November 1, 2022 Speedy Ways

The Liberty Gazette

November 1, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: On our way to the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Georgia, we flew by Birmingham, Alabama, and it reminded me of a time several years ago when we were delayed there due to lousy weather. 

We had left the airport in search of lunch, and as the rain poured, we noticed a conga-line of worms squiggling their way across the puddly parking lot. They looked like airliners lining up, following one another to land at Bush Intercontinental. The arrivals into Bush are especially busy on Sunday nights. It’s hard to miss the string of landing lights coming from the east over Liberty County in a nice, neat line. The worms looked just like that, nose-to-tail, so to speak, so we had a good laugh and dubbed it the “WORM ONE” arrival because all special routes, like departures, arrivals, and approaches have names. For instance, one of the routes to Bush is called the “DRLLR FIVE,” and another the “GUSHR THREE” arrival, hat-tips to the significance of the oil industry here.

But back to the Stone Mountain trip. From Birmingham, our flight took us directly over the Talladega Superspeedway. Our first inclination that we would get a birds-eye view of the famous NASCAR track was when we saw the GPS waypoint, DEGAA. Like routes, intersections in the sky have names. In the U.S., we use five-letter words which must be pronounceable as names for intersection waypoints, and as they tend to be christened with local flavor, I knew DEGAA must be near the Talladega speedway. Within spittin’ distance is the Talladega Municipal Airport.

There are other airports near speedways. I went to watch an old family friend race a few years back. All I had to do was fly south about 30 minutes from the county airport near Mom’s house to the Salem Municipal Airport and walk next door to the speedway. No excuse to miss one of the race drivers who had been a good friend of my dad’s since I was a little kid.

Mike: Ontario International was another one. The airport wasn’t difficult to identify once I spied the speedway just north of it. On race days, race driver Bobby Allison used to land his Aerostar there. 

Bobby started something when he learned to fly. He discovered the efficiency of personal air travel. Being the character that he is, he would land on a track if there wasn’t an airport nearby. Other racing teams took notice and started flying too. Such was the beginning of what is known as the “NASCAR Air Force.” They transport their drivers, mechanics, sponsors, pit crew, and families. One team has several 50-seat jets they fill up for each race, and they get their folks back home the same day. 

These days, most NASCAR teams hire professional pilots who undergo the same rigorous regular training as airline pilots. I’ve trained many of the pilots flying for these teams, and they all appreciate airports located next to speedways.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com