What is Belly Landing?

About Belly Landing: 

• It is also known as gear-up landing.
• It is an emergency landing technique that involves an aeroplane landing without extending its landing gear.
• It is a last resort for pilots who are unable to deploy their landing gear owing to a technical or mechanical malfunction.
• Belly-landings are risky and carried out only in an emergency. It results in considerable damage to the plane, its engines and wings as the aircraft skids to a stop and can leave those onboard injured.
• The friction generated by the aircraft skidding on the runway can also create sparks or result in a fire.
• A cockpit crew decides to land an aircraft on its belly in the following situations:
  • Landing gear fails to deploy.
  • A stricken aircraft cannot make it to an airport and landing is done in a field. The pilot considers skidding the aircraft to a stop safer than touching down on wheels.
  • Ditching: when an aircraft makes an emergency landing on water.
  • Any other situation a pilot considers a belly-landing safer than landing on wheels.

Other aviation terminology

• Landing long and fast: It is an aviation term that means an aircraft touches down far beyond the designated touchdown zone on the runway, leaving the crew with less runway length to stop the aircraft, and at a speed far exceeding the recommended landing speed.

Q1: What is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)?

DGCA is the national regulatory body of India responsible for regulating and overseeing civil aviation activities in the country. The DGCA is responsible for implementing policies and regulations related to aviation safety, airworthiness, pilot training, and licensing of airlines and other aviation-related personnel.

Source: IE

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