Captain Nia Gilliam on 9/11, resilience, and memoir, Cleared for Takeoff

As a 10-year-old girl growing up near Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Nia Gilliam spent hours looking skyward, mesmerized by airplanes. She imagined where they were going. More importantly, she imagined herself in the cockpit taking them there.

That childhood dream eventually became reality. Gilliam rose through the ranks to become a United Airlines captain, one of only a small number of Black women flying commercial airliners in the United States.

Then came Sept. 11, 2001.

“It started off as a regular day of work,” Gilliam recalled.

She had flown from Boston to Newark and was preparing for another flight when she and her captain noticed smoke rising from New York City’s skyline.

At first, no one understood what they were seeing.

“Pilots on the radio were asking the ground controllers what was going on with the smoke,” Gilliam said. “Some of the communication was, ‘We’re not sure. We’re looking into it.’ Then at one point they said, ‘We know, but we’d rather not say.’ That gives you pause as a pilot because controllers and pilots, we’re a team.”

Moments later, while sitting on the runway awaiting clearance, Gilliam watched United Flight 175 crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

“Shortly thereafter, we were cleared for takeoff.”

She flew the aircraft back to Boston without fully understanding the scope of what had happened. During the flight, the crew had little information, relying on scattered radio communications and speculation.

Only after landing did they learn the horrifying truth.

“We were informed that there were airliners that hit the towers,” she said. “Then we learned about the Pentagon. It was all happening in real time.”

Because they had been among the last flights to leave Newark before the airport shut down, Gilliam and her crew were interviewed by the FBI about what they had witnessed.

Walking away from a dream

The trauma was overwhelming.

“That day, I did not want to look at aircraft, be in an aircraft, any of that,” Gilliam said. “I was ready to walk away from it all.”

For someone whose entire identity had revolved around aviation since childhood, leaving flying seemed unimaginable. Yet that’s exactly what she did.

Gilliam sought therapy during a time when mental health treatment was rarely discussed in the airline industry.

“It was frowned upon,” she said. “But something of that magnitude, that traumatic, it was necessary.”

She also began writing.

“I didn’t start out wanting to write for the world,” Gilliam said. “After witnessing 9/11 on the runway, it was a way to process.”

Those journals eventually became Cleared for Takeoff: A Pilot’s Memoir of Purpose and Resilience After 9/11.

A love story disguised as a memoir

While 9/11 anchors the narrative, Gilliam insists the memoir is about much more.

“It’s really a coming-of-age story,” she said. “It’s a childhood dream accomplished, then losing the whole desire and passion to fly.”

The memoir moves between her eyewitness account of Sept. 11 and memories of growing up as a young Black girl with an uncommon dream.

“In the ’80s, for a young Black girl growing up near Chicago to say she wanted to be a pilot was very unique,” she said.

Fortunately, her parents never questioned that dream.

“I was very blessed to have my parents believe in me.”

One chapter recounts how Gilliam skipped school to attend the funeral of Willa Brown, the first Black woman to earn a commercial pilot’s license. There, she met the first Black woman pilot she had ever seen, who became her mentor.

“It changed everything.”

Eventually, life pulled her back into aviation in an unexpected way.

“I found out I was pregnant,” Gilliam said. “That’s all I knew how to do was fly planes. I had a life to raise, a child to take care of.”

Looking back now, she sees the story differently.

“It’s truly a love story,” she said. “My love for flying. I walked away, but the love of my son brought me back.”

A story of resilience

Since the events of Sept. 11, Gilliam has survived breast cancer, balanced motherhood with an airline career, and become a captain while helping open doors for the next generation of aviators.

Asked what makes her proud, her answer wasn’t about awards or accomplishments.

“I’m proud of the young me who kept going,” she said. “She definitely was ready to quit and walk away. There were opportunities to quit, but she stayed steadfast and resilient.”

That resilience is at the heart of Cleared for Takeoff.

“There’s history, Black history in aviation, encouragement, and passion. It’s just a good book.”

Meet Captain Nia Gilliam

Houston readers can meet Gilliam during the launch of Cleared for Takeoff: A Pilot’s Memoir of Purpose and Resilience After 9/11 at the Lone Star Flight Museum, on Aug. 4 at 6pm, where she will discuss the memoir, participate in a Q&A, and sign copies of the book. www.niagilliam.com