It could have been a disaster for a new pilot when the front wheel fell off a small plane on take off. But some remarkable teamwork led to a safe landing in Waterford Township.
A student pilot on her third solo flight quickly learned what every pilot worries about, an equipment problem turning a simple flight into a life-and-death struggle.
Fortunately, there was help nearby, and young pilot Taylor Hash earned her stripes the hard way.
Last Friday (March 23) afternoon at Oakland International Airport, Hash, a student pilot, went on her third solo flight to pick up some air time.
And she quickly learned what every pilot worries about. An equipment problem turned a simple flight into a life-and-death struggle.
Fortunately, help was nearby, and Hash earned her stripes the hard way.
“The tire came loose, the entire gear assembly came loose, and I just had to land that plane,” said Hash.
Hash and Chris Yates had never met. Yates is a corporate pilot who just came to pick up some passengers to take to Los Angeles. Hash was looking to start a career as a corporate pilot.
The total strangers worked together to live out the old pilot’s adage that any landing you walk away from is good.
“The tire came loose, this entire gear assembly came loose, and I was pretty much left here what I had to land the plane.”
Hash has had no clue what Yates saw sitting in a cockpit yards away.
“The airplane flew, so the nose gear wheel just bounced a couple of feet up in the air and just rolled down the runway and landed in the grass,” said Yates.
And that left everyone wondering how Hash would land with just a handful of hours of solo flights.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do for a couple of minutes,” Hash said. “I was mindblown, a little freaked out, scared as I only have 50 hours in an airplane.”
“My reaction to that was that’s not good for somebody,” Yates said.
Yates called the control tower and just stepped in to assist a young pilot.
“I knew immediately by the sound of her voice she was probably a student pilot,” Yates said.
The tower closed off all traffic while Yates guided Hash through taking a few spins around the airport to get comfortable, work on a low-level approach, be calm, and start thinking about her soft landing training and with Yates in her ear, In she came.
“Landed on the back two main gear, kept the nose up as long as I could, and set it down, you know, the bar broke, the plane stayed centered which was the goal, wanted to stay centered on the runway.”
“I’m so proud of you, kiddo, very seasoned, very old soul, salt of the earth human being, and she’s naturally gifted in an airplane,” Yates said.
