on her third solo flight. chris yates on the ground waiting to take off when he saw part of that young pilot landing gear fall off. what he learned about her as he helped her land that plane. here is gio benitez tonight. tonight, a rookie pilot making this incredible emergency landing that may not have been so smooth if it wasn t for another hero pilot. just took off, there was fire on the runway. thank you, okay, yes. 21-year-old taylor has taking off from planning at michigan friday suddenly receiving terrifying news, her front landing gear had fallen off and it was only her third solo flight ever. figure something is wrong with my plane now and i have to kind of figure out what i m going to do. that s when veteran pilot chris gates, who was about to take off himself, saw taylor s plane we ll bounced on the runway if you jumped on the radio to help affect nervous pilot shared the same name as
his daughter. my name is taylor. taylor, this is chris. my daughter s name is taylor. and i taught her to fly! we are going to be just fine, kiddo. thank you very much! i was deftly terrified, that common voice was what i needed. wanted to get this kid back home and i knew how to help her do it. and then that moment, yates, with nerves of steel, guiding taylor to a safe landing. figure there you go, kiddo. just sit back gently. nice job! the nose is going to come down. if you are okay. you are okay. talk to me, kid. i m okay. proud of you. it could have been a lot worse. i was really hoping that airplane didn t end up on its back upside down, and it didn t. and david, tonight taylor says she will keep training to someday fly corporate jets just like chris. gio benitez tonight, and credible story. on capitol hill, the former ceo
center stage next week, right here in washington at a special faa safety sum milt, and, of course, we will be there. david? all right, gio benitez tonight. thank you, gio. tonight, we re tracking two cross-country storms. at least 16 states and 40 million people on alert from california to wisconsin already for heavy snow, flooding rain and high winds. this will be in the northeast by friday s commute. all of this starting in the west again. a new blanket of heavy snow in lake tahoe. that storm already moving across the country at this hour. and yet another system, what s called a new atmospheric river, about to slam california again with more snow and flooding rain. let s get right to senior meteorologist rob marciano tracking it all again for us tonight. hey, rob. reporter: hey, david. this next storm is going to be much warmer than the storms we ve seen slam california this past month. that atmospheric river has a deep subtropical moisture plume pointed right at california. sl
wrong runway. [ bleep ], delta 1943, cancel takeoff plans. delta 1943, cancel takeoff plans. reporter: and david, jfk airport has an automated alarm system to warn pilots about potential collisions. austin does not. david? all right, gio benitez tonight. thank you. when we come back here, tracking this new cross-country storm. snow, heavy rain, possible flooding. and a potential coastal storm then moving into the northeast this week. we ll time it all out in a moment. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it s one pill, once a day, that s effective
any time we have something going wrong with an engine, and a bird flying through it is in that category certainly. reporter: bird strikes are very common, about 16,000 a year, but rarely cause serious accidents. and, david, and though bird strikes may cause flames, the engine may be totally fine. but still, pilots can t take any chances. david? gio benitez tonight. thank you, gio. we turn overseas and to the war in ukraine and tonight russia saying it is evacuating civilians in a key ukrainian stitt, taking them into russian-controlled territory, and what putin is now telling the people of russia go his draft. there s also news about elon musk and ukraine. musk saying he can t fund the starlink satellite being used by ukrainians in this war. here s our chief foreign correspondent ian pannell in ukraine again tonight. reporter: even as russian missiles were raining down an zaporizhzhia today, vladimir putin declared there was, quote, no need for massive new strikes on ukraine.