November 1st, 2011
10:14 AM ET

Plane makes emergency landing in Poland; all passengers safe

A Boeing 767 plane made a dramatic emergency landing at Warsaw, Poland's Frederic Chopin International airport after problems with its landing gear, an airport spokeswoman said Tuesday.

All the passengers on the flight, from New Jersey's Newark airport to Warsaw, are safe and uninjured, she told CNN.

The LOT Polish Airlines flight, which had been due to land at 1:35 local time, circled above the airport for an hour before coming down in a belly landing at 2:40, she said.

There were 230 people aboard the flight, Poland's TVN broadcaster said.

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Filed under: Plane emergency landing • Poland • Travel
soundoff (169 Responses)
  1. palintwit

    I think stan alex 1 gave us an honest and accurate assement. Thank you.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:06 am | Report abuse |
  2. dutspup

    That was a great landing!
    http://tvp.info/informacje/polska/boeing-767-wyladowal-bezpiecznie-na-okeciu/5589860

    November 1, 2011 at 11:07 am | Report abuse |
  3. OldGoat

    What do Polish people think of Americans who keep bashing Sarah Palin?

    November 1, 2011 at 11:22 am | Report abuse |
    • Claims1

      They think we are all idiots. Speaking as an American, I concur with their opinion.

      November 1, 2011 at 12:15 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Dzika Swinia

    Stop thanking the invisible sky wizard aka "god". Thank the Pilot and his skills. Also, great job by the firefighters on laying down the foam.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:23 am | Report abuse |
    • jorgath

      Actually, my thought is that the people you ought to thank are the safety-design people at Boeing, who successfully designed the underside of the 767 to be able to handle at least one safe gear-up landing if necessary. While credit is certainly due to the pilots (there are two on every plane, you know; both fly it, but one is more in charge), any commercial airplane pilot certified on a major airline like LOT has probably practiced this exact maneuver a few times in a simulator.

      November 1, 2011 at 11:29 am | Report abuse |
  5. Joey Isotta-Fraschini

    No "how-many" jokes today, huh.
    I've flown LOT into and out of that airport. I stayed too long on my visa, and they didn't want to let me go. The lady who had taken me to the airport sweet-talked them into letting me onto the plane.
    I had a great time in Poland.
    This pilot is a wonderful professional.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:23 am | Report abuse |
  6. Ja

    Polak Kurwa Potrafi

    November 1, 2011 at 11:29 am | Report abuse |
  7. Drew

    Wow, that is a textbook gear-up landing. Superb flying.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:29 am | Report abuse |
  8. Krzysztof Polska

    Serdeczne podziekowania dla Pilota Wrony,całej załogi i strazy pożarnej.Polska dziekuje Bogu za uratowanie 230 pasażerow !!!!!!

    November 1, 2011 at 11:32 am | Report abuse |
  9. BogdanPL

    Amazing, AMAZING, I love these pilots!!
    Jestem dumny!!!, jak widać mamy dobrych pilotów.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:33 am | Report abuse |
  10. JimboJones

    Unreal that the plane could hold together under the immense stresses of landing without gear. Thank Boeing for building such an amazing machine, the pilot was simply doing what he was trained to do.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:33 am | Report abuse |
    • Marcin

      I think that one thing is to know something from the simulator and another to be able to land safe in real life with noone injured. Great that Boeing has nice engineers, great that LOT has nice pilots, great that Warsaw has good landing line and emergency procedures in place (like special foam to prevent fire and still not make plane sliding....)

      November 1, 2011 at 11:38 am | Report abuse |
    • jorgath

      The stresses aren't THAT immense. Now, yes, it's amazing that it's in one piece. As opposed to mostly in one piece with a few underside panels missing and a few passengers with concussions, which is the likely outcome of a gear-up landing. It's a problem to do this, but it's not really dangerous.

      November 1, 2011 at 11:43 am | Report abuse |
    • ken

      yes it's not that surprising. I am curious what will happen to the airframe after such an incident.

      Also, I hope that the "package" made it safely, or else I am in deep doo doo.

      November 1, 2011 at 12:03 pm | Report abuse |
    • kamil

      This landing remind me January 2009, Airbus A320, was successfully ditched in the Hudson River adjacent to midtown Manhattan six minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport after being disabled by striking a flock of Canada Geese during its initial climb out. There was just 150 passengers and 78 people were treated, mostly for minor injuries and hypothermia. Anyway RESPECT for every emergency landing where's nobody died!

      November 1, 2011 at 12:05 pm | Report abuse |
    • Marcin

      @jorgath – there were 0 injuries (according to official communication). and please remember that it was the plane that failed – not the pilot.

      November 1, 2011 at 1:00 pm | Report abuse |
  11. Erik

    Ok, a plane makes an emergency landing in Poland ... what's the punchline?

    November 1, 2011 at 11:34 am | Report abuse |
    • Marcin

      noone injured, noone dead, all went smoothly and everyone is safe

      November 1, 2011 at 11:40 am | Report abuse |
    • Fairplay99

      Dunce, you wouldn't say that if someone you loved was on that airplane.

      November 1, 2011 at 11:44 am | Report abuse |
    • Juan Carlos Queipo

      Smooth !!!

      November 1, 2011 at 11:56 am | Report abuse |
    • Sean Piecuch

      Well, the joke starts: "How many pollacks does it take to land a 767?"...

      November 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm | Report abuse |
    • jerryherb

      if you were a line i would punch you!

      November 1, 2011 at 12:44 pm | Report abuse |
    • Marek

      Punchline is that you're an idiot and your lame attempt at a joke was a total fail. Now go back to serving fries you bufoon.

      November 1, 2011 at 2:51 pm | Report abuse |
  12. aga

    Polish pilots are one of the best in the world. Congrats guys. Now when I think albout flying I feel so safe:) Good job. I'm really impressed.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:37 am | Report abuse |
  13. UKguy

    Congrats polish flyboys!

    My father, who flew with your fighters during ww2 told me you won battle of Britain in our behalf and your skills are much more above "good"...

    Congrats! No injuries at all!

    November 1, 2011 at 11:37 am | Report abuse |
    • kamil

      Yes, you right mate, that was 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. They used yours RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires. I found great book "Battle of Britain" but can't remember author, probably Stephen Bungay, but I'm not sure.

      November 1, 2011 at 11:54 am | Report abuse |
  14. KC-135_CrewChief

    Sad, we cannot manually crank the gear down anymore. This is an instance where technology sometimes is not always the best option. There should always be a manual option in flight. Gear doors and Main/Nose gear should have manual operation.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:39 am | Report abuse |
    • jorgath

      Well, the problem with a manual crank on something the size of a 767 is that the gear is really really heavy. Maybe what there should be is a manual crank that opens the doors of the landing gear bays and releases them to gravity-drop into place.

      November 1, 2011 at 11:47 am | Report abuse |
  15. Arun

    Bravo. This is what makes a good pilot.

    November 1, 2011 at 11:42 am | Report abuse |
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