantastic industry in this world...AVIATION!

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"FEATURED" STORIES FROM PAST WEEKS ARE SHOWN BELOW:
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Name: Marta M. Colozzi
Airline/airport: LGA/Northwest

Story:: Twelve years ago I helped a woman and her little girl at Boston's Logan Airport. The mother had to be taken to Mass General Hospital when she arrived on a flight from Minneapolis. Due to the nature of the medical emergency, her child would have had to remain in the custody of child services. Instead, I took this little girl in a taxi, and followed the ambulance. I remained with her until her mother was released.

Today I'm still proud of the following "Thank You" letters I received, which were hand written and faxed to the Station Manager.
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Dear Sir,

I am writing to Thank Your staff on Northwest Airlines. On June 22,1995, flight NW15-B(?) Minneapolis to Boston (734/a-11:18A), I suffered chest pains and felt faint. I told the man sitting next to me and he got the assistance of the stewardess. They reacted fast, were very friendly and helpful. They assisted me, got me a Doctor (that was on board) and assisted him. They checked on me, and took care of my daughter.

I am very grateful. When we landed in Boston they told me what would happen to my daughter. I want to Thank a lady named Marta C. She was just wonderful to my daughter and took great care of her, and saw to my needs. I'm not sure how I can thank these people, but their responses were great, and well appreciated, especially for me a single parent being in a strange situation and surroundings. They eased me. Please Thank Them For Us

Sincerely,
Donna Mae T
Erin Lynn T

Dear Marta,

I wanted to Thank You personally for all that you did for my daughter and I on June 22nd.
You really helped me a lot. I\'m real glad child services didn't get a hold of my child. Many Thanks to you. Everything went okay after Boston. I saw my parents and Doctors for more tests. No one could find anything. Anxiety is what I figure, Without your assistance things sure would of been difficult for me.

My daughter hasn't stopped talking about her trip in a cab, through a tunnel and the big city. Oh! and your Kit Kat Bar that never happened. My mother is doing okay. Her heart attack was mild but she needs open heart surgery July 27th. Her diabetes is progressing and its not being easy on her arteries. Well I better close, but I just wanted you to know I appreciate all that you did for Erin and I.

Sincerely With Many Thanks
Donna Mae T
Erin Lynn T

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name: Robert A. Tucknott
Aircraft Command Pilot
Angel Flight West
Hayward, California

The Angel Flight 911 Story:

On the morning of September the 11th, 2001, most of the nation was riveted to their television sets watching the drama unfold before our eyes. Little did we know in the aviation community this would have major short term and long term effects on our flying. The skies over the United States and all airports were immediately closed. I had an Angel Flight mission that day to pick up a patient in Susanville and fly her to Palo Alto for a Children’s Hospital treatment. The flight was scheduled at 5 p.m. that evening. That flight was cancelled as well as 6 more flights that I had scheduled the following week, transporting patients from remote areas to urban areas to get the advanced treatment they needed for their specialized afflictions.

Little did I know that at 3 p.m. that day I would get a call from the Director of the Alameda/Contra Costa County blood bank requesting an emergency flight of blood samples to be tested for blood to be shipped to New York and Washington D.C. preparing for what they thought was a large number of survivors that needed blood. I gave an Angel Flight presentation to a Rotary Club some months prior and in the audience was the Director of the Alameda/Contra Costa County blood bank who remembered what we do. She called me at 3 p.m. and asked if I could fly the blood. I told her that the skies were closed, all of the airports were closed but I thought that was a special mission. I thought I could do it and told her to give me about 3 hours. I had to have the samples to San Diego by 11 p.m. that evening to get them tested, so they could send the blood on a C-5 cargo transport out of Travis Air Force Base back to New York and to Washington D.C. It took me 3 hours but I finally got through to the head of the FAA, explained the situation and I got special permission to fly this flight. I was given a discrete squawk code that was given to all of the controllers in my routing from Hayward to San Diego. I also called the various controlling agencies and let them know what I was flying, when and what my cargo was. I called my Daughter, Renee, who needed a community service project and said, “Meet me at the airport, 7 p.m. we are departing.” We picked up the blood samples in Oakland (photos attached) at 7 p.m.

This flight was very strange from any other flight I have ever flown because the airport had all of the codes changed and was locked down. I knew a secret way to get into Hayward airport. After I got in, I was immediately run down by the security personnel wanting to know what I was doing there; I explained the situation and told him to call the tower. The tower was aware of me and gave me the appropriate clearance. Leaving Hayward I was told to use any runway and was cleared whenever I wanted, absolutely no traffic in the sky. No sooner had I lifted off from 28R in Hayward then I was given the instruction to call Oakland, well outside of Oakland space. I called Oakland and they cleared me to land right then and there on any runway. What was the point of any delays there were no other traffic or expected traffic that night. I landed, went to Kaiser Air, picked up the blood samples and we were off to San Diego.

What an eerie flight that was, as we flew that evening, there was complete silence on the airways; we were the only one talking to controllers. The controllers were all still at their positions but there was no other air traffic. We were handed off to So-Cal approach, which normally you can’t get a word in edgewise, and it was equally, eerily quiet. When we checked on they were expecting us and started chatting with us about what was going on only because they were getting bored. I asked if there were any other airplanes in the air and they said there were a couple of F-14 fighter jets high above me but that was all they had for air traffic. It wasn’t until 2 years afterward I found out that those two F-14’s were actually escorting me to San Diego to make sure I was who I was and doing what I was doing. They had orders to take me out if I deviated off course. I was given a clearance to land 40 nautical miles out from Limburg Field in San Diego and since the winds were calm they told me to pick any runway I wanted and was cleared to land. We took the over the water approach which is very pretty at night with all of the lights and landed. The FBO we had picked was Jim’s Air and we notified them in advance. They kept a crew there waiting for us just to take care of my airplane and get the blood on a Red Cross truck for testing which was waiting there for us. It was about 10:30 at night and we made our envelope of time but I was too tired to fly back. So we spent the night and left the next morning using the same code and the same procedures we had going down to San Diego for our return flight to Hayward. It was just as quiet, although I started to pick up some police helicopter traffic that was now flying in the L.A. basin.

I hope we never again have a situation in the United States where all of the air space was my own. This situation was an extreme event that we hope we never see again. It was an experience of a lifetime and I’ll never forget that flight.

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Name: Frank Mirovsky
Airport/Airline: LGA/Maintenance/Port Authority

We regularly fly a huge American flag during patriotic holidays. 30 by 50 feet this is the largest regularly displayed American flag that I know of in NYC, save the Geo Washington Bridge. We display the flag on our parking garage in view of thousands of travelers on the Grand Central Pkwy.

On 9/11/2001 one of our operations supervisors, Debby D’Avanso, suggested we put it up immediately – which our maintenance team did. It was a great and courageous statement by proud airport employees – a statement that we would persevere.
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This story submitted by Alicia Sommer, a UAL flight attendant, talks about how she balances her love of flight with dance:

name: alicia sommer
airline/airport: United

story:: My story does not take place in the "sky" although I am a flight attendant based in Washington.I still love what I do, but I am able to balance it with my other passion- dance.

I grew up dancing and since 911, when my friends died on flight 93, I have been able to combine my 2 passions (flying and dancing )into 1.

I am an Artistic Director and choreographer for a dance school of almost 100, outside,Austin Texas. Every year I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to showcase my dancers in a couple of recitals. This year,however, through a series of events I am blessed to be unveiling choreography to "A Prayer for our Time," a choir number I performed with other crew memebrs at the dedication of the Flight 93 memorial (in Shanksville on the fifth anniversary of 9/11). I have been in touch with the composer and have gotten his blessing to perform this on stage. It will be on May 1st and any crews interested in attending are welcome.Just email me at: amsommer@zeecon.com.

In any case- my passion for what I do and in honor of those who died for what they were passionate about, I dedicate this to them.

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Note the point that Andrea El Saieh makes below that we can never know the impact of the "smallest" of our gestures on the lives of others. Andrea is a customer service agent with British Airways at Newark airport.

Name: Andrea El Saieh
Airport/Airline: Newark, BA

I am proud of my work because it provides me with the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. We never really know how much of an impact we have upon the lives of others with the smallest of gestures.

Over fifty years ago, I recall sitting alone on a Pan American Airways flight that was about to take off from Port-Au-Prince. I was on my way to boarding school in New York. I was only eight years old; I didn't speak English and i was terrified. Mr. Malbranche who was the director of Pan Am was walking through the aircraft when he spotted me. He came over and chatted with me for a few moments. I don't recall what he said, but I'll never forget his name or how special he made me feel and that is what I try to emulate in my work everyday.

When I sensed an elderly woman from India was afraid to get on the escalator in the arrivals hall I gently took her arm; guided her until we reached the bottom. I smiled as I watched the wonder of the moving staircase unfold across her face. When I am at work at the airport I am not just the face of British Airways, I am the face of America and that is why I like to smile.