E-Paper
Smoke erupts from NASA plane as it touches down in Texas without landing gear | Video
Despite the dangerous landing, all crew members were safe. Emergency responders quickly arrived to manage the situation at Texas' Ellington Airport.
Raging flames erupted from a NASA research plane which had malfunctioned before touching down in Texas on Tuesday. A video on X (formerly Twitter) showed the plane sliding across the runway on its belly with flames rising behind it.
The plane at Ellington Airport in Texas, located southeast of Houston in the United States, reported news agency AP.
The aircraft was seen descending gradually towards the runway and touching down with a sharp jolt. The wings of the plane were then seen bouncing as yellow fire and white smoke burst beneath it.
It then slid down the runway, with flames bursting frequently beneath it, fueling a large cloud of smoke, and finally slowing down before the video ends.
The crew members are safe, NASA said in a post on its X handle adding that there was a ‘mechanical issue’ which will be investigated.
As per the AP report which cited local news footage from KHOU 11 shows the plane at a stop, with its cockpit hatch open. Trucks and emergency responders rushed to the spot as they worked around the black nose of the plane.
The aircraft
The unique thin bodied aircraft in the video is the NASA WB-57. The plane offers seating for two crew members and has the capability to fly for about six and a half hours at altitudes beyond 63,000 feet (19,200 meters).
The pilot station contains all the essential equipment for flying the aircraft while the sensor equipment operator (SEO) station contains both navigational equipment and controls for the operation of the payloads that are located throughout the aircraft, according to the NASA website.
The WB-57 can fly for approximately 6.5 hours, has a range of approximately 2500 miles, and can carry up to 8,800 lbs of payload.
Several research missions were flown by the NASA WB-57 since the 1970s. The aircraft continues to be an asset for the scientific community with professional, reliable, customer-oriented service designed to meet all scientific objectives.
