Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield Re Max team presents real estate and more.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Bay Area real estate is different than in all of America. And why? What's up with homebuyers? What's on sellers minds? How is the market? And much, much more.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Now here's your host, Michael Hatfield.
[00:00:21] Speaker C: Good morning. I am Michael Hatfield, and this is the real estate and more show, special edition 911. When I began this show, I promised this show would be about interesting people, sometimes sensitive topics and with a focus on real estate. Today we are to take you to a place in history, and our topic will be on that time we will talk about recollections of where people were, what they were doing, and their thoughts on the events of that day, September 11, 2001. We all have memories of where we were, what we were doing on that day. Naturally, those born after 2001 have no recollection of that day at all. And some of us may have forgotten. While honoring those who perished and those who gave it all to help, we searched for what we may have learned as human beings and as a nation from that deadly day in our country's history.
The idea for this show happened when my co pilot from an airline trip of September 10, 2001, telephoned essentially out of the blue three weeks ago. I have not heard from him in more than 22 years. When our business phone rang with his call, the receptionist said to me, Michael, this is a call you will want to take. It is Andrew.
Indeed. This morning we will return to a very intense few days in history and share these days with you.
More importantly, we will search for what we as a nation, we as a people, have learned from this dreadful time.
Hilton Hotel, Denver International Airport captain Jack Taylor's room, please.
Hmm.
[00:02:35] Speaker D: I guess he's already checked out. I'm kind of worried.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: Hilton Hotel, Denver International Airport can you.
[00:02:55] Speaker D: Please check to see if Captain Jack Taylor, he's with Brandex Airlines, has checked out?
[00:03:01] Speaker C: Sure will, ma'am. Just hold on just a second. I'll check for you.
[00:03:05] Speaker D: I know everything is all right, sweetie, but I haven't been able to reach your father. That's a little strange. He usually calls before he flies. With all this going on in New York, I'm sure he's okay.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: I'm sorry, ma'am. Captain Taylor has already checked out. The morning of 911 2001, anxious moments were happening all over the country and the world. Never before has an event like this occurred in us history. And most citizens were dumbfounded, numb, and struck with disbelief.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: The World Trade Center, a complex of seven buildings around a central plaza in New York City. The twin towers of the World Trade center, each 110 stories in New York, stood 1360 8ft high into the sky as a monument to the nature of industry. To construct such an amazing group of buildings, they have been attacked and were ablaze. Estimated at 10 million office space, 430 companies conducted their business in number one, World Trade center and number two, World Trade center. On any given day, there were 50,000 people working in the twin towers and an estimated 140,000 visitors. And then just like that, the World Trade center was the site of the deadliest terror attack in american history. The twin towers were gone. Time stood still.
[00:04:39] Speaker D: So what I remember on 911 was receiving an early morning call from you, Michael, telling me you were fine, you were out flying at that period of time. And I thought, oh, okay. And then you told me that a plane had flown into the World train Center, which was very interesting first thing in the morning. Anyways, got up, started watching the television, was rather alarmed, took our daughter to school and then headed to work real quick. And when I got to work, everyone was surrounding the television in the exercise room at that time. And we were watching these pictures and just feeling worse and worse and worse about the whole day as it was unfolding and what we were learning. Anyways, our daughter called me while I was at work that morning and said, mom, I'm just so upset. Can you come and get me from school? I remember asking my boss, can I leave? I'm just, I'm just too upset today. So drove up the highway, picked up our daughter, came home and remember just holding her that day because we were so distraught. We were at home all day watching television, holding each other and crying because we just couldn't stop. It was so traumatizing. And I remember going outside in the afternoon and the sky was just quiet. I think it was probably one of the saddest days in America in my entire life.
And I'll never forget, and I'm always grateful that my husband was fine that day. This is when I realized how important my family, my friends and a loving community was to me.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: 27, 50 people were lost in New York. 184 workers at the Pentagon and 44 passengers of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania. That one fateful day we would like to forget. Some of us may already have, but many stories of human interest and courage came out of that period. Our country came together like no other time in recent history. You could feel the shouts of anger, you could detect fear for your neighbor in the air. We rejoiced for the people who made it through and cried for the ones left below, we look at ourselves and ask what really matters. This morning, some of us share where we were, what we were doing, the thoughts and mindset of those moments, first responders, rescue workers, normal people, airline pilots.
[00:07:13] Speaker E: On the morning of 911, I was in my condo getting ready for work, and I had the Today show on with Katie Couric.
And all of a sudden I turned for a moment to get a couple of coffee. And when I looked back at the screen, Katie Couric looked horrified. It was a time that I just, I froze. I mean, I could not even function. And it looked like there was chaos on the set and everyone looked puzzled, and everyone was looking at the other person with their arms just thrown up. It was just horrible. There were people that work on the set for the show, and they were like, all, like, running around.
Like, you could see them. You never see them. You know, they're always behind the scene. But people were dropping tablets and just like, they didn't know where to go or what to do, they just looked at the screen with the pictures.
[00:08:10] Speaker D: For a major airline to bring all of its thousands of daily flights per day to a stop was an immense undertaking that created operational chaos. Consider for a moment that each aircraft is assigned and established. Apply a set route, say, to Los Angeles, to Dallas, to New Orleans, to Atlanta, to New York. Pilot crews may only fly a portion of that route, then another crew may take over. Flight attendants may fly only one flight, then go elsewhere. The effort to pair people and aircraft is a daunting one. And if something such as a mechanical issue, weather issue, interrupts that aircraft routing, then pilots and in flight crews have to be assigned elsewhere, then there is ongoing continuing training for pilots. That happens every day. So the pilots remain current in the aircraft they fly. Just think, when all of the aircraft of all of the airlines land off of their assigned routing and out of position, the operational chaos it causes an airline. This was not just one airline, but all airlines.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: Number one is on fire.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: The whole outside of the building was just a huge explosion.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: We have a number of floors on fire. It looked like the plane was aiming towards the building. Transmit a third alarm. We'll have the staging.
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Captain Roberts is a veteran who served as a naval aviator and also served as a chief pilot with a major us airline that we'll call Brandex. Captain Roberts was in charge of over 2000 pilots and flight and operations at his base as well. Captain Roberts, precisely where were you and what were you doing when you first heard the news of airplanes hitting the twin Towers? What were your first thoughts that came into your mind and where were you?
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Interestingly enough, I had flown down to our hub that morning. I had taken the 06:00 flight. It was about an hour flight headquarters, and they had a tv in there, and someone said, hey, look at the tv. And it showed a picture of an airplane crashing into one of the twin towers. And it looked like a cartoon. It just didn't look real. I mean, I don't think anybody really could grasp what was happening. And the commentary was that there was an airplane that had crashed into the twin Towers.
And a few seconds later the van came, took us to headquarters. We had chief pilots from all over the system there, and we were just wondering, you know, what they were going to come up with. And they basically said at that time, very new, that all flight operations had been canceled. They said, there's really not too much more that we can tell you. He said, you all need to get back to your base and just get back there any way you can.
We called around for rental cars. They were already taken at that time. And fortunately, we found a flight attendant who was down for a meeting, also who was able to rent a car. And seven of us got in this little compact car and headed back to our hub. It was.
I had called my wife and let her know that everything was okay.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: So at the time, our country's intelligence service had been. They say they were blindsided and were unaware of the threat to our nation.
As it turned out, there were indications that the intelligence services did not pick up on.
I recall hearing of terrorists being in full dress pilot uniforms of other airlines in the cockpit hitch and rides with not only Brand X, but Brand Zenith. Did you recall any of those, Bob?
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Well, I'd heard that there was a pilot, a terrorist pilot, trying to board one of our aircraft, and it did.
[00:12:20] Speaker C: Not happen as far as flying operations. They were just totally suspended. So all of these airplanes are coming out of the sky into one place. And you, as a chief pilot, you had your hands full of not only these airplanes coming to land in an area that probably didn't have much parking space for all of the aircraft. It just seems like it was a lot to deal with. And so when you got back to your base, what were the first actions that you did?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: The computers were completely overloaded.
They couldn't keep up with the crews, the pilot towns, the pilots, the flight attendants, where the aircraft were, where the people were staying, what hotels. So it was chaos. There was no way that they could get the operations going again at that point in time. So fortunately, for us, we had the airline pilots association.
They registered every single pilot that came in, what they were flying, what base, what aircraft, and so on. And we had a prior chief pilot to me come into the office, and he was coordinating things in our office, and which really helped. So when I finally got up there, I don't want to say it was a smooth operation, but people had. I wasn't starting from scratch, and people had come in there and given their.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Time, and it helped, you believe, looking back, doing a little bit of what we don't really should be doing as far as Monday morning quarterback. And you think that the FAA overstepped as far as an action to bring all of the airplanes out of the sky to a full stop, total, everything coming to a full stop as a way of providing a defense, or do you feel that looking back on it probably was the right thing to do? That's your own opinion here. Now that's all we're talking about.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: I think it was the right thing to do.
They probably overreacted in the beginning, but they finally evolved into a place where all the pilots, crew members got special badges where they could actually still go through and bypass all the other crowded lines. And it was. Those were required to get into the gate areas and onto the airplane.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: And I recall seeing a lot of that at the time, is who's doing what? So who's securing perimeter? Who's securing airplanes at night? You've got all these airplanes parked all over the tarmac.
How was that done? Looking back, obviously, it's already been superseded with new procedures. But how was that done? Did they have soldiers that walked around amongst them to protect the aircraft and to keep people out of them, or how did that work?
[00:15:10] Speaker A: No, but they definitely had. They weren't flying, so they had people definitely on shifts that were monitoring the airplanes. Once we started flying again, it was probably the safest time to fly that we've ever had because every person on that airplane was watching every other person, and they were bound and determined to have a safe flight.
[00:15:32] Speaker C: Can you remark on your observation of the mindset of the pilot group? You feel that that made them very suspicious of any and everybody that they met? They were concerned about getting on the airplane or just being around people.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Mike, I think for the most part, I would say in the 95 percentile, the pilots were very, very determined to get the airplanes going again. And when you see a thing happen, like what happened on 911, they became patriotic and they didn't like what happened to our country, and they would do anything. They could to volunteer to make things better again. But yes, the pilots wanted to get this operation going again. It was our livelihood and they all had an interest in the company and wanted it to get going again. So I remember when we first started flying, it was a one airplane by one airplane operation. It was a coordination with our office, the flight attendant office, and with the station manager who was getting the airplanes ready.
It was amazing how much everybody wanted to make this successful.
[00:16:59] Speaker C: There was a definitely coming together. I would say one element, knowing the pilot group at the time, there was one element that I have to say was very remarkable, that everybody came together in a sense of a common interest. You know, get this thing rolling again, protect our people, our passengers. There's no one more protective of passengers than the captain and crew. And chief pilot actually instills that. You did a wonderful job there, Captain Roberts.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Mike I think our base probably was one of the best bases. I think when you have a little smaller base, the pilots are closer. They know each other. They know a lot of the families. And I think because of that we excelled. Where I have regrets is feel that people have already forgotten.
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Up.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Now a report is fire on the 78th floor that's uncontrolled. I'm going to need the PD for security around the entire World Trade center. We have junkers coming from the World Trade center right now from the upper floor.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: You've all heard his shows, his name, from being a well known radio host and a long term financial advisor. Let's ask Pat Vitucci for his recollections and thoughts on the capital equities markets during, directly after and long term after the world trade towers attacks.
Pat, you've been a financial advisor for more than 30 years. Have you ever seen a reaction in the capital and equities markets like the 1 September 11, 2001?
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Michael, first of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. It's a real, it's a real honor. Yeah. 2001 911 was a difficult time period for all of us, especially those of us in the financial services arena. As we all know, all the New York Stock exchange markets were closed for four days. There was no trading on the Dow, the Nasdaq, the bond markets. Everything went quiet.
No surprise, most of those facilities are within blocks of the World Trade center, which obviously was epicenter for 911. Yeah, there was the Pennsylvania bombings and the Washington, DC bombings.
Most of the lives lost were, unfortunately, in New York City. Of course, the natural knee jerk reaction for the average investor, Michael, was, my gosh, I got a, to put everything in cash. Get everything out of the market. Stick it under your mattress.
It was extremely difficult for all of us. None of us have seen any of this kind of trauma. The foundation for investing, as we all know, is our emotional state. And our emotional state during that period, as we all know, was quite upsetting.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: I bet you got a lot of calls. I bet you every one of your clients must have called you.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: You know, the phone was ringing, and my office immediately conducted a very aggressive telephone campaign to attempt to connect with every client to reassure them that we were paying very close attention to their portfolios. It helped a great deal. Michael, I gotta tell you, at the.
[00:20:27] Speaker C: Time, I remember that they didn't really know the extent of this terrorist activity. They did not know, and that is why we were so ill prepared. But then later it comes out that they had all kinds of information that could have possibly been beneficial in preventing the extent of this. You know, bringing down a tower that's 110 stories, not just one building, but two buildings of 110 stories each, bringing them down like that was just an immense something that just makes you feel dumbstruck.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: It was particularly unnerving for me. I had a dinner at the top of the World Trade center. The restaurant is called windows of the world, about a month before. So it was particularly eerie for me.
I was there literally a month before. And then when it comes to clients and their relationship with money, put them in the middle of a crisis of this magnitude, it creates a lot of stress, and sometimes very poor decisions are made because everything is amplified. Right. We all get.
We'll pretend to overreact. And the key is, if you didn't overreact during that time period and you stayed in the market, you were rewarded with a recovery that was fairly swift.
Of course, the stain of 911. The frightening issues of 911 still remain with us to this day.
[00:22:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I have to applaud you for being able to mobilize your employees to make a telephone campaign to all of your clients like that. I imagine their mindset was just as numb and as confusing as everyone else at the time.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Yeah, you could hear it in our client's voice with all the calls that we made in that next four, five, six to work as we put everybody on the phones, if somebody wanted to come in and meet and kind of hold their hands or they needed a hug, that's what was the order of the day. Just provide some comfort in a very uncertain time. And it was a very, very difficult period, as you well know, Michael.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you could. You actually made a community with your clients, community, a shared interest in common. And you actually made that when you reached out with a massive campaign like that to talk with all of your clients and to say, hey, listen, this is what I am advising to do. And it's so hard because the herd mentality says fight or flight or both. And when that happens, everybody in the herd goes that direction. And then, like you pointed out, is if you can stay with it, then you're going to be rewarded for your stamina.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: And who would have thought people would fly a, a plane full of a jet into not one building, two buildings, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania? Who would have thought they would volunteer to give their lives up for whatever they were promised in the afterlife? It's pretty shocking just thinking about all those young Mendez living their life up because of some costs. That's pretty radical. We had never even thought, imagined that possibility.
[00:24:06] Speaker C: You know, we're just talking a moment ago with a former chief pilot of Brand X Airlines, and he was saying that, you know, everyone rallied together. That was one of the positive takeaways. If there were any positive takeaways from such a horrendous event, that's one of them. And I like to hear. I like to hear that in your case, you were able to do that also. Well, gosh, that's great, Pat. Anything that you would have done different.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Looking back, we retained like 99% of our clients because we reached out to them and shared our fear and allayed whatever fear they may have. And it was definitely, definitely a trying time. It was a growth period for us as a country and us individually.
[00:24:57] Speaker C: Previously, we were talking about how the Federal Reserve's fedwire payments balance liquidity issues between the banks and all of those facilities were essentially housed in the World Trade Center Twin towers. And when that happened, then there. There were no abilities for, no ability to balance the accounts between banks. And it took some time before the Federal Reserve jumped in and then finally started making significant capital injections to stabilize the normal payments pattern and thus liquidity of banks. Because without bank liquidity, what do you got? You know? So, you know, Pat, I really appreciate you coming on and giving your wise viewpoints and recollections from that time. It was a crazy time. I applaud you for your action that you did. Mobilizing your crew. That was a real sense of community that you did. Bringing your people, clients back together with what you believe to be right.
Who's calling that.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: All you're gonna stand by everybody, try to calm down.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: And the televisions were on, and I.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: Didn'T see the initial.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: You know, film of tower one when the airplane hit it.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: And somebody came over and said, hey.
[00:26:34] Speaker C: Frank, you're an airline pilot, right?
[00:26:35] Speaker B: And I go, yeah.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: He goes, why would an airplane hit a tower, you know, one of the trade towers in New York? And I said, they wouldn't unless it.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: Was deliberate or some kind of serious malfunction.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: But why? He goes, well, it just happened. I said, no way.
[00:26:53] Speaker C: You are listening to real estate and more. Special Edition 911 when I consider what a daunting task it was to rescue people from two fallen 110 story towers, I realize that perhaps it was an impossible task. After a short break, our guest will be a gentleman who continues to work boots on the ground with fire and rescue in the San Francisco Bay area. While he was not present on the scene in New York, he was involved in the sending and necessary support of firefighters sent there after the towers collapsed. After a short break, we will have the thoughts and insight of a fire battalion chief. I look forward to his words as well as to the words of additional special guests to come. We'll be right back for more of real estate and more special edition 911 stay tuned.
