1.

Landing gear is a structure which installed on the aircraft for the

purpose to support the weight of the aircraft whiles it on the ground and also
allows the aircraft to land safely. Landing gear also provides mobility to the
aircraft on ground or water.

Aircrafts require landing gear for taxiing, takeoff, and landing. Initially
aircrafts used skids as its landing gear. Times after times, wheels were
attached to the skids. Since that time, various arrangements have been used
for wheels and structures to connect them to the airplane.

2. There are several types of landing gear which often being used on
aircraft. There are 6 most common type of landing gear used which are:

TRICYCLE

Tricycle gear is the most popular landing gear arrangements. The tricycle
undercarriage includes two main gears just aft of the center of gravity and a
smaller auxiliary gear near the nose. The main advantage of this layout is
that it eliminates the ground loop problem of the “taildragger”. This
arrangement is instead a stable design because of the location of the main
gear with respect to the center of gravity. As a result, a pilot has more
latitude to land safely even when he is not aligned with the runway.

QUADRICYCLE

Quadricycle gear are also very similar to the tricycle arrangement except
there are four main gear roughly equal in size and mounted along the
fuselage. Like tricycle gear, the quadricycle undercarriage also requires a
very flat attitude during takeoff and landing. This arrangement is also very
sensitive to roll, crosswinds, and proper
most significant advantage of quadricycle
be very close to the ground for easier
However, this benefit comes at the price
than bicycle gear.
alignment with the runway. The
gear is that the plane's floor can
loading and unloading of cargo.
of much higher weight and drag

CONVENTIONAL

Conventional landing gear consists of two wheels forward of the aircraft's

center of gravity and a third small wheel at the tail. This type of landing gear
is most often seen in older general aviation airplanes. The two main wheels
are fastened to the fuselage by struts. Without a wheel at the nose of the
plane, it easily pitches over if brakes are applied too soon. Because the
tailwheel is castered (free to move in any direction) the plane is very difficult
to control when landing or taking off.
UNCONVENTIONAL
Aircraft that have to land on water are fitted with skids rather than wheels.
These skids are the unconventional landing gears for the aircraft. Some
planes had interchangeable skids and wheels so that the plane could be used
to land both on land and on water. Other than skids, skis and floats also the
unconventional gears.
TANDEM
The tandem landing gear is used for very large aircraft like the B-52 bomber
and the U-2 reconnaissance/research aircraft. The main landing gear is in
two sets that are located one behind the other on the fuselage. The tandem
landing gear allows the use of a highly flexible wing, but it may also require
the use of small wheels on the tips of the wings to keep the wings from
scraping the ground.
BOGEY
Another type of landing gear is the use of multiple wheels per landing gear
strut. It is especially common to place two wheels on the nose strut of the
tricycle arrangement to provide safety and steering control in case of a tire
blowout. This additional tire is particularly useful on carrier-based aircraft
where two nose wheels are a requirement. When multiple wheels are placed
on the same gear unit, they are attached together on a structural device
called a bogey. The heavier the aircraft becomes, the more wheels are
typically added to the bogey to spread the plane's weight more evenly
across the runway pavement.
Several of the landing gear arrangements found on modern-day airplanes.

Three common types of landing gear: conventional, tricycle, and tandem

3.

Tricycle: B47 Stratojet Conventional: DC-3

Quadricycle: B-52 Stratofortress Multiple Bogeys: An-

225

Reference:
1. www.ask.com

2. www.dictionay.com

3. www.centennialofflight.gov

4. www.wikipedia.com