Meet the demands of today’s landing gear technology
30 November 2022
When we hear the familiar request from the flight deck, “Cabin crew…prepare for landing”, we know it’s part of the preparation for the arrival of a passenger plane to its destination, and one of the critical stages of any flight. What goes up, must come down (safely and smoothly), and perhaps something we take for granted is the performance and reliability of today’s aviation landing gear technology.
Regarded by some aviation experts as ‘mechanical marvels’, landing gear is literally a big deal in terms of size and cost. It’s estimated, by the world’s leading airline manufacturers, to represent around 20 percent of total aircraft maintenance and around seven percent of the total weight of the aircraft.
For example, the maximum take-off weight of an Airbus A320 (one of today’s biggest-selling aircraft, with over 16,000 flying) is approximately 83,000kg (183,000lb), of which around 5,500kg (12,125lb) is the weight of the landing gear.
Typically, landing gear is made by speciality suppliers to the aviation industry, which then supplies to the major manufacturers, mainly because landing gear and shock absorption are regarded as a field of science on their own, compared to other parts of aviation technology...
Read the full article in DPA's December issue
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