NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston

Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by jasonincanada on Saturday January 31, 2026 @11:52AM (#46838279)

We should build a drone system that attaches to the underbelly of planes and physically pulls the gear down

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Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by epicureanideal on Saturday January 31, 2026 @12:00PM (#46838356)

Great idea!

And if needed, to actually swap defective landing gear parts to whatever extent possible. Maybe difficult or impossible with current aircraft designs, but maybe future ones could be designed with this backup option. Maybe a secondary landing gear insertion point or something.

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Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by amelius on Saturday January 31, 2026 @12:12PM (#46838496)

How about a drone system that IS the wheels.

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Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by esseph on Saturday January 31, 2026 @12:37PM (#46838737)

Much better idea. Like a flying roller cart

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Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by nradov on Saturday January 31, 2026 @01:03PM (#46838982)

Is that supposed to be a joke? The risk of a disastrous midair collision in that scenario is far worse than the risk of a gear-up landing.

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Re:NASA's WB-57 crash lands at Houston by lysace on Saturday January 31, 2026 @01:13PM (#46839067)

Seems like controlled landings on the belly with the help of airport fire fighting crews tend to work though.

I assume this is made possible by explicit system (aircraft + airport) design decisions agreed upon 50+ years ago.

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