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A320 With 4-Wheel Main Gear

747Dreamlifter From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 3917 times:

Never knew that Airbus offered their A320 with 4 wheel main gears. Searching through the photo data base it seems that only Indian Airlines/Air India flies them. Any special reason or performance advantages ??.....possible higher GTOW?

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8 replies: All unread, jump to last

Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15872 posts, RR: 66
Reply 1, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 3911 times:

The reason was so that they could use "rough" fields where the normal wheel loading was too high. There was a weight penalty since the bogies are heavier and the gear doors larger.

As you noticed, only one airline ordered the mod, which IIRC was done by a third party. AFAIK they are all in the process of being converted to the standard wheel arrangement, if they haven't been already.

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo

Brenintw From Taiwan, joined Jul 2006, 1453 posts, RR: 1
Reply 2, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 3911 times:

This is a topic that appears regularly here ... from what I understand:

The 4-wheel bogies were specced for use on runways that couldn't support the A320 using standard 2-wheels MLG. This modification was only used in India (mostly for unpaved runways).

All the A/C with 4-wheel bogies have been retrofitted with the standard MLG, since the supplier of the 4-wheel bogies has gone out of business, and they're no longer required.

For more discussion:

8 Wheel Main Gear On A-320 (by Zebfly2 Sep 19 2001 in Tech Ops)
Indian Airlines Four-wheel A320 Main Gear (by A388 Aug 2 2007 in Tech Ops)
Dual Main Gear On A320 (by JoePatroni Aug 1 2007 in Tech Ops)
Indian Airlines A320's Main Gear Have 4 Tires (by United777 Apr 25 2003 in Tech Ops)

I'm tired of the A vs. B sniping. Neither make planes that shed wings randomly!

HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58
Reply 3, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 3822 times:

After the vendor of the MLG closed shop.All the A320s are gradually switching to the Two wheeled version.As the purpose why they were chosen does not exist anymore.
regds
MEL

Think of the brighter side!

Troubleshooter From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 423 posts, RR: 5
Reply 4, posted (5 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 3759 times:

Does anybody here have some maintenance documentation on that landing gear?

This job sucks!!! I love this job!!!

Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21495 posts, RR: 24
Reply 5, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 3650 times:

Quoting Brenintw (Reply 2):
This modification was only used in India (mostly for unpaved runways).

I am fairly certain they never operated on unpaved runways, but on paved runways with a low bearing strength that couldn't take the weight of the aircraft unless it was spread over 4 wheels per side rather than two.

HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58
Reply 6, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 3588 times:

Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 5):
I am fairly certain they never operated on unpaved runways

Thats true.
Although the reason for choosing the MLG was for the purpose if arose.which never did.
regds
MEL

Think of the brighter side!

Gr8Circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2987 posts, RR: 4
Reply 7, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 3525 times:

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 6):
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 5):
I am fairly certain they never operated on unpaved runways

Thats true.
Although the reason for choosing the MLG was for the purpose if arose.which never did.
regds
MEL

Are there any airports at all in India, which have unpaved runways and would warrant an A320 service....? I can't think of any.....what did IC have in mind....?

HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58
Reply 8, posted (5 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3378 times:

Quoting Gr8Circle (Reply 7):
Are there any airports at all in India, which have unpaved runways and would warrant an A320 service

Not at present.But this was a consideration at that time,in case such use arose.
regds
MEL

Think of the brighter side!

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