Body-braced main airplane landing gear.

摘要

A body-braced main landing gear assembly for a commercial airplane includes a set of landing wheels (21 to 24) journalled to a shock absorber strut (20). The shock strut and wheels are swingably attached to the underside of the wing (10) structure by a trunnion shaft (56) for lateral as well as fore and aft swinging movement between an extended position wherein the wheels depend downwardly from the wing for taxiing and landing of the airplane and a retracted position wherein the wheels and shock strut are swung inwardly and upwardly into a wheel bay in the airplane fuselage (12). The shock strut is braced in the extended position by a foldable drag strut (80) and a rigid radius brace (100). The foldable drag strut is attached at one end to the shock strut and is attached at its opposite end to the fuselage body at a point inward and forward of the trunnion shaft. The radius brace is attached at one end to the shock strut and is attached at its opposite end to a point on the fuselage body inward and rearward of the trunnion shaft. The body-braced main landing gear assembly permits the landing wheels to be positioned farther aft and farther outboard than normal, resulting in improved airplane ground stability and ground flotation and also in improved airplane aerodynamic perfomance during flight. The improvement in load path geometry enables a substantial reduction to be made in airplane wing and aft body weights.