Written by Robert Cochran and Zachary Biemer
Nearing 25 years ago on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States had an attack on the two World Trade Center towers, the pentagon, and flight 93 going down in a Pennsylvania field. An event that affected many families.
Robert Cochran Sr., a United Airlines pilot, was working on the day of the attacks. Cochran’s son, Robert Cochran Jr. graduated from SUNY Cortlan in May with a degree in Geographic Information Systems, and is a co-author of this story.
An image of Robert Cochran Sr, prior to the 2001 attacks.
“I was flying from Newark to Chicago and when I got to Chicago I got word of the attacks in New York. I was in shock. I did not know what was going on,” Cochran Sr. said.
Cochran Sr. states that all air traffic was grounded stopping him for reaching his destination of the night, San Franciso.
The difference between his flight and Flight 93 is that Flight 93 had more fuel because it was going direct from Newark to San Fransisco and Cochran Sr. had a stop over in Chicago to unload passengers, get more fuel and continue to San Fransisco. When airline jets are going for shorter distances, having less fuel is better for the aircraft’s performance.
“It was really depressing,” said Cochran Sr. “Especially after hearing about Flight 93, and we were supposed to meet the crew for dinner in San Francisco.”
This event has been a big change in Cochran Sr.’s life as he said. His life was not only affected at the time of the attack but years after the attack.
He stated his pay drastically dropped after the attacks and he was working all the time to be able to keep his family functioning.
He also argues that news reporting really increased in popularity and the types of stories enlarged after 9/11.
“It was a major news event that was broadcasted which definitely gave them a run for their money and probably increased their profit” Cochran Sr. said.
He added that after the mass media event, the news company news closely following the search to find who did the attack and followed it up to the time when Osama Bin Laden was found in 2011, ten years after the attack.
As time has gone by, Cochran Sr. has since upgraded to Captain and still flies for United. He currently lives in upstate New York with his family and taught his son Bob Jr. to fly and his son hopes to follow in his footsteps towards the airline industry.
An image of Robert Cochran Sr, from 2021 when he was upgraded to captain. He stayed the first officer to keep a better schedule so he could still be able to be home on weekends and holidays.