Gate 32

Since this past February I haven't been in the air as often as I used to be. Still, since the fall of 2001, “road warrior” has been as good a descriptor for me as any other characterization you might want to use (hey, be nice). I long ago lost count of the number of flights I've been on. It gets very blasé after a while, with all the excitement of a bus ride, only far more annoying. Even the mindless inconvenience of the TSA rituals become almost acceptable. It’s just what we do now, and I hardly remember any of the specifics after awhile. However, I tend to pay attention when I fly out of (or near) American Airlines Gate 32 at Logan Airport. Logan is, of course, my home airport. I don't like Logan much, but it's the biggest game in town. I’m generally carrier-agnostic, though. I’ll fly Jet Blue, Delta, American, USAirways and even Alaska Airlines with equal frequency, based on little more than who can get me there on the best schedule at the best fare (yes, Alaska Airlines flies out of Logan, to Seattle. They're not bad). That said, the far corner of Terminal B always makes me pay attention.

So why is Gate 32 special? American Airlines Flight 11 left from Gate 32 on the morning of September 11, 2001. After being hijacked by five terrorists, it was deliberately flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. We all know life has never been the same. Not long after flights resumed the next week, someone put an American flag at the end of the gate, commemorating the lives lost, the tragedy of 9/11, and reminding all of us that in a very real way, the horrific events of that day (and the years that followed) started here.



I've probably flown in or out of Gate 32 five to ten times. It’s a gate reserved for larger planes. Flight 11 was a Boeing 767. From Gate 32 I've gone to London, the west coast and Hawai'i. In fact, I've been on the flight whose designation replaced Flight 11 (the weekday morning flight from BOS to LAX). Before that awful September Tuesday it was just another gate in just another airport. Now it's a small locus of history, albeit infamous. That morning, an American Airlines flight crew, dozens of regular people and a five manifestations of pure evil boarded a plane and flew into a maelstrom the likes of which we've never seen. I'm sure today most people don't even notice the flag, though I assume every single American Airlines staff member knows it's there.

The flag's just a normal US flag, but it stands to remind all who notice it of our ongoing mandate, some 8 years later: never forget. Never forget the people, the flight crew, and what happened. The next time you're in that end of Terminal B, walk to the right side past Starbucks. Look out the window near Gate 32. The flag's there, paying tribute to everyone who was killed on a gorgeous late summer morning. If you're like me, you might say a small prayer in memory of all who went to an airport or to work that day, and never returned home.