HELICOPTER LANDING GEAR ASSEMBLY

摘要

An improved helicopter landing gear assembly (12) to substantially increase useful service life. The crosstubes (14) are constructe d of a material that allows use of thicker crosstubes thereby reducing the ope rating stress in the crosstubes (14) and helping to incr ease the fatigue life, while at the same time preserving the required energy absorpti on characteristics. The inside and outside of the cross tubes (14) are shot peened to help increase the fatigue life. The crosstubes (14) are formed in an unstable temper condition thereby reducing the stress that is induced into the part during formation, and thus connected to the cr osstubes (14) by fasteners (64) located at the sides of the straps (20) and closer to the neutral bending axis of the crosstube (14) so that th e fasteners (64) and the fastener holes (48) are subject ed to lower stress levels. The combination of these improvements results in a substant ially increased life of the landing gear assembly.