Experience of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks by Airline Flight Staff

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the 9/11-related experiences, observations, and perceptions of airline flight staff highly connected to the terrorist attacks and the effects of the attacks on their work. A focus group of seven flight staff was conducted in January 2004. Spoken passages (N = 115) were categorized into themes, with excellent interrater reliability. Item count frequencies were tabulated for each theme. Five themes emerged: disaster experience, emotional response, perceived danger, interpersonal response, and workplace response. The flight staff characterized their daily work as front-line duty fraught with danger, uncertainty, and vivid reminders.