Pilot called hero as plane lands safely

WARSAW, Poland -- A Boeing airliner from Newark, N.J., carrying 231 people was forced to land on its belly in Warsaw after its landing gear failed to open, triggering sparks and small fires. No one was hurt, but some passengers sobbed as they prayed for a safe landing.

Capt. Tadeusz Wrona, who handled the descent Tuesday so smoothly that many on board thought the Boeing 767 had landed on its wheels, was instantly hailed as a hero in Poland and online, where within hours he was the focus of several Facebook fan pages.

The successful landing of the Polish LOT airlines flight also was a huge relief for a country that has suffered multiple aviation disasters in recent years, including the April 2010 crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.

"I was praying for the pilot not to lose control because we started to make circles over the airport. It was terrible," passenger Teresa Kowalik told reporters at the airport. "We owe everything to the pilot. He really did a great job."

LOT said the plane suffered "a central hydraulic system failure," indicating that the hydraulics used to extend the landing gear, or undercarriage, failed. The failure of an entire undercarriage was unprecedented for a Boeing 767 and highly unusual overall, according to aviation data and experts.

The pilot told passengers four hours into the flight that the plane faced technical problems, said a passenger who gave only her first name, Malgorzata.

"I started to cry, and the men around me were also crying," said passenger Krystyna Dabrowska, 62. "I thought that was the end of me."

By the time the plane landed, escorted by two Polish F-16 fighter jets, its fuel tanks were nearly empty, LOT spokesman Leszek Chorzewski said.

On landing, sparks flew from the engine and small fires erupted under the plane but were immediately put out by firefighters.

Passengers were then evacuated using emergency slides. They were taken to a medical center where they were kept several hours before being released to anxious relatives gathered at the airport.

-- AP