On Tuesday, a NASA research aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing. Its landing gear failed to deploy. Cameras captured flames bursting from underneath the aircraft during the landing.
Forced landing of the NASA aircraft
The NASA research aircraft suffered a malfunction and was forced to land in Texas on Tuesday without landing gear, skidding down the runway on its belly and leaving a trail of flames behind it, as shown in a video posted on social media.
The crew landed at Ellington Airport, southeast of Houston, and “everyone is safe at this time,” NASA said in a statement on X. The federal space agency added that there was a “mechanical issue” that would be investigated.
Emergency landing moments
The aircraft with the distinct thin fuselage is the NASA WB-57. The aircraft, with two seats for the crew, is capable of flying for about 6.5 hours at high altitude — over 63,000 feet (19,200 meters).
The video shows the plane slowly descending toward the runway, then suddenly hitting it, its wings bouncing up, and yellow flames and white smoke bursting out from underneath it. It glides smoothly along the runway, the flames ignite and disappear in a cloud of smoke. Before the end of the video, the plane begins to slow down.
Local news from KHOU 11 shows the plane at a stop, the cockpit door open, fire trucks flashing nearby, and rescue workers around the black nose of the plane.
According to the agency’s website, NASA WB-57 has been conducting research missions since the 1970s and continues to be a valuable asset to the scientific community.
According to phys.org
