In the 1990s, the Winston Cup Media Tour was flying back to Charlotte from Texas on a large airplane. We'd been visiting the just-built Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
We were having trouble landing, probably from ice on the wing; I'm not sure. Anyway, a lot of sports writers were asleep. Suddenly, it felt like we were floating, then we dropped and went WHAM!
I was awake on the left side of the packed plane, holding my laptop in my arms.
A sleeping friend of mine in the back of the plane was startled to awaken to an air mask hitting him in the face. He and a few others probably felt a few moments of panic.
Cup driver and pilot Mike Wallace, who was flying with us, told us the pilot was overshooting the landing strip, so he stalled the plane. That's why we felt the drop and the wham.
I've flown since then, but I'm always happy when we land safely.
And I think of that landing every time someone mentions TMS.
We were having trouble landing, probably from ice on the wing; I'm not sure. Anyway, a lot of sports writers were asleep. Suddenly, it felt like we were floating, then we dropped and went WHAM!
I was awake on the left side of the packed plane, holding my laptop in my arms.
A sleeping friend of mine in the back of the plane was startled to awaken to an air mask hitting him in the face. He and a few others probably felt a few moments of panic.
Cup driver and pilot Mike Wallace, who was flying with us, told us the pilot was overshooting the landing strip, so he stalled the plane. That's why we felt the drop and the wham.
I've flown since then, but I'm always happy when we land safely.
And I think of that landing every time someone mentions TMS.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK.
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