Trent squinted at the runway ahead. The day had been long, hot, and annoying.
The Cessna 310 hummed as he lined it up. Lisa sat beside him, checking her phone.

“How much longer?” one of the kids asked from the back.

“Almost there,” Trent said, trying to sound calm. But then the coughing started.
A kid had his headset on and coughed like a machine gun straight into Trent’s ear.

Trent grimaced, reaching over to unplug the headset. “There. Silence.”

“Focus on landing, Trent,” Lisa reminded him. She was always reminding him.

Trent started the pre-landing checks. “Undercarriage down,” he said out loud.
But instead of lowering the gear, he adjusted his speed and focused on keeping everything smooth. He’d do it in a second, he told himself.

Except he didn’t.

As they flared for landing, Trent heard a grinding noise.
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Trent, the wheels!”

Too late. The Cessna scraped the runway, metal on asphalt, sparks flying like it was the Fourth of July. The plane groaned to a stop. No one was hurt, but the silence was louder than the landing horn Trent didn’t hear.

“We’re okay,” Lisa said, half laughing, half in shock. “But the plane’s going to need a new pair of shoes.”

---

Chapter 2: The Aftermath

The news spread quickly. “Wheels-up landing,” they called it. Lisa and Trent sat in their office, eating stale donuts. The phone rang nonstop. People wanted details.
So did the ATSB.

“Let’s be honest,” Lisa said, sipping her coffee. “You messed up.”

Trent nodded. “It was the cough. Threw me off.”

“Yeah, well, nobody else is going to buy that,” Lisa replied.

The ATSB investigation kicked off. They dug into everything. Hours of flying time, cockpit procedures, even Trent’s breakfast that day.
They learned Trent had removed seats that morning to fit a dog cage.
He hadn’t drunk enough water. The heat had fried his patience.
The coughing kid had just been the cherry on top.

“They’re looking for a smoking gun,” Lisa said. “Or maybe just a smoking engine.”

Trent tried to explain the distractions. He told the investigators about the kid, the noise, the missing horn warning. They nodded, scribbled, and asked more questions.

Lisa rolled her eyes every time Trent said something dumb. “Just tell them the truth,” she whispered. “And don’t make it sound like you were juggling chainsaws.”

---

Chapter 3: The Investigation

Weeks passed. They heard rumors. “Pilot error,” they said. “Not paying attention.”

Lisa scrolled through the ATSB reports. “It says here you were ‘heat-affected.’
That’s a fancy way of saying ‘sweaty and dumb.’”

Trent laughed. “I should get that on a T-shirt.”

The report was clear. Trent had been distracted, dehydrated, and too new to the plane. But the key line was this: “No illegal actions.” They’d been cleared of wrongdoing, but not of making a mess.

Trent leaned back in his chair. “So, what’s the lesson?”

“Don’t let kids wear headsets,” Lisa said. “And maybe put the wheels down next time.”

They were called in for a final meeting. Trent expected more lectures, but the investigators were surprisingly kind. “Distractions happen,” they said. “You’re not the first. Just don’t let it be the last.”

Lisa nodded, grateful. “Well, at least we’ve learned something.”

Trent grinned. “Yeah. We’re officially idiots, but not criminals.”

---

Chapter 4: The Big Interview

Weeks later, Lisa and Trent were asked to speak on camera. They stood by the repaired plane, now with landing gear firmly in place.

The reporter asked, “What happened that day?”

Trent smiled nervously. “I got distracted. Simple as that. Kids cough, and I forgot a step. It’s not an excuse, just what happened.”

Lisa jumped in. “We always tell our students: flying is about focus. One moment can change everything. Trent got lucky. We all did.”

They talked about the investigation, the findings, and the relief of being cleared. Trent explained the heat, the long day, and the coughing. “It’s funny in hindsight,” he said. “But not in the moment.”

The reporter looked curious. “What’s your message to other pilots?”

Lisa paused. “Don’t get cocky. Follow your checklist. And for goodness’ sake, don’t let a cough throw you off.”

---

Chapter 5: Lessons Learned

After the interview, Lisa and Trent became unofficial spokespeople for “flying while human.” People liked their honesty, their humor, and their story of a plane that skidded but didn’t crash.

Trent summed it up best on a new podcast they launched: “We’ve all made mistakes. Mine just happened at 100 miles per hour.”

Lisa added, “The ATSB cleared us because we were honest. They don’t want perfect pilots; they want safe ones. We’re working on it.”

Their business took off in a strange way. Students wanted to learn from the duo who had landed—literally and figuratively—on their feet.

“We’re not heroes,” Lisa said during a training session. “We’re just here to make sure you don’t repeat our mistakes.”

Trent grinned. “And remember, when in doubt, just put the wheels down.”

Their near-miss had become their best lesson, and business was finally, just like their landing gear, all the way up.