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Why Is The Gear Called Main Landing Gear?  
User currently offlineAirfoilsguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 3515 times:

I have always wondered why they call the landing gear the "main landing gear". Calling it that would seem to imply there is a reserve landing gear. There a currently no planes to my knowledge that have back up landing gear. In my mind calling the landing gear "main" is redundant. Why is this done?

9 replies: All unread, jump to last
 
User currently offlineNKP S2 From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 1714 posts, RR: 6
Reply 1, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3511 times:

It's main landing gear....as opposed to the nose landing gear.

User currently offlineCorey07850 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2522 posts, RR: 5
Reply 2, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3509 times:

Quoting NKP S2 (Reply 1):
It's main landing gear....as opposed to the nose landing gear.

Spot on... well in the case of a tricycle gear plane  Wink

User currently offlineSlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71
Reply 3, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3505 times:

Quoting Corey07850 (Reply 2):
well in the case of a tricycle gear plane

Quite right there. As opposed to a tailwheel on the non-conventional "conventional" landing gear.

Mains are the load carriers. Nosewheel or tailwheel are for steering and because engineers learned in geometry 101 "any three points form a plane" without them an airplane would tip over. They carry a very small portion of the total load on the ground.


Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
User currently offlineBri2k1 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 988 posts, RR: 4
Reply 4, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3499 times:

Quoting SlamClick (Reply 3):
any three points form a plane

I hope I'm not the only one who catches the subtle humor there. And, as an Engineer, I represent that remark  Smile Thanks for your always informative and witty contributions.


Position and hold
User currently offlineFr8Mech From United States of America, joined Sep 2005, 4346 posts, RR: 12
Reply 5, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3496 times:

Some aircraft do have supplementary gear also known as the tailskid. The tailskid is usually found in the AMM and MEL under chapter 32 (landing gear)


When seconds count...the police are minutes away!
User currently offlineReidYYZ From Kyrgyzstan, joined Sep 2005, 536 posts, RR: 1
Reply 6, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 3494 times:

Also to differentiate from the center gear A340's, DC10 (-30 and any other model with it) and MD11 and the body gear B747, and I guess A380 if that's what they call it.

User currently offline474218 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 6340 posts, RR: 9
Reply 7, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 3475 times:

The "main" landing gear supports the "main" portion of the aircraft weight, when the aircraft is on its wheels.

User currently offlineUsnseallt82 From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 4891 posts, RR: 54
Reply 8, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 3468 times:

Quoting Airfoilsguy (Thread starter):
Why Is The Gear Called Main Landing Gear?

As others have already stated, the 'main landing gear' term is to denote the main set of gear that supports the majority of the aircraft's weight, is designed for the hardest impact of the landing, and is the first set of gear to touch the ground during landing. All other gear is misc. to the main landing gear, though equally important. But, the main gear supports the real forces of the aircraft functions on the ground.


Crye me a river
User currently offlineHAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31228 posts, RR: 58
Reply 9, posted (7 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 3342 times:

Main load carried by the Main Landing gear.
Nose mounted gear called Nose Landing Gear.
Some Aircrafts have a Center Gear & few a Tail wheel assy.
regds
MEL


Think of the brighter side!
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