It was 21-year-old student pilot Taylor Hash's third solo flight ever, so needless to say she was a little giddy from the get go. But when she received a call on the radio informing her that one of her tires had fallen off during takeoff, she began to panic.
Luckily for Taylor, it was veteran pilot Chris Yates on the other end of the line, and he knew exactly what to do to get that plane to the ground safely.
Taylor Hash thought everything was fine and dandy, and she may have never noticed her missing front tire if it hadn't been for Mr. Yates saving the day here.
Yates did what any attentive pilot would do and rung up the control tower, but even they didn't know what to do.
The live air traffic radio feed starts with veteran pilot Chris Yates coming over the radio and telling the control tower, "Hey that Diamond Star that just took off lost its nose wheel tire on the runway at rotation."
Over the radio you can hear tower respond, "Nobody has seen this before."
So Yates took matters into his own hands and got to work directing Ms. Hash on how to go about this tricky one-tired landing.
Yates, the former director of aviation at SpaceX, could hear the anxiety in Hash's voice and stepped in to coach her through the landing.
Over the radio he said to Hash; "Taylor this is Chris, my daughter's name is Taylor and I taught her to fly! We're gonna be just fine kiddo."
Yes, reader, I see the tears forming in your eyes. Don't worry about it, I'm not judging.
But this was just the mushy stuff to sort of clear Hash's mind. They had a plane to land, and this would be Hash's greatest lesson to date.
Yates told Hash to approach the landing strip from the west, and once she touched down, she just needed to follow one basic instruction.
It's just going to make a bit of noise. That wheel came off completely so it's going to grind, expect that.
When you touch down, I just want that stick all the way back. You're gonna hold that stick back like you don't want that nose to touch.
Easy enough. Just keep the stick back, kid.
Let's see what happened when she finally made the move toward the strip:
Perfectly executed!
Guided by Yates voice Hash circled the airport, did a low approach and as you can see in video she shared with us, she ultimately landed.
Over the radio Yates coached, "The nose is gonna come down, you're okay, you're okay. Talk to me. Thatta girl, proud of you."
As Hash landed the nose of her plane hit the cement, leaving an indent.
How's that for a flying lesson?!?!
I'd say that's easily 50 points of extra credit!
Best part of the story right here:
Both Hash and Yates say they were crying.
"I landed, the plane stopped and that's kind of when I melted down a bit," said Hash.
A happy ending, but only to the first chapter of this young pilot's story.
Hash and Yates say they've been in touch every day since the incident and plan to fly together in Vegas at the end of April.
Amazing!
And yes, I'm still not judging you for those tears. I promise.
I gotta leave this part here, too, because I can imagine this moment will reoccur over and over in Taylor Hash's head until the day she dies.
"You can hear it in my voice on the audio that I'm kind of freaking out and figuring out how I'm gonna land this plane safely."
Had Yates not radio'd in Hash said "It's hard to think about what could have happened. The plane could've ended up in the grass, in the dirt, flipped over."
Thank God for the veteran pilot Chris Yates!
I'll leave you with local news coverage and then I gotta get out of here and find some breakfast.
