Russian Su-34 Fighter Jet Lands “Safely” on its Belly

In a demonstration of Russian fighter jets’ robust design, a Su-34 fighter-bomber executed an emergency landing on its fuselage when its its landing gear failed to deploy at an undisclosed airfield on Saturday.

The aircraft touched down safely on its belly, with the crew reportedly unharmed, highlighting a successful management of a technical failure during flight.

A video capture of the event showed the aircraft landing with sparks emanating from the friction between the fuselage and the runway. However, sparks died down when the aircraft came to a complete halt after being slowed down by its brake parachutes.

“The crew of the Su-34NVO skillfully performs an emergency landing of the aircraft with a failed hydraulic system for retracting and extending the chassis (probably a failure of the hydraulic pump control system) on the engine nacelles (on the "belly"),” Russian media reported.

The cockpit canopy was jettisoned in advance in order to minimize the risks of the K-36DM ejection seats being triggered, and for the crew to unhinderedly abandon the aircraft in the event of a fire in the aircraft's fuel system.