VARITIES OF LANDING GEAR

Fixed and Retractable Landing Gear Further classification of aircraft landing gear can be made into two categories: fixed and retractable. Many small, singleengine light aircraft have fixed landing gear, as do a few light twins. This means the gear is attached to the airframe and remains exposed to the slipstream as the aircraft is flown. As discussed in Chapter 2 of this handbook, as the speed of an aircraft increases, so does parasite drag. Mechanisms to retract and stow the landing gear to eliminate parasite drag add weight to the aircraft. On slow aircraft, the penalty of this added weight is not overcome by the reduction of drag, so fixed gear is used. As the speed of the aircraft increases, the drag caused by the landing gear becomes greater and a means to retract the gear to eliminate parasite drag is required, despite the weight of the mechanism.

EXAMPLE

TYPE OF LANDING GEAR	AIRCRAFT
Single main
Tail dragger
Quadricycle
Bicycle
Trycicle
Multi bogey

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