Landing gear

Uncommon card · No. 181118

Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for engaging the surface — typically land, but may also be the surface of a water body — when parking, taxiing, taking off or landing. It was also formerly called alighting gear by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company. For aircraft, Stinton makes the terminology distinction undercarriage (British) = landing gear (US). For aircraft, landing gear is the foundational part of the airframe that supports the craft's weight when it is not in flight, keeping the fuselage at a clearance off the ground so it can avoid sustaining frictional/collisional damages. Wheeled landing gear is the most ubiquitous, used in almost all aircraft that perform conventional and short takeoff and landing, while skids or floats are used in aircraft that can take off and land vertically or operate from snow/ice/water. Landing gears from early aircraft are usually fixed, and remain protruded under the aircraft during flight...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Olivier Cleynen, CC BY-SA 3.0