CFB Trenton pilot: Recalls fateful day for for forces9/11 brought threat into focus

JEROME LESSARDThe IntelligencerCFB TRENTON — A pilot who would later be the first to fly Canadian troops during the war in Afghanistan was about to walk to his aircraft the day al-Qaida struck New York City and Washington.Maj. Troy Paisley was preparing to fly to CFB Bagotville, Que. to take part in a tactical CF-18 flight the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.But his plan changed dramatically when the North American airspace was shut down after a second aircraft hit the World Trade Centre's south tower.“We were about to go up to Quebec when the first aircraft hit the twin towers. At that point we continued our preparation and as we were just about to walk out to the aircraft the second aircraft hit the twin towers,” said Paisley, a Kingston native who joined the Canadian Forces in 1991 and was posted at 8 Wing/CFB Trenton four years later with the 436 Squadron. “That's when the wing operations officer said 'You guys aren't going anywhere.' I remember I was thinking that it was kind of weird that the aircraft hit the building when there was blue sky in the background and that CNN was going on about possible navigation errors and what-not.”At the time the terrorist attacks happened across the border, Canada's largest air base was dealing with a public service workers strike. Paisley remembers the strikers stepped away in the hours following the hijacked-aircraft hitting the towers. “That's when the base defence force stepped in at that point,” he said. “Probably every military base in country put in their defence force staff as nobody really knew what was happening. And at that point everybody decided to put higher level of security posture in place.”As Paisley and his aircrew were ready to step out the door that day, the 8 Wing team was re-tasked to go to Ottawa and was put on standby with the CF special forces and two C-130 Hercules for three days in case any more terrorist attacks were to occur.

Paisley said Sept. 11, 2001 “definitely” changed the world and changed the CF pilots' perspective on the reasons why they train constantly. “As CF pilots we've been training to defend Canada and support our military, but on that day everything came into focus for us,” said the pilot. “It made us realize that there are people out there who are trying to inflict some sort of casualties or damage to our way of life. “For me it brought into focus that all this training we're doing was all of a sudden focused on a threat. Everybody thinks we train, train, train and we never actually use it. But in this case it's been put to use and has been for the last 10 years.”- With files from Emily Mountney/QMI Agency jlessard@intelligencer.ca