Pilot makes emergency landing in Vegas without landing gear in dramatic footage
Published on Jan 20, 2026 at 11:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Jan 20, 2026 at 4:08 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Footage on Reddit and Instagram has emerged showing a pilot making an emergency landing in Las Vegas in 1999, without the use of the landing gear.
Unsurprisingly, any pilot would be alarmed if they had to land their aircraft without the wheels down.
There are rare occasions when this can happen, though, usually via some sort of failure to do with the landing gear itself.
This video footage has shown how it can change a landing, while also demonstrating supreme skill from the pilot getting the airplane down on the ground safely.
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The emergency landing was much smoother than you’d expect
The footage shows the aircraft on approach to the runway before it makes its final touchdown, which looked fairly normal, except of course, that the wheels aren’t down.
The social media posts don’t mention why the landing gear didn’t deploy.
But it’s clear that there was some major failure.
As it approached, the pilot gently touched down on the runway as softly as he could.
What is very impressive is just how smooth the landing was.
The aircraft gently hit the runway and carried on smoothly until it came to a halt.
There was no drama, no skidding out of control, or anything truly alarming.
The only issue was a small friction fire that started as the aircraft skidded across the tarmac and then stopped.
However, that was soon extinguished.
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Landing with no gear is not easy for any pilot
Pilots will no doubt be trained on what to do in these situations, should they ever arise.
It’s a fine balance between not losing too much speed, but also ensuring you don’t hit the ground too hard.
Pilots have to come in almost level with the ground, so the airplane hits the runway evenly.
If the plane landed that way with the gear down, the rear would be grabbed down, and the nose would violently pitch up.
Remember, these aircraft are landing at speeds of up to 200mph in some cases.
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One of the users on Reddit stated the pilot was actually his dad, and the landing gear hydraulic system had failed.
After the failure, the aircraft flew to its destination in Reno to burn as much fuel as possible.
This helped minimize the risk of fire as the aircraft performed the emergency landing with the gear up.
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Henry joined the Supercar Blondie team in February 2025, and since then has covered a wide array of topics ranging from EVs, American barn finds, and the odd Cold War jet. He’s combined his passion for cars with his keen interest in motorsport and his side hustle as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman at a leading heritage steam railway in England.
