No-Fly Zone- Post 911

My husband is a diehard Michigan State fan.  He informed me of this when we started dating. I told him I would go to the games with him. I'm not a sports fan but it is fun to go to the games. Even more fun when a little tailgating goes on beforehand.

After recovering from the horrendous events of 911, feeling quite insecure in our country and wondering if something else could happen, my fiance tells me we are going to the Michigan vs Michigan State game on November 3rd, 2011. Excuse my shorthand french...WTF!

Are you kidding me? One of the biggest games of the year. A stadium of 100,000 or more is a perfect target. No f-ing way am I going to that.

He gives me the "you can't live in fear" speech and convinces me it will be ok. I was SERIOUSLY nervous about going. I did NOT like the idea. At least we'd be together. We went.

We had bad tickets in the nose bleed section on the East side of the field. I felt a little more secure knowing that it was restricted airspace over all stadiums in the country. A No-Fly Zone. Every so often, though, I scanned the skyline. Honestly! Paranoia or what?

It was early in the game, the sky was blue and clear, when I (and many others) noticed a plane miles away in the distance heading East. I joked and I am sure others thought it or joked as well, "what if that plane came close to here?" I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

My breathing got a little heavier as it made it's way East just south of the stadium. How weird is that? I questioned Paul. I thought you said this was a no fly zone. He watched with me reassuring me that it is no big deal.

Closer and closer. Everyone seemed to get fidgety. I could hear others questioning what the plane was doing.

A couple miles from the stadium it veered North East right toward our seats. Remember, we were in the nose bleed seats. My heart was racing, the stands were silent where we sat. It was headed directly toward our seats. My nose got tingly with oncoming tears of fear.

Honey....honey! HONEY! What is he doing? There was no sound coming from the upper deck stands. Everyone held their breath.

At that moment in time, an image flashed in my mind. I always wondered what a horrible feeling it would have been to be sitting your office one morning  and look out the window to see a plane coming at you.  Do you run? Do you just sit there in shock?

I had a glimpse into what that felt like. We had NO where to go. We couldn't run. We couldn't hide. We almost had to accept what was happening and hold our breath.  Deer in headlights.

Just as we thought we had met our fate, the Northwest airplane veered North and flew down the middle of the field and then veered West back where it came.

Literally we could see people in the windows of the plane. It was the most frightening moment of my life. Really. I wasn't the only one. People started crying. Grown men left the stadium quite shaken. 1/4 of the people in the stands left. Believe me, I wanted to leave. My ride didn't.

I was unsettled, obviously, the rest of the game. Later my husband told me that he was afraid too but didn't want to scare me more.

The biggest impact it had on me that day, was being able to see through the eyes of the thousands of people who lost their lives on that fateful day.

I searched high and low for an article online about this event. I couldn't find anything. I was beginning to wonder if anyone saw what we saw. Finally after variations of wording in the Google search, I found this article about the event which verifies what happened and that we weren't the only ones who were startled (to say the least) by the plane. It sums it up well.

Northwest Airlines Plane buzzes Spartan Stadium