[t413]

This is the only article of original substance on the internet, everyone else copied pieces from it. I still can't find an answer (or even anyone asking the question): How does it land?

There's no landing gear, it takes off from a dolly, and it's only designed to stay up for 'months at a time.' Does this mean it needs extensive repairs after it crash lands on runways that are half its width? The ScanEagle UAS also has no landing gear but is small enough to be caught by a cable mid-air [1].

Having no journalists present for their test launch and only getting officially produced videos and non-critical reposts is not enough.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w88uCC2Jv48

[masterponomo]

I believe it summons a Tesla Uber on Autopilot(tm) with a proper roof rack to drive down the runway, and wafts down upon it and then they roll on into the hangar together.

[milesokeefe]

Similar planes use follower cars to manage landing so the wings don't touch the ground, that's really not too far fetched.

[mikeash]

I would speculate that it lands on skids. Skids are pretty lightweight and will do fine for landing, but you need a lot of power to take off with them unless you're on ice or snow.

(You know your landing gear is up when it takes full power to taxi.)

[anotheryou]

good call. The U2 has only gears in the center and "skids" on the wings, trying to get as slow as possible before they are needed (an some muscle car following for guidance). https://youtu.be/hxFz6ImB8fI?t=165

[walrus01]

A lot of gliders do this and are designed for grass/turf airstrips.

[bigiain]

With a sea level low speed capability of staying airborne at 25mph, I suspect even given it's huge size and delicate construction - getting it down to a few feet off the ground and slowing down till it stalls, just like nearly all model gliders do, would be practical. If you look carefully at image #3 in the gallery - it looks like they've got tubular metal skids under each motor pod. I'd guess that's what they land on.

[Someone]

They write "The automatic landing algorithm also performed well, tracking the glide path and centerline with expected accuracy."

That's very little to go by, but this plane likely can fly very slowly. I guess they plan to glide it almost into ground, stall it to further decrease speed, and then 'crash' it in some fairly soft spot. Alternatively, they could land it on top of that dolly, but that might be more of a challenge.

[pepijndevos]

> We are still analyzing the results of the extended test, including a structural failure we experienced just before landing.

This is likely why landing footage was not included in the video.

Still, landing is the hardest part of flying, so omitting it raises some questions with me.

[wmf]

It sounds like Facebook does not want to reveal the landing method yet.

[sbuttgereit]

I can't remember where I read it earlier today, but there was mention of landing on Styrofoam skids.

[anotheryou]

Maybe it flies in to a net and footage is just unsexy (maybe it even took minor damage)?