Women In Mexico
Air Racing
in Mexico
by Peggy Sanders
I've never driven into Mexico, but more than thirty years ago I started flying myself into Mexico. That was in the days when a brand-new really sharp single engine plane cost $11,000 and fuel was $.35 a gallon. I was living up in New England and heard about the All Women's International Air Race, dubbed the Angel Derby by a Mexican newspaperman when he saw all these women pilots descending from the sky.
I air raced for years to and from Mexico and learned to love all the little towns we landed in, and of course the people. Everyone was so friendly, they all wanted to know how we liked their town, and asked us to please come back.
We assured them that we loved their town and yes, we were looking forward to returning some day.
I was leaving San Luis Potosi one day, taxiing out on the runway as there was no taxiway, and the controller said, “Please come back”, and I assured him that we certainly would, that we had loved being there.
His voice became a bit more plaintive as he repeated, “Please come back”, and I assured him again that we were looking forward to it, and then he all but yelled, “Please come back! Airliner on final!”
You never saw a little plane make a 180 as fast as I did and scoot back for the safety of the ramp. It was a bit later that the American Airlines plane landed, they had been a good twenty miles out...
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We now travel to Mexico free as I married a retired airline pilot. He has Alzheimers so I need to be in Mexico where the elderly are treated with respect and there is help that one can afford. I am negotiating for a neat village house, but it's difficult having to come up with 100% cash!
It's an honor to be able to tell you a story when I have read and loved so many of yours. |
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I have one last story, the one I hug to myself when I think about my travels in Mexico.
I was on a long final into Acapulco and just coming up on the lake when the air traffic controller told me, "Make a three-sixty, aircraft still on runway".
So I made a happy circle over the lake and came back on final when I heard the controller, "Oh lady", he breathed, "you done real good!".
I have chuckled about this ever since. And whenever I feel down, I know there is someone in the world who thought I "done real good".
Thanks for listening and thanks again for your wonderful books which I treasure. Still through my tears, I'll say a prayer for Steve tonight.
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