I flew one of the 38 planes that landed in Gander, Newfoundland, on the morning of 9/11. Most of us thought we’d land, refuel and proceed onto our destinations, but that didn’t happen. We stayed in Gander for five days.

American Airlines had three airplanes landing in Gander that day. It’s a story we will share for the rest of our life. I was the only female pilot who landed there – and there were well over 100 pilots. I was captain of a Boeing 777 and American Airlines’ first female captain.

It was going back to Gander for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and meeting the Come From Away playwrights, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, that changed my life more than anything – involvement in that musical.

I was contacted by an Austrian film crew who were going to Gander. The crew asked if I was going. I said I didn’t know anything was happening. They asked would I consider it and, absolutely, I’d always wanted to go back. My husband and I went and… the playwrights said ‘can I interview you?’ That interview lasted four hours. We stayed for four days, got on the plane, flew back to Texas and I never thought much more about it.

What I didn’t realise was they went into hibernation, writing the musical. Four years later the producers called, inviting me to the world premiere of Come From Away at La Jolla, California – it was summer 2015. We saw the musical for the first time that evening. I didn’t know a song had been written, ‘Me and the Sky’ that chronicled my aviation life.

My husband and I were sitting in the audience, front and centre. We just put our heads in our hands because we were astounded and the song – it’s four minutes 13 seconds long – is such a beautiful song. To hear your life in words is just insurmountable – you can’t believe it. It was the accuracy that meant so much, that was so heartfelt, and why I was so honoured by it.

There’s only one part where they used a little artistic license, where the other pilots say ‘hey lady, hey baby, get me a drink’. Well no, the other pilots would never have said that to me. They treated me with the ultimate respect always, so that’s the only sentence not 100% correct.

When I was 16 I wanted to take flying lessons but I didn’t get to do that. We were involved in the horse industry and my father wanted to keep me interested in horses. The first summer home after college freshman year, I signed up for flying lessons, and announced to my parents that I would fly for the rest of my life. And that’s in the song.

Had I not gone back on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, none of the interviews, the travelling to all the shows all over the world – none of that would have occurred. My counterparts who landed their planes there that day – their life has just gone on, personally, very normal.

American Airlines’ first female captain Beverley Bass.
American Airlines’ first female captain Beverley Bass.

My life has changed drastically because I spend so much of my time doing what I’m doing today – Zoom calls, talks all over the US in women’s clubs, schools. What I love most is the impact it’s having on young people, who weren’t even born when 9/11 occurred. I constantly get videos sent to me – young girls doing their talent shows. They dance to ‘Me in the Sky’, ice-skate to it, sing it. Videos sent by random people I don’t even know, all over the country, really all over the world.

And I’m just amazed at how young girls latched onto the song and that’s a huge compliment to me, because the song is my life with regard to aviation.

But the musical is because of the folks of Gander. It’s not about me, but to let the world know what Gander did for us during those five days, how this tiny community of 9,400 people could take in nearly 7,000 passengers and crew that showed up unannounced in a three-hour time-frame, when the United States was in the worst crisis of our history.

It was 30 hours before we saw any of the visual images on TV. And it was extremely personal because two of the airplanes belonged to American Airlines. And every one of us crew members knew somebody on those two planes.

Gander came to our rescue. At the end of those five days we had passengers getting on airplanes to go home who said they didn’t want to leave – they felt so safe, so secure, so taken care of, they didn’t want to leave Gander.

I’ve been back there six times since 9/11 – my whole family, we’ve been back to Gander.

Without the musical, the song, I’d have retired from American Airlines, drifted into the sunset. But I’ve never truly stepped away from aviation. I’m still flying. I’ve been flying the same privately-owned jet with the same pilot – I’m 72, he’s 76 – for almost eight years.

I’ve always been a somewhat humble person. I don’t like to give speeches. But because the song has grown legs, it has taken some pressure off me personally. That they wrote the song – in a way I could never have expressed or portrayed myself because I’m just a lot more reserved than that – and that it means so much to people is very humbling. It makes me happy.

  • Come From Away opens at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from June 11 to 22.

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