Was this a ‘crash’ or a belly landing? (From York Press)

Was this a ‘crash’ or a belly landing?

10:06am Monday 14th January 2013 in Letters By Reader's letter

THE front page of The Press of January 9 carries the headline, in large type: “Plane crash at RAF base.” The accompanying article goes on to describe not a crash but a landing with the wheels up: known in the trade as a “belly landing”.

Belly landings have been going on ever since the invention of the retractable undercarriage and are often the result of the pilot failing to carry out the instruction in the pre-landing drill which says: “Check undercarriage down and locked.”

Very occasionally, due to a malfunction of the mechanism, the undercarriage fails to lower correctly and the aircraft has to be landed “wheels up”.

In such a case, to reduce damage to the aircraft, the landing is often carried out on the grass rather than the runway.

L Mackenzie, Elmpark View, York.