Only Happy Landings for ESPN’s Shannon Spake
Despite growing up with a pilot for a father, ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Shannon Spake admits she has always been one to comment about bad landings on commercial airline flights – until now. “I’m never judging again,” said Spake, who flew a Southwest Airlines simulator at the airline’s Dallas headquarters Thursday prior to heading to nearby Texas Motor Speedway to work ESPN2’s telecast of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event.
“I have a whole new respect,” said Spake, who flew in the right seat as her father, Southwest Captain Don Speacht, was in the pilot’s seat in the Boeing 737 simulator. “I did two landings, and all I could think about was how people like me sit in the back of those planes and judge landings. They make it seem so flawless, and until I did it I had no idea how much was involved.”
While accompanying her father on a tour of Southwest’s headquarters and training facility, Spake said she couldn’t help but be reminded of ESPN’s campus in Bristol, Conn., especially when she ate lunch at the company’s employee restaurant. “It’s a lot like the café at ESPN, only with a view of the runway at Love Field,” she said.
But what she really enjoyed was a day at the office with her father. “He wanted to take me to work with him, and it was so much fun,” she said. “After all these years, I finally got to see him at work when we flew the simulator. That was just awesome.”
Tags: Dallas, ESPN2, Love Field, NASCAR, Southwest Airlines, Texas Motor Speedway
