Warm memories of his Flight 11 colleagues

Wayne Luttrell knew them as Bobbi, Karen and Betty.

An American Airlines flight attendant, Luttrell worked Flight 11's Boston-to-Los Angeles route for more than two years until just a few months before Sept. 11, 2001.

He was a close colleague of members of the crew aboard that flight the day five terrorists hijacked the jet and flew it into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

"There was Barbara Arestegui -- 'Bobbi' -- she was adorable, used to call me her 'mijo,' " he said, using a Spanish slang term of endearment, roughly translated as "my son" or "my dear."

"There was Karen Martin . . . her husky voice and love of beer, a very dear friend," he continued. And then there was Betty Ong, also a good friend, who courageously called the airline's flight operations from her cellphone after the hijackers turned off the aircraft's transponder.

Luttrell, 47, learned that Arestegui and Martin were stabbed as the attackers made their initial moves aboard the flight.

Sunday, Luttrell recalled fun times they shared and how he tried to give meaning to his own devastation. He took nine months off, joined his local volunteer fire department in Santa Fe, N.M., and trained as an EMT.

"It crushed me," said the father of three, who still works for American and is slated to leave New York on Wednesday on a flight to Rome. "It's really difficult to deal with knowing they were on that flight."

Together with his friend David Provost, who formerly also was a member of the El Dorado Fire & Rescue Service, Luttrell said he wanted to be present for the 8:46 a.m. moment of remembrance when the plane struck.

"I wanted to hear their names read out and for people to know they were brave."