MIRACLE LANDING
Dramatic moment pilot lands plane carrying 231 WITHOUT wheels on live TV – & why South Korean jet couldn’t do the same
The miraculous landing was watched live by millions
DRAMATIC footage shows the moment a plane carrying 231 people landed on its belly on live television.
The resurfaced video shows the pilot safely bring the jet down in Warsaw, , without its wheel out after its landing gear failed to open.
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While flying from Newark, New Jersey in 2011, the pilots of the Polish LOT airlines flight noticed a problem with the landing gear before they were due to touch down.
They circled about the airport for about an hour before hitting the tarmac without the wheels down.
The miraculous landing was watched live by millions who were relieved when the jet safely came to a stop.
It triggered sparks and a small fire - but no one was injured.
More on the disaster
LOT airlines president Marcin Pirog said at the time: "There was no panic among the passengers.
"The cabin crew prepared them for the emergency landing well.
"It is the first time a LOT plane had to land without the landing gear out."
The clip has re-emerged in the wake of Sunday's plane crash in South Korea that killed 179.
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Pilots on the doomed Jeju Air plane were forced to make a similar landing.
But unlike the landing in Poland, it ended in disaster as all but two of the 181 on board were killed.
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The jet hit the tarmac at Muan International Airport at high speed before smashing into a concrete wall and exploding into a fireball.
Aviation expert Julian Bray said the pilots of the Polish jet had an advantage as they had two working engines and time to enact all emergency procedures.
The cause of the crash is being probed - but the pilot issued a mayday call and reported a bird strike before making the emergency landing.
Mr Bray said: "You've got to remember they had one damaged or one engine that was out, so already the whole aircraft was compromised.
"You don't know what damage had been done to the generation systems, the electricity systems.
"You don't know whether you're running on the reserve electrics because the generator's not working - that of course works the hydraulic pumps and enables the wheels to come down and a dozen other things.
"So if he hasn't got that, he's got a problem, so he's taken the view that he's got to get this down.
"He tries to get it down first of all, that doesn't work so he does a go around.
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"He might have got the wheels down for the first landing and then something when he takes the wheels back up to complete the go around, there might have been a bird nest and that might have fouled up the system.
"We don't know - we're going to have to find out.
"The point is the wheels go up, they're locked and that's it, they remain locked. So he hasn't got a lot of time, and he's got a lot of things distracting him."
Mr Bray also pointed out that the South Korean jet hit the tarmac at a much higher speed before crashing into a wall.
All those on board the flight are thought to have been Korean except for two Thai nationals - marking the fatal crash as one of the darkest days in recent memory for Koreans.
The passenger plane is thought to have hit a bird on its approach to Muan International Airport - crippling the plane's landing gear.
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Video shows it approaching the airport when its right engine was struck.
The collision may have forced the pilot to shut down the damaged engine as he wrestled to control it in the sky.
Several attempts to land were aborted by the pilot before a final decision was made to attempt it.
The aircraft quickly slammed into the tarmac as the pilot tried to land safely.
But the pilot's heroic landing was all done in vain as it continued to speed off the end of the runway.
Seconds later it smashed into a concrete wall at the end of the 2,800-metre runway.
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The plane instantly exploded after hitting the structure.
The impact is believed to have set off the fireball by rupturing fuel tanks.
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