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Landing Gear

Oleo Pneumatic Shock Absorber Struts
The oleo pneumatic shock absorber can only absorb vertical loads.
Oleo pneumatic struts consist of a piston rod that moves up and down within a cylinder.
The cylinder is fixed to the aircraft's structure and an axle is connected to the lower end of the piston rod.
The cylinder is charged with gas (nitrogen is preferred as it is inert) and oil (mineral hydraulic oil DTD
585 is standard)
The function of the gas is to support the weight of the aircraft at rest and acts as a spring to absorb the
landing and taxiing loads.
The oil is used to control the speed of compression and expansion, referred to as dampening of landing
load and recoil action.

Oleo Pneumatic Shock Absorber without Separator (Older light aircraft):
As the oleo strut is compressed on landing the oil is forced to flow up through the orifice in the fixed
piston.
The metering rod that passes though the orifice controls the rate at which the strut compresses.
During landing load and recoil action the rod and orifice act as a variable restrictor, reducing the flow of
oil from one side of the fixed piston to the other. This helps to prevent the aircraft from being sprung back
into the air.

Oleo Pneumatic Shock Absorber with Separator (large aircraft):
The oleo uses a free-floating separator to ensure that the gas and fluid cannot mix.
The speed of compression and recoil is controlled via fixed orifices.
During recoil some of the orifices are closed by valves to slow the recoil action.
A heavy landing can result in the oleo strut bottoming out. This occurs when the piston rod travel exceeds
the distance available and can cause damage as the castings meet.

Oleo extension is adjusted by adjusting the gas pressure in the oleo strut and correct oil levels. More gas
less oil means the strut will be less damped i.e. too bouncy. More oil less gas means the strut will be
excessively rigid.

Torque Link (Scissor link):
It is attached to the cylinder at one end and the piston rod at the other.
This prevents the inner piston rod rotating inside cylinder and to ensure that the wheels align with the
centre line of the aircraft.
A joint in the middle allows the oleo to move up and down.
A worn out torque link can cause rotary movement of the piston within the cylinder, called wheel shimmy.

Shimmy Damper:
Wheel shimmy is described as a sinusoidal motion of the nose wheel when the aircraft is taxing on the
ground.
A shimmy damper is either a spring (light aircraft) or a hydraulic damper (larger aircraft) which acts like
an accumulator and is used to prevent or dampen these oscillations with an opposing force.

Bracing of Main Retractable Landing Gear:
Side Stays prevent the gear collapsing sideways.
Drag Stays prevent it collapsing rearwards.
Fore Stays prevent it collapsing forward.

Bracing of Nose Retractable Landing Gear:
Drag stays brace forward retracting legs.
Push Stays brace rearward retracting legs.

Undercarriage Locks:
1) Geometric Lock:
o The geometric or over centre lock is only used as a down lock.
o It requires mechanical force to unlock it.
o These locks can be formed by using the stays bracing the struts.
o The gear cannot be retracted on the ground if downlock is geometric.
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2) Hook Lock:
o Hook locks are normally used as up-locks.
o Hook locks engage without hydraulic pressure but require hydraulic pressure to release.
o If hydraulic pressure fails to properly release the lock, manoeuvring the aircraft can help while
using the weight of the gear as assistance.

Landing Gear Position Indication:
Red lights indicates that gear is unlocked or the gear position disagrees with lever position.
On some aircraft both green and red lights illuminate together when the gear has been lowered by
emergency means.
An amber truck light indicates if a truck (bogie) is in the wrong position for retraction. In this condition
the gear selector lever is physically locked to prevent an up selection.

Arrow Air/Ground Logic:
The micro switches note physical compression of the gear.
The pressure switches note increase in pressure in the oleos.
These are referred to as Weight on Wheels, Weight on Ground or Squat Switches.

Arrow Landing Gear Operating Speeds:
VLO:
o The maximum speed at which the land gear can be operated.
o If retraction and extension speeds are different then the speed will be identified as VLO
(RET) and VLO (EXT).
VLE:
o The maximum speed at which the aircraft can be flown with the landing gear extended.
o VLE is generally higher than VLO because once the gear is extended the undercarriage doors
close and the undercarriage legs can withstand higher aerodynamic loads.

Note: On retraction and extension the main gears move before the nose gear so that the aircraft does not
become unbalanced as the drag alters.

Emergency Lowering of Landing Gear:
During loss of hydraulic power an emergency method of extending the landing gear is provided. Some
methods are:
o Emergency Hydraulics
o Compressed nitrogen gas
o Mechanical extension
o Gravity free fall (used mostly by modern transport aircraft)