ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank and acknowledge: For diagrams 7.20 Nose Undercarriage Leg APPH Ltd. 7.23 Body Gear Dunlop Aircraft Tyres 7.25 Landing Gear for a High Winged AIC Dunlop Aircraft Tyres 7.27 Bogie Layout APPH Ltd. 7.39 Floats Cessna Aviation INTRODUCTION From the first fight of the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk Flyer, which took off from @ smell track- mounted trolley and landed on two skids, it became apparent that for practical purposes aircraft required wheels for ground operations. In these early days, bicycle wheels were used. As the Wright Brothers’ engines improved, these wheels allowed the aircraft to take off without the need of the fixed rail and drop weight. Another benefit was in landing. Since those first days, aircraft have been adapted to take off and land from the following surfaces: Water Snow and ice Unprepared hard surfaces Prepared hard surfaces vyvvy This allows aircraft to be categorised into three groups: > Land planes > Seaplanes/Floatplanes > Amphibians Land planes can take off from prepared or unprepared surfaces including snow and ice. Normally, land planes are fitted with wheeled landing gear. However, for operations on snow and ioe, either skis or bear paws replace the wheels. in some cases, the skis or bear paws are retractable to allow the aircraft to operate from both snow and a hard surface. ‘Seaplanes are those where the fuselage is designed to be a floating hull. They only land and take off from water. Floatplanes are land planes where two floats, which allow the aircraft to take off and land on water, repiace the wheeled undercarriage, Airframes and Systems THChapter 7 Landing Gear-Undercarriages Amphibians are aircraft that can land or take off from water or prepared runways. Amphibious aircraft can either have a fuselage hull with retractable landing gear, or floats that incorporate retractable landing gear. Originally, all and planes used fixed undercarriages. In the very early days, this amounted to a cross axle with two bicycle wheels attached to a V frame by bungee cords, which was in turn attached to the fuselage. The distance between the two wheels, the undercarriage track, was narrow, which led to poor landing and take-off stability. While the cross axle can still be found on some light fixed-gear aircraft, itis not in common use since, apart from the narrow track, the axle can create sufficient drag in long grass to tip a landing aircraft onto its nose. With increases in aircraft weight. engine power, and aircraft performance, the designers replaced the V frames and bioycle wheels with wheels and tyres attached to undercarriage legs in an attempt to reduce the shock load when landing. In the quest for increased airspeed and operational efficiency, these gears were refined by fairing the landing gear legs and wheels to reduce the drag created at higher airspeeds. The ultimate drag reduction for landing gear is achieved by fully retracting it when not in use. REQUIREMENTS FOR A MODERN UNDERCARRIAGE ‘The progress in the design of landing gear over the last century has led to the following specific requirements for air transport aircraft undercarriages that all designs must meet: ‘Absorb the landing load and damp vibration Withstand side loads when landing and taxiing Support the aircraft on the ground when it is manoeuvring Provide minimum friction between the aircraft and the ground Possess a low coefficient of drag Withstand the flight air loads vvvvyy DRAG AND UNDERCARRIAGES Induced Profile drag Drag Profile drag of — of fixed gear Trot nda of fixed gear with fairings wi without retracted gear fairings Drag Velocity Diagram 7.1 Undercarriage Drag 12 Airframes and SystemsLanding Gear-Undercarriages Chapter 7 As an aitcraf’s speed increases, its profile drag increases. To reduce drag and save fuel, the aircraft should be as streamlined as possible. For fixed landing gear, the method used to streamline the gear is to fit aerofoil cross-section fairings to the legs and more bulbous spats around the wheels, which conform where possible to the fineness ratio of 4:1 Retracting the gear into wheel bays and fairing the apertures with doors removes the gear- created element of the profile drag. Diagram 7.1 represents the same aircraft fitted with a fixed gear without any fairing, then with the gear fully faired, and finelly with a retractable geer raised LANDING When an aircraft lands, there are three factors that come into play. These are mass, vertical velocity at touchdown (sink rate), and forward velocity at touchdown. ‘As mass times velocity equals force at touchdown, the aircraft exerts a downward force viz landing gear to the Earth. Obviously, the greater the landing mass or the greater the sink rate, the greater the force created. The Earth pushes back against the aircraft, as every force has an equal and opposite reaction. Unless controlled, this causes the aircraft to recoil or bounce back into the air before touching down again. Thus, @ landing can continue in a series of kangaroo hops down the runway, or until the aircraft is pushed skyward but is lower than its stalling speed and crashes. This is due to the fact that at the intial touchdown, the vertical component of the landing force is absorbed, leaving the mass. As the reaction is now greater than the mass alone, the aircraft bounces back into the air to restart the process. SUSPENSION/SHOCK ABSORBER SYSTEMS FOR LIGHT AIRCRAFT The original Wright Flyer had no shock absorbing system as its landing gear took the form of a wooden sledge. Attachment of pneumatic bicycle wheels to later versions gave very litte suspension, for like all pneumatic tyres, the mass of the vehicle to which the tyres are fitted is supported by the gas pressure acting against the tyre cover. To improve the suspension, the following systems were introduced: > Bungee cords/bungee blocks > Spring stee! legs > Torsion bar Airfiames and Systems 73