9/11 Flight Crew Memorial

Grapevine, Texas

A little girl clutches a teddy bear as a reassuring blanket is draped over her shoulders. A pilot rests his manly hand atop a miniature Earth. Eagles fly. A female flight attendant raises her hand, palm forward, as if to say, "Stop there, terrorist!"

With human figures 14 feet tall, the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial is packed with symbolism and enough bronze to outfit an Etruscan battalion. sculpted by artist Dean Thompson and dedicated in 2008, it honors the 33 flight crew members who died on 9/11. An inscription on a pentagon-shaped granite slab at the memorial reads, "They loved their career and gave their best, Now joining those 'heading west'."

The memorial, part of a group of 9/11 tributes, stands at the center of a giant compass carved into a granite plaza, near the flight path of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. It can be seen from the sky by passengers flying into or out of the airport from the north.