Ex-Prestwick Airport worker remembers airspace closure after 9/11

An ex-air traffic controller has told STV News of the ensuing airspace closure after the twin towers were brought down by passenger planes on September 11, 2001.

Jim Brunton was on shift at Prestwick Airport 25 years ago when the deadliest terrorist attack in history took place on US soil.

Hijackers gained control of four aeroplanes which were flown into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, while the fourth was downed in a field in Pennsylvania.

A total of 2,977 people, including the 19 hijackers, died during the attack.

According to reports, four Scots died in the act of terrorism: Ian Gray, Derek Sword, Colin McArthur and Gavin Cushny.

Jim Brunton was on shift at Prestwick Airport 25 years ago when the deadliest terrorist attack in history took place on US soil. STV News

At the time of the attack, whilst working in Prestwick Airport’s control room, Mr Brunton told his supervisor there was a major incident across the Atlantic.

The supervisor had been trying to call colleagues via the direct line to New York; however, there was no answer.

A colleague then told others in the room that there had been a “massive incident”. Staff at Prestwick gathered around the TV to watch the “shocking” scene unfold.

Mr Brunton told STV News: “They were showing the incidents, the aircraft flying into the towers, which was shocking for us. And the commentator had said the Americans are considering closing their airspace.

“We knew there had been aircraft deliberately flown into buildings.

“We didn’t know how many, and you know, people would come in, and you’d hear snippets, but we were all so focused on the job at hand, we didn’t have time to try and like ascertain what was really going on in America.

“All we knew was that the big thing was America had closed its airspace, and then we just had to react to that.”

All flights over the US were ordered to land at 9.45am Eastern Time following the attack. Canadian airspace was also closed.

The airspace above America remained closed for two days.

The attacks changed global air travel, prompted new federal surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers and banking regulations, and generated ongoing debate over the balance between security and freedom.

It remains the worst terrorist attack of all time, claiming the lives of victims from more than 90 nations.

In response, the US became the first and only country to invoke Nato’s “all for one, and one for all” collective security clause, where members rally to the defence of an ally under attack – a commitment now called into doubt by the current president.

It led to the large-scale deployment of UK forces to conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq, which left hundreds of British troops dead, thousands more injured and continues to have global repercussions.