[volare737]

Good point. I don’t think that EMAS’s were ever tested with the gear retracted.

[T.B. Yoits]

My understanding of EMAS is like having tiles laid across floor joists that have gravel in between them. A landing gear wheel cracks the tile, drops into the area between the joists, and plows into the gravel, slowing it down.

A plane bellying in would crack a bunch of tiles but would be held up by the floor joists, and slide along top of them. Even if the joists also failed, the plane would slide across the top of the gravel.