This Is How You Do a Plane Belly Landing

Doing it is hard and it sucks, but it can save lives.

Over the weekend, Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 crash-landed at Muan International Airport in South Korea after departing from Bangkok. After a missed landing attempt and receiving a bird-strike warning, the Boeing 737-800 landed with its front gear closed, overshooting the runway and hitting a concrete fence, at which point it erupted into flames.

Some viewing the crash footage suspect the crash resulted from engine trouble, but people generally agree that a landing gear malfunction appears to be the primary cause — it is a Boeing, after all.

Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened, but it’s certainly the most consequential. Below are some other instances of planes doing belly landings. In one case, a commercial airliner, and in another, a student pilot.