9-11 memorial set to take flight Rockland pilot to carry Maine flag

ROCKLAND – A midcoast man carrying the Maine state flag will pilot a tiny plane down the Hudson River next month, past ground zero and around the Statue of Liberty as part of a 9-11 memorial involving aviators from all 50 states.

Steve Morrison, 43, a Rockland photographer and pilot, will participate in his Cessna Skyhawk through a program called Flight Across America, which began Sunday and ends Sept. 11. It involves a number of programs planned to celebrate aviation and to bring life back to air travel in aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Flag bearers from every state will fly their airplanes down the Hudson in a parade of sorts. Later, the flags will be presented to representatives of New York City during a ceremony onboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, which serves as a sea-air-space museum docked in Manhattan.

Leslie Barstow of Flight Across America, based in Everett, Wash., said Tuesday organizers hope to present the flags to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Morrison said he is excited about participating in Flight Across America, in part to help revive the spirit of aviation.

“I first read about it in a flying magazine,” Morrison said. But it was when he saw a link on the Angel Flight New England Web site that he decided to snap up an opportunity to fly in the airplane procession.

Morrison participates in Angel Flight, a national organization whose members fly cancer patients to hospitals. When Morrison saw the offer, he applied online and was chosen. “I was just afraid no one would” apply, he said, and he wanted to have Maine represented.

Participants in Flight Across America have been asked “not to bring planeloads of people” with them, Morrison said, adding that background checks are being done on all of the pilots.

“I’ll probably go alone,” he said.

Morrison learned to fly through the Knox County Flying Club. He earned his pilot’s license in 1995 and has been flying ever since. On occasion, he does aerial photography.

The events of Sept. 11 did not prompt any fear of flying for Morrison – just the opposite. “I almost felt like the terrorists won,” he said, “because they took our rights away.”

When the terrorist attacks led to groundings of aircraft, Morrison was beside himself. He said he could hardly wait to take to the skies again.

“It’s the way I relax,” he said. “It’s like … my wife quilts.”