Prior to resumption of commercial air service, the Federal Aviation Administration reopened U.S. skies to private charter flights for some activities including shipment of organs to transplant centers.

The United Network for Organ Sharing said more than 20 transplants were arranged nationwide between the time the U.S. air transport system was shut down on Sept. 11th and reopened at 11 am on Sept. 13th.

While no flights at all were initially permitted, charter pilots on Sept. 12th were allowed to transport organs by calling the FAA for approval to fly, which was granted on a case-by-case basis.

Of the transplants conducted before special flights were permitted, eight kidneys, one liver, one heart and two lungs went to recipients who didn't have the highest priority, according to UNOS..

In one of the more dramatic incidents, a chartered jet carrying a heart and a lung from Anchorage, Alaska to Seattle with FAA approval was intercepted by fighter jets due to "miscommunication," according to Jill Steinhaus, a spokeswoman for LifeCenter Northwest, the organ-procurement agency that chartered the plane.

FBI Special Agent Jim Powers said the flight was escorted through Canadian air space by Royal Canadian Air Force fighters, then "handed off" to two Navy fighters that forced it to land in Bellingham, Washington, some 80 miles short of its destination.

A helicopter was then used to rush the organs to the University of Washington Medical Center. Six hours had elapsed when the donor organs reached the operating room.

Dr. Gabriel Aldea, who performed the transplant, said the heart's time-consuming journey to the hospital made it critical to perform the surgery as quickly as possible since a heart can last only about eight hours out of the body.

"We had an excellent heart transplant," Aldea reported. "The surgery went very, very well."

Other sources: UNOS, AP, Seattle Times