On September 11, 2001, as information seeps out about the 9/11 attacks on America, the FAA begins directing all remaining aircraft in the air to nearby airports, completely clearing the skies. A total of 39 transatlantic flights at or near their "point of no return" (AKA point of safe return) are diverted to the nearest airport in Canada, Gander, Newfoundland. The anxious passengers leaving on business and vacation trips have no idea why their flights are being sent to a remote town in Canada. With wild rumours spreading, one British airliner's crew tells the passengers what is known, that a terrorist attack has taken place in the United States.
In response to the attacks on September 11, 2001, the FAA orders all planes out of the air. American and Canadian air traffic controllers face a difficult situation: how to safely re-route and land 6,500 planes carrying close to a million people. For individual air traffic controllers, the work is chaotic, intense, and deceptively simple: pick a new route for each flight; radio instructions to turn; listen for pilot confirmation; hold traffic to keep airways from overcrowding. From Cleveland, Ohio to Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, controllers on September 11 searched for alternate airports to land large jets as their traumatized colleagues return from breaktime having watched the attacks on TV.