Introduction to landing gear

The landing gear is an essential system that allows the aircraft to land safely and to taxi to the
gate. It is located underneath of the fuselage with shock strut. They can be fixed or retractable.
Landing gear provides means of landing taxiing. There are different types of landing gears.

Landing Gear Structure

The landing gear is the principle support of the airplane when parked, taxiing, taking off, or
when landing. The most common type of landing gear consists of wheels, but airplanes can
also be equipped with floats for water operations, or skis for landing on snow. The landing gear
consists of three wheels – two main wheels and a third wheel positioned either at the front or
the rear of the airplane. Landing gear employing a rear mounted wheel is called conventional
landing gear.
Airplanes with conventional landing gear are sometimes referred to as tail wheel airplanes.
When the third wheel is located on the nose, it is called nose wheel, and the design is referred
to as a tricycle gear. A steerable nose wheel or tall wheel permits the airplane to be controlled
throughout all operations while on the ground.
To sum up, wheeled undercarriages normally come in two types: conventional
undercarriage, where there are two main wheels towards the front of the aircraft and a single,
much smaller, wheel or skid at the rear; or tricycle undercarriage where there are two main
wheels under the wings and a third smaller wheel in the nose. Most modern aircraft have
tricycle undercarriages. Conventional are considered harder to land and take off and usually
require special pilot training. Sometimes a small tail wheel or skid is added to aircraft with
tricycle undercarriage.

Retractable gear
To decrease drag in flight some undercarriages retract into the wings and/or fuselage with
wheels’ flush against the surface or concealed behind doors; this is called retractable gear. If
the wheels are partially exposed to the air stream after being retracted, the system is called
semi-retractable. Most retraction systems are hydraulically operated, though some are
electrically operated or even manually operated. This adds weight and complexity to the
design. In retractable gear systems, the compartment where the wheels are stowed are called
wheel wells, which may also diminish valuable cargo or fuel space. Pilots confirming that their
landing gear is down and locked refer to "three green" or "three in the green.", a reference to
the electrical Indicator lights from the nosewheel and the two main gears. Red lights indicate
the gear is in the up-locked position; amber lights indicate that the landing gear is in transit
(neither down and locked nor fully retracted).