Belly landing

[BrendAn]

Probably a silly question but occasionally when you see belly landings on the news they  always land on the runway with a huge shower of sparks sometimes. Why don't they land on the grass instead.

[KRviator]

Typically the runway is preferred as should you drop in from more than a foot or two onto grass, there is a better-than-even chance of the fiberglass or sheet metal cowling folding up and allowing the firewall to act as a plough, scooping up dirt and bringing you to an uncomfortably rapid stop.

Landing on the runway avoids that, giving you a greater distance in which to decelerate - rendering the gear-up landing that much more survivable.

Edited July 9, 2022 by KRviator

[BrendAn]

2 hours ago, KRviator said:

Typically the runway is preferred as should you drop in from more than a foot or two onto grass, there is a better-than-even chance of the fiberglass or sheet metal cowling folding up and allowing the firewall to act as a plough, scooping up dirt and bringing you to an uncomfortably rapid stop.

Landing on the runway avoids that, giving you a greater distance in which to decelerate - rendering the gear-up landing that much more survivable.

Thanks kr. 

[Marty_d]

Possibly the other thing is that not all airports have a full grass strip - anywhere that's not runway/taxiway may have culverts, lights, drains and a bunch of other stuff that you don't want to hit.

[Old Koreelah]

The finer the texture of the surface you plant it on, the further it will slide, washing off energy that could otherwise cause you harm.

 

Plenty of smooth-looking grass strips are ruff-as-gutz when you actually plant your wheels on them. Black soil paddocks can shake hell out of your undercarriage; belly landing on one might be a very short, uncomfortable arrival.