CAP pilot recalls memorable Sept. 11 flight

  • Published
  • By Ryan Stark
  • Nucleus staff writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  On the night of Sept. 12, 2001, the skies over Kirtland and the nation were nearly silent due to the grounding of all but essential air traffic because of the terrorist attacks the previous day. But one lonely Civil Air Patrol aircraft, piloted by CAP members Lt. Col. John Doughty and Capt. John Lorenz, went into the New Mexico night on a mission to deliver life-saving blood donations.

After watching the images from New York and Washington play ad nauseam on television for a day, Albuquerque Senior Squadron II pilot Lorenz was just relieved to be asked to
take action.

"There was widespread pent-up frustration at having been attacked and being unable to hit back or do anything to ameliorate the situation," he said. "(Flying a mission) was action of  sorts rather than sitting around and grinding my teeth."

He and the squadron's chaplain, Doughty, who is also a retired Air Force officer, were tasked with taking the shipment of blood from Kirtland to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.

In the days after the attack there were several CAP medical supply transport missions, similar to Lorenz and Doughty's flight.

CAP New York Wing members did photo reconnaissance missions over Ground Zero and, along with blood transport missions, CAP is regularly tasked by the Air Force and other agencies with air search-and-rescue missions as well as assisting with disaster recovery.

As the civilian auxiliary to the Air Force, one major aspect of CAP's mission is in the area of emergency services. Albuquerque Senior Squadron II is based at Kirtland and is often called upon to fly such missions.

Doughty, like Lorenz, was relieved to be called upon to fly just after the attacks.

"I was dumbfounded," Doughty said. "I was pacing the floor asking, 'What can I do?'"

The mission flown out of Kirtland on that night would be challenging on many levels. Doughty and Lorenz were given very specific instructions regarding radio communication and their
flight plan. The flight was given a nationally designated transponder code so as to clearly identify the flight and its mission to the FAA and the military.

They were warned any deviation from the flight plan or communications could result in their being shot down by military aircraft.

"We were aware of the possibility of being shot down but didn't dwell on it and never considered not going because of it," Lorenz said. "Once we were in the air, we never
felt threatened and had full air traffic control services, so we knew
people knew who we were."

Given the alert level, even getting onto Kirtland was challenging.

"Everything was locked down," Doughty said. "We came to the gate in a CAP van. They had dogs sniffing the van and two guys checking it out with their guns out. It was serious business."

Once on-base and in the air, the aircrew would be facing thunderstorms along their course between Albuquerque and Phoenix, storms they managed to dodge on both legs of their flight that night.

Flying out of Kirtland around 10 p.m., Doughty remembers the eerie quiet, both on the aircraft radio and the sparsely populated desert between Albuquerque and Phoenix.

"We only heard one Lifeguard (medical) flight the whole way, and CAP mission just after 9/11 there wasn't much talking from air traffic control except to the military," he said. "Western New Mexico is very black at night. Most of what we saw was lightning."

Arriving in Phoenix three hours after leaving Kirtland, the two pilots were greeted by military personnel at an otherwise quiet international airport.

"We were met by NCOs carrying some serious-looking guns," Doughty said. "They offloaded the blood and said thanks."

Doughty took the controls for the flight back to New Mexico, arriving at Kirtland around 4 a.m., Sept. 13.

The thunderstorms finally caught up with them once they were refueling their aircraft on the ramp.

"I remember saying, 'Thank you, Lord, for keeping (the storms) away till we got back safe on the ground,'" Doughty said.

"While flying it, I felt it was the most important mission I'd ever flown," Lorenz recalls.

Doughty said it was a relief to do something positive in the midst of a national emergency.

"It was soul-satisfying," he said. "I felt like I'd contributed to the response. I went home and slept like a baby."