John Ogonowski

Biography John Alexander Ogonowski was born February 24, 1951, in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was raised. He attended St. Stanislaus School, Keith Academy in Lowell. He attended Lowell Technological Institute (now the University of Massachusetts Lowell), where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear engineering.

Ogonowski was a pilot in the U. S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, assigned to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, ferrying equipment to Asia and sometimes transporting the bodies of fallen American soldiers in C-141 transport aircraft. Following his service commitment, he resigned his commission under honorable conditions and separated from the military with the rank of captain.

Ogonowski became a commercial pilot in 1978. For 23 years, he flew airplanes for American Airlines, and was a member of the Allied Pilot Association. Ogonowski had joined the airline as a flight engineer after previously serving that role in the Air Force.

During the course of his commercial piloting career, he met Margaret, a flight attendant whom he later married. They had three daughters: Laura, Caroline, and Mary Catherine. Ogonowski's remains have never been recovered or identified.

Legacy Ogonowski was survived by his wife Margaret and daughters Laura, Caroline, and Mary Catherine.

In 2002, Ogonowski and Flight 11 flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney were the inaugural recipients of the Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery, an honor that the Government of Massachusetts instituted to award annually at least one Massachusetts resident for displaying extraordinary courage in defending or saving the lives of others.

Actor David Carnegie portrayed Ogonowski in BBC docudrama Zero Hour Season 1: Episode 2 (2004) called "The Last Hour of Flight 11".

A remote controlled model aircraft flying field in nearby Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was dedicated to Ogonowski.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell, presented Ogonowski with a posthumous honorary doctorate at its 2003 commencement ceremony at Tsongas Arena.

At the National 9/11 Memorial, Ogonowski is memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel N-74, adjacent to the name of Kathleen A. Nicosia, a friend and flight attendant also killed on board American Airlines Flight 11 that day.