From Tragedy to Triumph: Inside Captain Nia Gilliam’s Unforgettable Journey Beyond 9/11
When I started reading Cleared for Take Off: A Pilot’s Memoir of Purpose and Resilience after 9/11 by Captain Nia Gilliam (Storehouse Press; Aug. 2026), I wasn’t prepared for what was coming, but when I realized what it was, my memory of that day kicked in.
The book begins on 9/11. Gilliam is co-piloting a regional flight from Newark to Boston, waiting for clearance from the tower. What begins as an ordinary day changes as Gilliam watches the second plane hit the second tower. It’s shattering.
Even though I lived through 9/11, Gilliam’s story is so different, and because she is a pilot, the aftermath of that day affected her in a momentous way. She saw people turn what she loved the most in the world—planes and flying—into weapons. I read breathlessly, chapter after chapter, to find out what happened that day and after, and how she survived, as well as how she became a pilot.
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