This deft display of aviating occurred last summer, on the USS Bataan.

The pilot was United States Marine Corps Captain William Mahoney, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM), 263 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and he was in the cockpit of an AV-8B Harrier aircraft.

As he was climbing off of the deck of the amphibious assault ship, he noticed a malfunction with his front landing gear, and took action into his own hands — in masterful fashion.

This from The Aviationist:

He immediately slowed down in order not to overspeed the landing gear, returned above the ship at 2,000 feet and started talking to “Paddles” (LSO – Landing Signal Officers), a pilot in the control tower who could provide assistance by radio.

The Harrier flew the approach at 300 ft so that the LSO could see the landing gear and give some guidance to put the nose on a tool the ship has for this kind of issues: a sort-of stool.

Since there’s no way to train to land in this kind of situation, the pilot had to fly a perfect vertical landing, using the ship lighting system and the help of LSO on his first attempt.

Luckily, he stabilized at 20 feet and managed to land in the proper spot as shown in the video.