{"id":2180,"date":"2026-06-17T10:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2180"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:03:24","slug":"medevac-helicopter-pilot-guides-small-plane-to-emergency-landing-in-sun-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2180","title":{"rendered":"Medevac helicopter pilot guides small plane to emergency landing in Sun Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SUN LAKES, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A medevac helicopter pilot helped save the day when a small plane was going down in the dark in the southeast Valley last month.<\/p>\n

Read more Arizona man charged in baby\u2019s death after pregnant girlfriend killed in San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the fear he was feeling, the small plane\u2019s pilot, Joe Hatch, stayed incredibly calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to call it my therapy,\u201d said Hatch.<\/p>\n

He loves to fly. It\u2019s a hobby, and one he\u2019s good at with more than 100 flights under his belt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought I would be one of these old pilots that nothing like that ever happened to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ironic thought considering his small plane wound up damaged in a field after he was forced to do what no pilot wants to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s running rough. I\u2019m losing altitude at about 300 feet per minute,\u201d he said to air traffic control. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatch made an emergency landing in May, but he lived to tell the tale after narrowly missing a power line.<\/p>\n

The pilot said he worried about hitting power lines, homes, or traffic on the highway and wanted to be sure he didn\u2019t put anyone else in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was either going to die, I would be injured severely, or I would walk away,\u201d said Hatch. \u201cI remember coming to stop and going, I\u2019m OK. Totally surprised that I was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, May 15, he decided to fly down to Ak-Chin Regional Airport in Maricopa. Hatch said he enjoyed three successful takeoffs and landings, refueled and was heading back to Chandler Municipal Airport when he heard a terrible noise.<\/p>\n

Read more Suspect in fatal shooting inside Delaware hospital taken into custody<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a pop in the engine,\u201d said Hatch.<\/p>\n

It was just before 9 p.m. The darkness and vibrating cockpit made it impossible to see, but Hatch had an unexpected helper in the air nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Air Evac 1 right above you. The dark road off your, off behind you now looks like it has power lines, one right underneath you looks OK,\u201d said a medical evacuation helicopter pilot in air traffic audio.<\/p>\n

He happened to be in the same area when Hatch was looking for a safe place to land.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrifying as it was, but it was very comforting to have him overhead, and I\u2019m very glad that he did stay around and stayed overhead,\u201d said Hatch. \u201cHe had no requirement to stay around. He heard me in trouble on the frequency with the tower and voluntarily stayed around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plane ended up near Hunt Highway and Cooper Road in Sun Lakes.<\/p>\n

Since then, Hatch has flown several times, and he has no plans to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could happen again, but actually I\u2019m playing the odds because what are the odds of happening twice, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hatch walked away with only a minor scratch on his forehead.<\/p>\n

After the emergency landing, he scrambled out of the plane and used a handheld radio to signal he was OK to the medevac pilot.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Traffic stop escalates into police grappling reckless driver in Chandler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A medevac helicopter pilot helped save the day when a small plane was going down in the dark in the southeast Valley last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMedevac helicopter pilot guides small plane to emergency landing in Sun Lakes - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2180\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Medevac helicopter pilot guides small plane to emergency landing in Sun Lakes - 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