WARSAW, POLAND - More than 230 people on a plane out of New Jersey were forced to touch down without any landing gear in Poland. Amazingly -- nobody was hurt, and the jet stayed intact.
We talked to a former United Airlines pilot, now a flight instructor, who says he's impressed by the pilot's incredible skill.
In Warsaw, Poland -- a Boeing 767 slid down the runway without wheels. The pilot forced a belly landing after the hydraulics stopped working. The landing gear would not come down.
"He did a good job, set it down nice and gentle," says Captain Chuck Thom, an Aerosim flight instructor. "It's almost like a Polish Captain Sully who landed in the Hudson a while ago. You could not have asked for a more picture perfect landing without landing gear… like Sullenberger, just do what you have always done."
Former United Airlines 747 Pilot Captain Chuck Thom watched the landing with me. He says pilots train for this rare type of landing.
"You make a normal landing and set it down with lowest rate of descent possible at the slowest speed possible while you still have control."
The plane departed from Newark. Once in Warsaw, the crew circled the airport for an hour, dumping excess fuel. The plane then coasted onto the runway.
Minutes earlier, firefighters had doused the runway with fire retardant.
After the jet came to a stop, they put out a small fire and helped passengers off the plane.
"Huge respect. Guy did a professional job. Nobody got hurt. Bunged up airplane, but great job, it takes years to get that kind of touch," says Thom.
This was the first time a Polish lot plane was forced to land without any landing gear.
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