The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word TREE SNAIL
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
T
R
E
E
S
N
A
I
L
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "being shelled on a plane?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case being shelled on a plane? = tree snail.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.