Taylor Hash, 21, was about to land her plane when, unbeknownst to her, the nose gear fell off.
A student pilot got quite the scare while flying a plane during her third solo flight in Pontiac, Michigan. Luckily, an experienced pilot on the ground helped her land safely.
Taylor Hash, a 21-year-old student pilot, was about to land her plane, but unbeknownst to her, the nose gear had fallen off.
“I had no indication of it. I didn’t hear anything,” she tells Inside Edition.
Veteran pilot and former director of aviation at SpaceX, Chris Yates, had just landed his plane when he saw the nose gear on Hash's single-engine plane drop onto the runway.
“It bounced and rolled down the runway. I thought I was looking at a cartoon,” Yates says.
Yates alerted air traffic control, who notified Hash that her entire front wheel assembly was on the runway.
At that moment, Hash tells Inside Edition, she was, “trying to figure out what my options were, what I was gonna do, how I was gonna get on the ground safely.”
Air traffic control put Yates on the radio to help her.
As luck would have it, Taylor is also the name of Yates’ daughter, who is around the same age as Hash.
“Taylor, this is Chris. My daughter’s name is Taylor and I taught her to fly. We’re gonna be just fine kiddo,” Yates said to Hash through the radio.
The two shared a touching exchange over the radio.
“You’re gonna be a career pilot,” Yates asked.
“I was planning on it,” Hash said.
“This is a good start. This is good story to your legacy, kid,” Yates told Hash.
The veteran pilot was able to safely guide Hash through her emergency landing.
“He made it feel like I had known him forever, you know? He was just so calming,” Hash tells Inside Edition.
