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Teenage pilot loses wheel on first flight

A 17-year-old student pilot suffered a baptism of fire when one of the wheels fell off of her aircraft on her very first solo flight.

Maggie Taraska was praised for her calmness as she circled the Beverly Regional Airport in Massachusetts for half-hour, while a flight instructor and air traffic controllers coached her on what she needed to do.

Her father, an experienced pilot himself, later said she pulled off a better landing than he would have done.