Older incident indeed, they were teaching that story at FSI Savannah in 2000 I think)))
The point of the story however is that while it CAN happen that you get airborne and the WOW system still thinks it's on the ground, proper checklist work IN FLIGHT, even for a quick return, would have saved the day.
- Disarming the spoilers is on the "after take-off" as well as the "pattern" checklist.
- checking the AIR or GROUND mode is a part of verifying gear position in the "before landing" check.
Quick decisions, yes. Cutting corners, NO