17 Year Old Pilot Makes Emergency Landing

Megan Daley, a licensed pilot, was taking a friend from Georgetown to Brownwood Regional Airport for his checkride. But then the oil pressure in the Piper Tomahawk dropped to zero, the engine stopped, and Daley's training kicked in.

She had about two minutes to find an appropriate place to land, and she did -- a nearby grassy field in Mills County, Texas. Both she and student pilot Ethan Hill walked away from the emergency landing.

According to a report in the Abilene Reporter News, Daley and Mills are part of an aviation technology program at Georgetown High School. Students study aviation, and can eventually receive their pilot's license, but not earlier than their 17th birthday. Daley, just graduated from Georgetown High, and earned her pilot's license three months ago. Hill, a senior, will be getting his soon.

Daley said it was the training she received from Flight Instructor Beth Jenkins at Pilot's Choice Aviation in Georgetown that helped her make the successful emergency landing. "We had done that exact scenario in training, and I had to look for a safe place to land," Daley said. Daley set the plane down on a bed of grass about four feet high, which could have cushioned the impact. "We rolled about a hundred feet and stopped," Daley said.  They determined they were OK, and wandered the countryside until Early, Texas Police Chief David Mercer and helicopter pilot David Furry located the pair walking in a field off U.S. Highway 183.

Despite the accident, Daley said she's not giving up flying. She said she would like to fly the Space Shuttle or be a commercial airline pilot, and plans to attend flight instructor school in the coming year so she can teach pilots when she starts Texas A&M in 2010. She plans to major in aerospace engineering.

ANN E-I-C Note: A successful outcome, like this one, is dependent on two things... a good instructor and a good student. Kudos to both of them for the way that they approached all this... and if either Megan or Beth make it to Oshkosh this year, we hope they'll drop by ANN HQ in the media mall... the first tall cold frosty one (non-alcoholic, of course) is on us. Thanks for making us all look good... and more important, for flying/training safe. -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

FMI: www.pilotschoice.com, http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training