What an experience for a 17 year old. Shortly after takeoff from Beverly Regional Airport in Massachusetts, the pilot of a Waco that was to depart behind her reported to the tower that the right main gear of the Piper Warrior Taraska was flying had fallen off.
Maggie Taraska’s flight on the Sunday was her first solo ‘cross-country’ flight. She was heading to Portland, Maine when a wheel fell off her plane as she departed Beverly Airport. She had approx 60 hours experience and has flown solo before, locally. She landed safely.
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The first person to have a positive effect was the tower controller at KBVY. She reminded a frightened student pilot of 17 years, to fly the airplane. The controller then proceeded to tell Taraska that she would get an instructor up to the tower to talk to her and help her to land. The controller’s calm demeanor and gentle but firm adherence to radio procedures that helped Taraska refocus, allowing her training to kick in. As the audio progresses, you can hear the change in the student’s voice. And, finally, Maggie’s flight instructor John Singleton for providing his students the training, confidence, and trust to be able to handle an unexpected emergency like this.
‘Always told my students; aviate, navigate, communicate. It’s an old saying but it really pays off.’
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The 17-year-old student pilot who executed a successful emergency landing on September 9 said she experienced some minor panic — but not as much as you might expect — as she attempted to touch down without her aircraft’s front right wheel, according to what she told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
“I think I panicked a little, just less than most people would,” Maggie Taraska said.
After three years of flying practice, Maggie was only moments into her first solo cross-country flight when her single-engine Piper PA28 plane lost one of its two front wheels, according to ABC News. She was forced to make an emergency landing due to the loss of her landing gear.
According to WCVB, the Beverly International Airport in Massachusetts — where Maggie’s flight originated — temporarily shut down while the young pilot was in the air so she could execute a dangerous landing without any distractions in the sky.
“I couldn’t have done it alone, without a doubt,” Maggie said at a press conference on September 10, according to ABC. She was coached through the emergency landing procedure over radio by her flying instructor, John Singleton.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teen-pilot-lost-wheel-solo-emergency-landing-panicked-a-little
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Maggie Taraska – 2018
17-YEAR-OLD STUDENT PILOT LANDS HER PLANE WITHOUT A WHEEL!
It wasn’t her first solo – This was her first solo cross Country
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ONAFHANKLIK 