Stories built from the real world

On November 1, 2001, less than two months after the attacks of September 11, I attended a New York reception celebrating the publication of my first novel, Abuse of Process. The event was hosted by my friend W. Randall Jones, former editor of Esquire and founder and editor of Worth magazine. Ground Zero was only blocks away, and the events of that day remained painfully present.

Like so many conversations at that time, ours turned to United Flight 93. Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, actor Lorenzo Lamas and I spoke about the fear aboard that aircraft, the passengers' extraordinary bravery, and their decision to confront the hijackers when history demanded action from ordinary people.

Lorenzo observed that even if the passengers had overwhelmed the hijackers, the aircraft might still have crashed because the pilots were already dead. The thought hung in the air. Then I asked: "But what if there had been an inexperienced private pilot among the passengers who might have been able to land the jet?"

Barbara responded that I had just discovered my next book. Lorenzo joked that if I wrote it, he wanted to play the heroic pilot. I wrote the idea down that night. Later, Barbara encouraged me to develop my craft and became a valued writing mentor. I had no way of knowing that one question would remain with me for the next fifteen years.

What if courage had succeeded?

Over fifteen years, what began as an alternate-history premise became something more personal and expansive. I first thought I was writing about passengers retaking a hijacked aircraft. I came to understand that I was writing about what happens after survival.

The passengers of Flight 3911 fight back, but their victory does not end when the aircraft lands. Survival brings trauma, secrecy, responsibility and consequences none of them could have anticipated. Their actions also provide intelligence that could prevent a second attack. Saving the aircraft becomes only the beginning of their story.

At its heart, Flight 3911 is not an attempt to rewrite the history of September 11. It is an effort to honor the courage revealed on that day. While September 11 is remembered through many defining images and stories, I have always been particularly moved by the passengers and crew of Flight 93. Their collective decision to act, with almost no time and no assurance of survival, represents extraordinary courage, responsibility and selflessness.

My motivation is respect, humility and gratitude. Even small details reflect that purpose. The fictional co-pilot of Flight 3911, Larry Homer, was named in tribute to Flight 93 First Officer Leroy Homer, one of the individuals whose courage and sacrifice deserve to be remembered.

The series asks what ordinary people are capable of when history demands more from them than they ever imagined they could give. That idea lives in Brandon Powell, forced to accept responsibility for an airliner filled with frightened people. It lives in Bill Cauldwell, a damaged military leader given an opportunity for redemption. It lives in Carley Hollace and Mary O'Hara, who remind men shaped by crisis that survival must eventually lead back to life. It lives most of all in passengers who begin as strangers and become a community because they choose to stand together.

My hope is that audiences come for the aviation suspense, the government secret and the covert mission, but remain for the people. I want them to remember the passengers who choose action while afraid, the survivors who rebuild their lives, and the imperfect individuals who accept responsibility when others are counting on them.