CONVENTIONAL TYPE

Conventional landing gear is the most classic wheeled landing gear, it consists in
a set of two big wheels under the wings and a small wheel in the tail that makes the
aircraft incline backward when it's stopped in land. Despite its name it's use is not so
common like it did during past years, instead most modern aircraft are more used to
feature tricycle landing gear.
 Landing gear employing a rear-mounted wheel is called conventional or a tail
wheel/dragger
 Tail-wheel landing gear aircraft have two main wheels attached to the airframe
ahead of its Center of Gravity (CG) that support most of the weight of the
structure

ADVANTAGES:
1. Allows adequate ground clearance for a larger propeller.
2. More desirable for operations on unimproved fields.

DISADVANTAGES:
1. With the CG located behind the main gear, directional control of this type aircraft
becomes more difficult while on the ground
2. If the pilot allows the aircraft to swerve while rolling on the ground at a low
speed, he or she may not have sufficient rudder control and the CG will attempt
to get ahead of the main gear which may cause the airplane to ground loop
3. Lack of good forward visibility when the tail-wheel is on or near the ground
TRICYCLE TYPE

Landing gear employing a front-mounted wheel is called tricycle landing gear

Tricycle landing gear aircraft have two main wheels attached to the airframe
behind its CG that support most of the weight of the structure

Additionally, a nose wheel will typically provide some sort of nose wheel steering
control

ADVANTAGES:
1. It allows more forceful application of the brakes during landings at high speeds
without causing the aircraft to nose over.
2. It permits better forward visibility for the pilot during take-off, landing, and
taxiing.
3. It tends to prevent ground looping (swerving) by providing more directional
stability during ground operation since the aircraft's CG is forward of the main
wheels.
4. The forward CG keeps the airplane moving forward in a straight line rather than
ground looping.
TANDEM

Few aircraft are designed with tandem landing gear. As the name implies, this
type of landing gear has the main gear and tail gear aligned on the longitudinal axis of
the aircraft. Sailplanes commonly use tandem gear, although many only have one actual
gear forward on the fuselage with a skid under the tail. A few military bombers, such as
the B-47 and the B-52, have tandem gear, as does the U2 spy plane. The VTOL Harrier
has tandem gear but uses small outrigger gear under the wings for support. Generally,
placing the gear only under the fuselage facilitates the use of very flexible wings.

ADVANTAGES:
1. Tandem landing gear features the main gear and tail gear aligned on the
airplane's longitudinal axis.
2. This allows for the use of flexible wings on both sailplanes and select military
aircraft. Designs do vary, though.
3. Some only have one gear forward on the fuselage with a skid underneath of the
tail, whereas others only use a small, outrigger gear under the wings for support.