Teen Student Pilot Loses Wheel on Takeoff in First Long-Distance Solo Flight
Did you hear or read about this? It happened in 2018, at a small airport in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Not being a TV watcher (been off the tube for many years now), this news bit escaped my attention—until I saw a post on Twitter about it today.
What a terrifying experience it must’ve been for everyone concerned!
This might be just a small story in the grand scheme of things, but it’s also a heartening one, the type of which we hardly ever hear about anymore. Understandable, given all the despicable and horrifying events large and small, worldwide, that have transpired in the last few years, with such appallingly cruel and inhumane behaviors exhibited by so many Homo sapiens towards others!
So, I hope you enjoy this one little tale of human triumph, dear Gentle Readers!
Feel free to share it with your flying aficionado friends who might even by pilots themselves (and may have already heard about this story).
NOTE RE IMPORTANT DETAILS THAT GET LOST IN THE NEWS STORIES:
It wasn’t Maggie’s first solo flight per se; it was her first long-distance solo flight away from the Beverly Airport.
Also, it was thanks to a pilot on the ground who saw the loss of the wheel that the air traffic controller learned about the mishap!
All these are recounted in the well-presented, detailed, blow-by-blow reconstruction video report below (the third video).
CLICK ON LINK OR SCREENCAP TO WATCH VIDEO/READ ARTICLE:
CLICK ON LINK OR SCREENCAP TO WATCH VIDEO/READ ARTICLE:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/teen-pilot-training-loses-wheel-makes-emergency-landing-57749886
(STORY CONTINUES BELOW THE PINK “SHARE” BUTTON.)
A YouTuber recreated the events of that near-mishap using a flight simulator software, and the actual control tower audio clips.
Pretty good reconstruction, if you ask me!
Has nice details, giving you a feel for how it all went for everyone involved.
In the end, Maggie’s courage and confidence would soon kick in, and the calm guidance and reassurance from her elders on the ground (her flight instructor, John Singleton, and the air traffic controller) all helped the seventeen-year-old student pilot make everything work out for a good and safe landing. God was surely there while all this was happening.
(My only beef about media stories like these: For whatever it’s worth, I’ve been noticing the conspicuous absence of any mention of God in all these stories of near-misses in the USA. As if there’s an unspoken rule about it in the mainstream media. But that’s just me and my odd observations…. )