WIederling wrote:The -10 landing gear is expensive afaics.
Significant developement effort.
Many more parts.
Higher weight due to more parts and ~double the loads in the oleo gear leg.
Higher maintenance due to more (+moving) parts, higher loads.
Interest in the -10 hasn't really gone overboard, has it ?
It would be useful to quantify those, rather than just raise them as objections. Otherwise it might just be unsubstantiated F.U.D. Like you. I want the MAX replaced as well (though I sense your displeasure extends to nearly all Boeing family members and US centric manufacturers. At times, your bias can be hard to overlook when you make concerned statements. That said, I really enjoy your insights and well thought out contributions, sans the aforementioned disdain that sometimes accompanies them. ). Back to gear cost and complexity, its sunk cost and they need to reap a bit of cash flow from the program in the short-term (Again, I'm hoping very short term! The MAX family needs replacing!)
Regarding this telescoping, pivoting gear, I take a different approach than you and see this is a rather clever, relatively simple, and somewhat inexpensive solution to a very big problem that has plagued every 737 larger than the 800; poor take off performance due to limited rotation angle. If this gear improves the 10's runway performance such that it is better than the 900, 900ER and 9MAX, that opens up 10MAX sales for routes where those planes may have been deemed unsuitable, due to shorter runways. Even the A321 can take a bit of runway (per Airbus Tech docs) to lift off with a good load despite a more favorable gear lenght / rotation angle. Maybe this gear is bringing the 10MAX to near par with it as well?
If Boeing is honest about 540+ 10MAX sales then we are going to have lots of opportunities to see this gear's suitability to task, cost impact, maintenance requirements, reliability and longevity. Yes, MAX needs to be replaced, but in the meantime Boeing needs cash if it is going to pursue such a program soon. 600 or so sales of the 10, the most expensive and probably most profitable MAX variant, might just do that.
I look forward to further testing of the 10MAX so that we gain more insight into the benefits of this gear..