Pilots to Honor 9/11 Victims

John Martins remembers watching with boyhood awe as the World Trade Center was being built across the river from his home in New Jersey more than 30 years ago.

New York’s 110-story twin towers were more than architectural wonders--they represented the future and opportunity that awaited Martins outside his working-class Newark neighborhood.

“It was a symbol of what was good about America,” Martins said. “You were on top of the world when you were there.”

Martins was so taken with the majesty of the skyscrapers that he proposed to his wife, Rose, at a restaurant on the 106th floor of the north tower. Years later it would be his wife who broke the news to him about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“It felt like all of a sudden, we were so vulnerable,” said Martins, 43, now a Moorpark resident. “Before, we had these big symbols of might. And then, after 9/11, it felt like anything could happen.”

Martins will have a chance to honor the victims of the attacks by joining dozens of other recreational pilots from around the country who have volunteered to ferry their state flags to New York City for a special tribute Sept. 8.

Flight Across America will include an “air parade” of low-flying planes along the Hudson River corridor, past the Statue of Liberty and ground zero. The event will culminate with the presentation of the state flags to New York City officials aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier Intrepid in Manhattan.

For Martins, who has not been back to New Jersey since Sept. 11, Flight Across America offers more than a chance to visit his old neighborhood and see ground zero for himself. “In a way, it’s kind of like coming home,” he said.

Martins and his copilot, Camarillo resident Ken Coolidge, plan to leave Tuesday from Camarillo Airport. They will fly in Martins’ six-seat Piper Saratoga II TC.

Coolidge, 65, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and 12 air medals during his military career. Now a part-time flight instructor, Coolidge helped Martins earn his instrument rating three years ago, and the two struck a solid friendship through their mutual love of aviation.

They have flown together recreationally many times, and both are volunteer pilots for Angel Flight, a nonprofit organization that arranges free private air transportation for medical patients who cannot afford to fly commercially.

Martins’ friend and co-worker, Herbert Smole, 56, will accompany the pair on their trip to New York. Smole, who recently moved to Ventura County from Switzerland, also has a private pilot’s license. Smole’s enthusiastic support of Martins’ and Coolidge’s efforts earned him an invitation to join them on the trip to New York.

The trio plan to make several stops on their cross-country flight. On Thursday they will lay a wreath at the Somerset, Pa., crash site of Flight 93, the airliner believed to have been headed to a target in Washington, D.C., when passengers fought the hijackers. On Friday they will fly to Fredrick, Md., for a Pentagon memorial and tour. Then on Sept. 7, all the pilots will meet in Caldwell, N.J., for a pilots’ reception.

The flag presentation ceremony will be held the next day aboard the Intrepid, a World War II vessel that withstood seven bombings, five kamikaze strikes and one torpedo hit.

While the details of the ceremony are still being worked out, event organizers are hoping New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be on hand to accept the state flags.

Flight Across America founder Molly Peebles said the goal is to restore public confidence in flying and pay tribute to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Peebles, who quit her marketing job at Regal Aviation in Washington state to run her new organization full time, says her inspiration comes from aviation greats such as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers.

“They were people of vision and courage and possibility,” Peebles said. “With Flight Across America, this is a chance for us to tap back into that spirit. We really want to highlight that flight is a beautiful thing, that it epitomizes American freedom.”

While the pace of organizing a national event and conducting her own cross-country flight can be wearing, Peebles said the e-mails she receives each day from other pilots keep her going.

Some of those participating in the ceremony have some link to the Sept. 11 attacks, such as a New York Police Department sergeant who worked at ground zero, a Florida pilot whose brother-in-law perished in the World Trade Center collapse and a Colorado flag-bearer who was furloughed from her job as an airline pilot in the wake of Sept. 11.

Many are former military or commercial pilots. Martins and Coolidge say meeting the other pilots will be the highlight of their trip.

At a ceremony this week, a representative of Gov. Gray Davis presented Martins and Coolidge with a flag that had flown atop the state Capitol during the nationwide day of remembrance last October. The pair also received proclamations from the governor and Camarillo Mayor Jan McDonald to present to New York officials at the Sept. 8 ceremony.

With only a few days left until they depart, Martins is getting antsy. He and Coolidge have planned every detail of their flight. Martins’ two older sons, Nicholas, 13, and Christopher, 12, will take a commercial flight to New York for the ceremony and then fly home with their father. The boys, who are earning their Boy Scout aviation merit badges, plan to record their experiences in journals.

Martins says he hopes his sons will come away with a better understanding of the effect Sept. 11 had on the country, and an appreciation for the historic role they are playing by participating in Flight Across America.

“It’s been a year of such negative things--9/11, the economy suffering, people losing their jobs,” Martins said. “This is our chance to do something positive.”