17 Y/O student lands with wheel missing - with ATC

[Nantucket Sleighride]

ATC here

great job by all concerned

[Nurse2Pilot]

Resulting interview:

You Tube

[stevef]

Show me a parent who's not on the edge of tears after listening to young Maggie's initial responses....
Well done, that girl, it can't get much worse on a low-time solo flight. As an engineer familiar with these aircraft, I've got my own suspicions regarding the wheel issue.

[treadigraph]

I've got my own suspicions regarding the wheel issue.

PA-28s do seem to have frequent droppers of main gear legs (failure in the toque link?) in recent years. Was it always thus, don't recall it being so.

She did brilliantly, the only thing that could have been done better perhaps was to reassure her that landings of this type, while not trivial, are rarely if ever injurious or fatal.