63-626: The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System ( CAPS ) is a whole-plane ballistic parachute recovery system designed specifically for Cirrus Aircraft 's line of general aviation light aircraft including the SR20 , SR22 and SF50 . The design became the first of its kind to become certified with the FAA , achieving certification in October 1998, and as of 2022 was the only aircraft ballistic parachute used as standard equipment by an aviation company. Developed as
126-414: A Cirrus SR22 was uninjured. The first emergency deployment in a Vision Jet occurred in 2022 near Kissimmee, Florida ; two occupants were uninjured while a third had "non life-threatening injuries". As of 21 September 2021, CAPS had been activated 126 times, 107 of which saw successful parachute deployment. In those successful deployments, there were 220 survivors and one death. No deaths had occurred when
189-533: A mid-air collision in 1985, where his plane lost more than three feet of wing including half the aileron ; the pilot in the other aircraft spiraled into the ground and was killed. These efforts contributed to the Klapmeier brothers' 2014 induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame . The Cirrus engineering & design team, led by chief engineer Paul Johnston, started developing CAPS on
252-501: A ski-jump on take-off is subjected to loads of 0.5g which also last for much longer than a landing impact. Helicopters may have a deck-lock harpoon to anchor them to the deck. Some aircraft have a requirement to use the landing-gear as a speed brake. Flexible mounting of the stowed main landing-gear bogies on the Tupolev Tu-22 R raised the aircraft flutter speed to 550 kn (1,020 km/h). The bogies oscillated within
315-428: A tripod effect. Some unusual landing gear have been evaluated experimentally. These include: no landing gear (to save weight), made possible by operating from a catapult cradle and flexible landing deck: air cushion (to enable operation over a wide range of ground obstacles and water/snow/ice); tracked (to reduce runway loading). For launch vehicles and spacecraft landers , the landing gear usually only supports
378-414: A "boat" hull/floats and retractable wheels, which allow it to operate from land or water. Beaching gear is detachable wheeled landing gear that allows a non-amphibious floatplane or flying boat to be maneuvered on land. It is used for aircraft maintenance and storage and is either carried in the aircraft or kept at a slipway. Beaching gear may consist of individual detachable wheels or a cradle that supports
441-442: A 10 in (25 cm) thick flexible asphalt pavement . The 210,000 lb (95 t) Boeing 727 -200 with four tires on two legs main landing gears required a 20 in (51 cm) thick pavement. The thickness rose to 25 in (64 cm) for a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 -10 with 443,000 lb (201 t) supported on eight wheels on two legs. The heavier, 558,000 lb (253 t), DC-10-30/40 were able to operate from
504-474: A 90° angle during the rearwards-retraction sequence to allow the main wheel to rest "flat" above the lower end of the main gear strut, or flush within the wing or engine nacelles, when fully retracted. Examples are the Curtiss P-40 , Vought F4U Corsair , Grumman F6F Hellcat , Messerschmitt Me 210 and Junkers Ju 88 . The Aero Commander family of twin-engined business aircraft also shares this feature on
567-584: A ballistic parachute, the Cirrus Vision SF50 single-engine jet was certified in October 2016 with CAPS (where it deploys from the nose of the aircraft instead of the aft cabin). Despite the FAA not requiring Cirrus to test the device since it was not necessary for certification, Business Insider released video in May 2017 showing CAPS being tested inflight with a piloted SF50 prototype. In 2018, Cirrus won
630-507: A collaboration between Cirrus and Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS), it was adapted from the GARD (General Aviation Recovery Device) initially released for the Cessna 150 . As in other BRS systems, a small solid-fuel rocket housed in the aft fuselage is used to pull the parachute out from its housing and deploy the canopy full within seconds. The goal of employing this system is the survival of
693-527: A conventional parachute would not open quickly enough. In 1982, Comco Ikarus developed the FRS rocket-launched parachute system for its ultralight and hanglider aircraft. In 1999, Cirrus Aircraft (then known as Cirrus Design) provided the first ballistic parachutes as standard equipment on their line of type-certified aircraft, the Cirrus SR20 ; and in 2016, the company delivered the Cirrus Vision SF50 ,
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#1732783156976756-476: A forward and aft position. The forward position was used for take-off to give a longer lever-arm for pitch control and greater nose-up attitude. The aft position was used to reduce landing bounce and reduce risk of tip-back during ground handling. The tandem or bicycle layout is used on the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, which has two main-wheels behind a single nose-wheel under the fuselage and
819-585: A higher sink-rate requirement because the aircraft are flown onto the deck with no landing flare . Other features are related to catapult take-off requirements for specific aircraft. For example, the Blackburn Buccaneer was pulled down onto its tail-skid to set the required nose-up attitude. The naval McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in UK service needed an extending nosewheel leg to set the wing attitude at launch. The landing gear for an aircraft using
882-474: A higher sink-rate requirement if a carrier-type, no-flare landing technique has to be adopted to reduce touchdown scatter. For example, the Saab 37 Viggen , with landing gear designed for a 5m/sec impact, could use a carrier-type landing and HUD to reduce its scatter from 300 m to 100m. The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou used long-stroke legs to land from a steep approach with no float. A flying boat has
945-489: A light aircraft, an emergency extension system is always available. This may be a manually operated crank or pump, or a mechanical free-fall mechanism which disengages the uplocks and allows the landing gear to fall under gravity. Aircraft landing gear includes wheels equipped with solid shock absorbers on light planes, and air/oil oleo struts on larger aircraft. As aircraft weights have increased more wheels have been added and runway thickness has increased to keep within
1008-403: A lower fuselage with the shape of a boat hull giving it buoyancy. Wing-mounted floats or stubby wing-like sponsons are added for stability. Sponsons are attached to the lower sides of the fuselage. A floatplane has two or three streamlined floats. Amphibious floats have retractable wheels for land operation. An amphibious aircraft or amphibian usually has two distinct landing gears, namely
1071-537: A nosewheel) chassis. Landing is done on skids or similar simple devices (fixed or retractable). The SNCASE Baroudeur used this arrangement. Historical examples include the "dolly"-using Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant troop glider, and the first eight "trolley"-using prototypes of the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber. The main disadvantage to using
1134-457: A similar arrangement, except that the fore and aft gears each have two twin-wheel units side by side. Quadricycle gear is similar to bicycle but with two sets of wheels displaced laterally in the fore and aft positions. Raymer classifies the B-52 gear as quadricycle. The experimental Fairchild XC-120 Packplane had quadricycle gear located in the engine nacelles to allow unrestricted access beneath
1197-407: A small explosion, much like that used in an ejection seat . The advantage of the ballistic parachute over a conventional parachute is that it ejects the parachute canopy (oftentimes via a small rocket), causing it to open rapidly, thus making it ideal for attaching to light aircraft , hang gliders and microlights , where an emergency may occur in close proximity to the ground. In such a situation,
1260-520: A smaller wheel near the tip of each wing. On second generation Harriers, the wing is extended past the outrigger wheels to allow greater wing-mounted munition loads to be carried, or to permit wing-tip extensions to be bolted on for ferry flights. A tandem layout was evaluated by Martin using a specially-modified Martin B-26 Marauder (the XB-26H) to evaluate its use on Martin's first jet bomber,
1323-557: A tricycle undercarriage to prevent damage to the underside of the fuselage if over-rotation occurs on take-off leading to a tail strike . Aircraft with tail-strike protection include the B-29 Superfortress , Boeing 727 trijet and Concorde . Some aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear have a fixed tailwheel. Hoerner estimated the drag of the Bf 109 fixed tailwheel and compared it with that of other protrusions such as
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#17327831569761386-412: Is also unique in that all four pairs of main wheels can be steered. This allows the landing gear to line up with the runway and thus makes crosswind landings easier (using a technique called crab landing ). Since tandem aircraft cannot rotate for takeoff, the forward gear must be long enough to give the wings the correct angle of attack during takeoff. During landing, the forward gear must not touch
1449-513: Is generally needed for all three of these. 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, the landing gear supports the craft when it is not flying, allowing it to take off, land, and taxi without damage. Wheeled landing gear
1512-465: Is required to reduce the impact with the surface of the water. A vee bottom parts the water and chines deflect the spray to prevent it damaging vulnerable parts of the aircraft. Additional spray control may be needed using spray strips or inverted gutters. A step is added to the hull, just behind the center of gravity, to stop water clinging to the afterbody so the aircraft can accelerate to flying speed. The step allows air, known as ventilation air, to break
1575-405: Is the most common, with skis or floats needed to operate from snow/ice/water and skids for vertical operation on land. Retractable undercarriages fold away during flight, which reduces drag , allowing for faster airspeeds . Landing gear must be strong enough to support the aircraft and its design affects the weight, balance and performance. It often comprises three wheels, or wheel-sets, giving
1638-705: The Beriev A-40 Hydro flaps were used on the Martin Marlin and Martin SeaMaster . Hydroflaps, submerged at the rear of the afterbody, act as a speed brake or differentially as a rudder. A fixed fin, known as a skeg , has been used for directional stability. A skeg, was added to the second step on the Kawanishi H8K flying boat hull. High speed impacts in rough water between the hull and wave flanks may be reduced using hydro-skis which hold
1701-597: The Collier Trophy for the Vision Jet, due in part to the aircraft's inclusion of CAPS. The award is presented annually for "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles". Cirrus founders brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier set out to implement CAPS on all their future Cirrus models after Alan survived
1764-561: The Martin Marlin , the Martin M-270, was tested with a new hull with a greater length/beam ratio of 15 obtained by adding 6 feet to both the nose and tail. Rough-sea capability can be improved with lower take-off and landing speeds because impacts with waves are reduced. The Shin Meiwa US-1A is a STOL amphibian with blown flaps and all control surfaces. The ability to land and take-off at relatively low speeds of about 45 knots and
1827-702: The Martin XB-48 . This configuration proved so manoeuvrable that it was also selected for the B-47 Stratojet . It was also used on the U-2, Myasishchev M-4 , Yakovlev Yak-25 , Yak-28 and Sud Aviation Vautour . A variation of the multi tandem layout is also used on the B-52 Stratofortress which has four main wheel bogies (two forward and two aft) underneath the fuselage and a small outrigger wheel supporting each wing-tip. The B-52's landing gear
1890-509: The SR20 in Duluth, Minnesota , during the mid-1990s. It was first tested in 1998 over the high desert of southern California by Air National Guard F-16 pilot and Cirrus chief test pilot, Scott D. Anderson . At the time of testing, Cirrus only had two SR20 prototypes, so in order to test the parachute repeatedly, Anderson would restart the engine mid-air while descending under the parachute, cut
1953-416: The aircraft can be landed in a satisfactory manner in a range of failure scenarios. The Boeing 747 was given four separate and independent hydraulic systems (when previous airliners had two) and four main landing gear posts (when previous airliners had two). Safe landing would be possible if two main gear legs were torn off provided they were on opposite sides of the fuselage. In the case of power failure in
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2016-414: The aircraft cost, but 20% of the airframe direct maintenance cost. A suitably-designed wheel can support 30 t (66,000 lb), tolerate a ground speed of 300 km/h and roll a distance of 500,000 km (310,000 mi) ; it has a 20,000 hours time between overhaul and a 60,000 hours or 20 year life time. Wheeled undercarriages normally come in two types: The taildragger arrangement
2079-470: The airstream, it is called a semi-retractable gear. Most retractable gear is hydraulically operated, though some is electrically operated or even manually operated on very light aircraft. The landing gear is stowed in a compartment called a wheel well. Pilots confirming that their landing gear is down and locked refer to "three greens" or "three in the green.", a reference to the electrical indicator lights (or painted panels of mechanical indicator units) from
2142-472: The chute loose and land the plane for it to be tested again (ground-impact testing took place with a mockup that would be dropped at the calculated descent-velocity and measured based on sustained damage to the landing gear , fuselage and crash-test dummies ). Anderson completed all eight of the in-flight test deployments of CAPS for development and certification of the SR20. The first emergency deployment occurred in 2002 over Lewisville, Texas ; one pilot of
2205-402: The crew and passengers and not necessarily the prevention of damage to the airframe . Since the landing gear and firewall are a part of the structure designed to be crushed for energy absorption during impact after parachute deployment, Cirrus originally thought that the airframe would be damaged beyond repair on ground-impact, but the first aircraft to deploy (N1223S) landed in mesquite and
2268-410: The entire aircraft. In the former case, the beaching gear is manually attached or detached with the aircraft in the water; in the latter case, the aircraft is maneuvered onto the cradle. Helicopters are able to land on water using floats or a hull and floats. For take-off a step and planing bottom are required to lift from the floating position to planing on the surface. For landing a cleaving action
2331-411: The first jet aircraft with a ballistic parachute. The Curti Zefhir is the first helicopter fitted with a ballistic parachute, successfully tested in 2018. This aviation -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing , takeoff or landing . For aircraft, it
2394-418: The fuselage for attaching a large freight container. Helicopters use skids, pontoons or wheels depending on their size and role. To decrease drag in flight, undercarriages retract into the wings and/or fuselage with wheels flush with the surrounding surface, or concealed behind flush-mounted doors; this is called retractable gear. If the wheels do not retract completely but protrude partially exposed to
2457-424: The fuselage lower sides as retractable main gear units on modern designs—were first seen during World War II, on the experimental German Arado Ar 232 cargo aircraft, which used a row of eleven "twinned" fixed wheel sets directly under the fuselage centerline to handle heavier loads while on the ground. Many of today's large cargo aircraft use this arrangement for their retractable main gear setups, usually mounted on
2520-438: The fuselage. The 640 t (1,410,000 lb) Antonov An-225 , the largest cargo aircraft, had 4 wheels on the twin-strut nose gear units like the smaller Antonov An-124 , and 28 main gear wheels. The 97 t (214,000 lb) A321neo has a twin-wheel main gear inflated to 15.7 bar (228 psi), while the 280 t (620,000 lb) A350 -900 has a four-wheel main gear inflated to 17.1 bar (248 psi). STOL aircraft have
2583-603: The hull out of the water at higher speeds. Hydro skis replace the need for a boat hull and only require a plain fuselage which planes at the rear. Alternatively skis with wheels can be used for land-based aircraft which start and end their flight from a beach or floating barge. Hydro-skis with wheels were demonstrated as an all-purpose landing gear conversion of the Fairchild C-123 , known as the Panto-base Stroukoff YC-134 . A seaplane designed from
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2646-471: The hydrodynamic features of the hull, long length/beam ratio and inverted spray gutter for example, allow operation in wave heights of 15 feet. The inverted gutters channel spray to the rear of the propeller discs. Low speed maneuvring is necessary between slipways and buoys and take-off and landing areas. Water rudders are used on seaplanes ranging in size from the Republic RC-3 Seabee to
2709-402: The landing gear usually consists of skis or a combination of wheels and skis. Some aircraft use wheels for takeoff and jettison them when airborne for improved streamlining without the complexity, weight and space requirements of a retraction mechanism. The wheels are sometimes mounted onto axles that are part of a separate "dolly" (for main wheels only) or "trolley" (for a three-wheel set with
2772-417: The lower corners of the central fuselage structure. The prototype Convair XB-36 had most of its weight on two main wheels, which needed runways at least 22 in (56 cm) thick. Production aircraft used two four-wheel bogies, allowing the aircraft to use any airfield suitable for a B-29. A relatively light Lockheed JetStar business jet, with four wheels supporting 44,000 lb (20 t), needed
2835-504: The main gear struts lengthened as they were extended to give sufficient ground clearance for their large four-bladed propellers. One exception to the need for this complexity in many WW II fighter aircraft was Japan's famous Zero fighter, whose main gear stayed at a perpendicular angle to the centerline of the aircraft when extended, as seen from the side. The main wheels on the Vought F7U Cutlass could move 20 inches between
2898-489: The main gears, which retract aft into the ends of the engine nacelles . The rearward-retracting nosewheel strut on the Heinkel He 219 and the forward-retracting nose gear strut on the later Cessna Skymaster similarly rotated 90 degrees as they retracted. On most World War II single-engined fighter aircraft (and even one German heavy bomber design ) with sideways retracting main gear, the main gear that retracted into
2961-611: The nacelle under the control of dampers and springs as an anti-flutter device. Some experimental aircraft have used gear from existing aircraft to reduce program costs. The Martin-Marietta X-24 lifting body used the nose/main gear from the North American T-39 / Northrop T-38 and the Grumman X-29 from the Northrop F-5 / General Dynamics F-16 . When an airplane needs to land on surfaces covered by snow,
3024-444: The nosewheel/tailwheel and the two main gears. Blinking green lights or red lights indicate the gear is in transit and neither up and locked or down and locked. When the gear is fully stowed up with the up-locks secure, the lights often extinguish to follow the dark cockpit philosophy; some airplanes have gear up indicator lights. Redundant systems are used to operate the landing gear and redundant main gear legs may also be provided so
3087-722: The outset with hydro-skis was the Convair F2Y Sea Dart prototype fighter. The skis incorporated small wheels, with a third wheel on the fuselage, for ground handling. In the 1950s hydro-skis were envisaged as a ditching aid for large piston-engined aircraft. Water-tank tests done using models of the Lockheed Constellation , Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Neptune concluded that chances of survival and rescue would be greatly enhanced by preventing critical damage associated with ditching. The landing gear on fixed-wing aircraft that land on aircraft carriers have
3150-432: The parachute was deployed within the certified speed and altitude parameters, and two anomalous unsuccessful deployments had occurred within those parameters. Some other accidental deployments were reported, as caused by ground impact or post-impact fires. As of 24 October 2019, 21 of the aircraft that had deployed CAPS had been repaired and put back into service. Since 2011, which saw 16 deadly crashes of SR-series aircraft,
3213-556: The pilot's canopy. A third arrangement (known as tandem or bicycle) has the main and nose gear located fore and aft of the center of gravity (CG) under the fuselage with outriggers on the wings. This is used when there is no convenient location on either side of the fuselage to attach the main undercarriage or to store it when retracted. Examples include the Lockheed U-2 spy plane and the Harrier jump jet . The Boeing B-52 uses
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#17327831569763276-476: The plane to enter a spin . However, increasing the difficulty of entering a spin inherently makes it more difficult to recover from one if a spin does occur. The FAA accepted the parachute as a sufficient mode of spin recovery and complete spin testing was not required. Nonetheless, in 2004 Cirrus completed a limited series of spin recovery tests to meet European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) requirements and no unusual characteristics were found. The first jet with
3339-513: The runway loading limit . The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI , a large German World War I long-range bomber of 1916, used eighteen wheels for its undercarriage, split between two wheels on its nose gear struts, and sixteen wheels on its main gear units—split into four side-by-side quartets each, two quartets of wheels per side—under each tandem engine nacelle, to support its loaded weight of almost 12 t (26,000 lb). Multiple "tandem wheels" on an aircraft—particularly for cargo aircraft , mounted to
3402-538: The same thickness pavements with a third main leg for ten wheels, like the first Boeing 747 -100, weighing 700,000 lb (320 t) on four legs and 16 wheels. The similar-weight Lockheed C-5 , with 24 wheels, needs an 18 in (46 cm) pavement. The twin-wheel unit on the fuselage centerline of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 -30/40 was retained on the MD-11 airliner and the same configuration
3465-426: The series has seen more CAPS deployments and steadily fewer deadly accidents, giving them one of the best safety records in the industry. This was attributed to a new approach to training, particularly in when and how to deploy the parachute system. Ballistic parachute A ballistic parachute , ballistic reserve parachute , or emergency ballistic reserve parachute , is a parachute ejected from its casing by
3528-508: The takeoff dolly/trolley and landing skid(s) system on German World War II aircraft—intended for a sizable number of late-war German jet and rocket-powered military aircraft designs—was that aircraft would likely be scattered all over a military airfield after they had landed from a mission, and would be unable to taxi on their own to an appropriately hidden "dispersal" location, which could easily leave them vulnerable to being shot up by attacking Allied fighters. A related contemporary example are
3591-422: The vehicle on landing and during subsequent surface movement, and is not used for takeoff. Given their varied designs and applications, there exist dozens of specialized landing gear manufacturers. The three largest are Safran Landing Systems , Collins Aerospace (part of Raytheon Technologies ) and Héroux-Devtek . The landing gear represents 2.5 to 5% of the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) and 1.5 to 1.75% of
3654-685: The water suction on the afterbody. Two steps were used on the Kawanishi H8K . A step increases the drag in flight. The drag contribution from the step can be reduced with a fairing. A faired step was introduced on the Short Sunderland III. One goal of seaplane designers was the development of an open ocean seaplane capable of routine operation from very rough water. This led to changes in seaplane hull configuration. High length/beam ratio hulls and extended afterbodies improved rough water capabilities. A hull much longer than its width also reduced drag in flight. An experimental development of
3717-499: The wings was raked forward in the "down" position for better ground handling, with a retracted position that placed the main wheels at some distance aft of their position when downairframe—this led to a complex angular geometry for setting up the "pintle" angles at the top ends of the struts for the retraction mechanism's axis of rotation. with some aircraft, like the P-47 Thunderbolt and Grumman Bearcat , even mandating that
3780-424: The wingtip support wheels ("pogos") on the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, which fall away after take-off and drop to earth; the aircraft then relies on titanium skids on the wingtips for landing. Some main landing gear struts on World War II aircraft, in order to allow a single-leg main gear to more efficiently store the wheel within either the wing or an engine nacelle, rotated the single gear strut through
3843-445: Was common during the early propeller era, as it allows more room for propeller clearance. Most modern aircraft have tricycle undercarriages. Taildraggers are considered harder to land and take off (because the arrangement is usually unstable , that is, a small deviation from straight-line travel will tend to increase rather than correct itself), and usually require special pilot training. A small tail wheel or skid/bumper may be added to
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#17327831569763906-426: Was not badly damaged. Cirrus bought the airframe back, repaired it, and used it as a demo plane. Dating back to the first conception of the Cirrus SR20 in the early 1990s, the aircraft was intended to come equipped with CAPS. Because of this, Cirrus designed a special kind of "spin resistant" wing (or leading edge cuff ) for the SR20, a concept originally developed at NASA Langley , which makes it more difficult for
3969-467: Was used on the initial 275 t (606,000 lb) Airbus A340 -200/300, which evolved in a complete four-wheel undercarriage bogie for the heavier 380 t (840,000 lb) Airbus A340-500/-600. The up to 775,000 lb (352 t) Boeing 777 has twelve main wheels on two three-axles bogies, like the later Airbus A350 . The 575 t (1,268,000 lb) Airbus A380 has a four-wheel bogie under each wing with two sets of six-wheel bogies under
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