A few days after 9/11 I was taking a flying lesson close to NYC

[thunder rising]

There was a spire of smoke spreading in to an overcast like cloud. I was at 5K ft and I thought 5000 souls on the way to heaven.

I have wanted to mourn the dead without requiring the death of 100Ks of others to vanquish our hate since that day.

[rzemanfl]

1. Didn't someone else taking a flying lesson smack a building?

A ballplayer? So much shit has happened the last seven years it is hard to remember it all.

[thunder rising]

2. Get a clue before you strike a key

[rzemanfl]

8. My, aren't you polite tonight. n/t

[rzemanfl]

9. I just read your profile. Guess what? I have been here for years

and you are the first person I have ever put on ignore.

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, you're right. A ballplayer did fly into a building in Manhattan. nt

[rsmith6621]

5. Define .....A Few Days

Please.......

[aquart]

3. It wasn't till I saw the aerial photographs that I realized I'd been in that cloud.

We weren't covered in dust like everything below Canal. But I went from using my inhaler three or four times a year to four or five times a week for about five years. It's back to where it was before, though.

I don't know if the other effects will ever go.

I remember the silence. I remember waiting for the sounds of ambulance sirens. And never hearing them after the first day. I remember thinking we'd find survivors. And I remember the pictures on every wall, and the shrines that appeared beneath them everywhere.

And when firemen had to come up the stairs of my building a few weeks later, I remember looking out the door and thinking, "Why are giants in my hall?"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. How long after?

Most general aviation traffic was grounded, including flight training, for quite awhile after the attacks -- about 10 days, I think.

[independentpiney]

7. that's strange, where were you flying from?

i had to cancel my flight lessons out of RJ Miller in ocean county, nj and if i remember correctly it was over a week before I could get back up because of ga restrictions.