COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSVN) — A student pilot got a real-life lesson in how to handle an emergency. A pilot was forced to land next to a busy roadway after experiencing a mechanical issued on board.
“And in the moment, I was just doing what I was taught to do,” said Nicole Smith.
Those words were exactly what a person wants to hear from a trained pilot when something goes wrong.
Smith and her aviation student found themselves 40 minutes into a training flight over Columbia, South Carolina. Then, they experienced a potentially dangerous mechanical failure.
According to Smith, she and her student heard some strange, clicking noises while going over their routine flight procedures. She believes a cylinder piece fell out of the plane.
Smith then acted fast and looked for a quick and safe spot to land.
“My thought at the time was just to make sure that I didn’t go into oncoming traffic,” Smith said. “I did see the cars kind of going off on the shoulder and I was trying to mitigate that as best as possible while still landing safely.”
In her 1,500 hours of flight experience, this was the first time Smith has ever had to perform an emergency landing.
She said that even though her student was a little nervous, their combined experience in the air, kept them calm and collected.
“We just make sure that we use the checklist and we stayed calm,” Smith said. “My student was a little nervous but you know, he’s got about 200 hours if that and I have 1,500, so just having more time in the plane kind of equips you.”
Despite that frightening flight, Smith was already back in the air this past weekend
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