On the morning of September 11, 2001, retired Sarasota-Bradenton air traffic controller Blaise Pierson found himself handling a radio call that most controllers never get in a career. Air Force One needed to leave, and it needed to leave now. Pierson issued the departure instructions, a standard straight-out climb from runway three-two, and relayed them to the Secret Service agent on the radio, who approved the plan.
That moment ties our region directly to a defining day in American history. Air Force One pilot Col. Mark Tillman has said the plans shifted constantly that morning, and Pierson’s account shows just how fast decisions had to be made inside a small airport tower on the Suncoast.
Pierson also recalls something else, something that has stayed with him for twenty-five years. Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers, had visited the SRQ tower while he was a student at a flight school in Venice. Pierson described him as sour and unfriendly, a stark contrast to the usual student pilots who stopped by.
Do you remember where you were on 9/11, or have you heard stories from anyone who worked at SRQ back then?
