On this episode of the Air Facts Podcast, we’re joined by Kathleen Thompson, winner of the 2026 Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots, to discuss her powerful story “The Day the Sky Went Silent.”

Kathleen’s story takes us along on her very first solo cross-country flight—an early milestone that quickly turns into a real-world test of airmanship and composure. What begins as a routine training flight across North Dakota soon shifts when she discovers her aircraft’s radios have gone silent.

With no way to communicate, still early in her training, and approaching controlled airspace, Kathleen is forced to rely on the fundamentals every pilot learns but rarely has to fully depend on in real time: aviate, navigate, communicate. The result is a vivid reminder that calm decision-making and solid training matter most when the cockpit gets quiet—and that even early in a flying career, real lessons often arrive unannounced.

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