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The landing gear is the principal support of the airplane when parked, taxiing, taking off, or 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. [Figure 2-12]

The landing gear consists of three wheels—two main wheels and a third wheel positioned either at the front or rear of the airplane. Landing gear with a rear mounted wheel is called conventional landing gear.

Airplanes with conventional landing gear are sometimes referred to as tailwheel airplanes. When the third wheel is located on the nose, it is called a nosewheel, and the design is referred to as a tricycle gear. A steerable nosewheel or tailwheel permits the airplane to be controlled throughout all operations while on the ground. Most aircraft are steered by moving the rudder pedals, whether nosewheel or tailwheel. Additionally, some aircraft are steered by differential braking.

Figure 2-12. Types of landing gear: floats (top), skis (middle), and wheels (bottom).

Major Components (Part Two) Empennage

Aircraft Structure

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0savesSave The empennage includes the entire tail group and consists of fixed surfaces such as the vertical stabilizer and the horizontal stabilizer. The movable surfaces include the rudder, the elevator, and one or more trim tabs. [Figure 2-10] The rudder is attached to the back of the vertical stabilizer. During flight, it is used to [...]

Secondary Flight Controls (Part Six) – Ground Adjustable Tabs and Adjustable Stabilizers

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0savesSave Ground Adjustable Tabs Many small aircraft have a nonmovable metal trim tab on the rudder. This tab is bent in one direction or the other while on the ground to apply a trim force to the rudder. The correct displacement is determined by trial and error. Usually, small adjustments are necessary until the aircraft [...]

Flight Controls (Part Nine) – V-Tail

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0savesSave The V-tail design utilizes two slanted tail surfaces to perform the same functions as the surfaces of a conventional elevator and rudder configuration. The fixed surfaces act as both horizontal and vertical stabilizers. [Figure 5-16] Figure 5-16. Beechcraft Bonanza V35. The movable surfaces, which are usually called ruddervators, are connected through a special linkage [...]

Flight Controls (Part Eight) – Rudder

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0savesSave The rudder controls movement of the aircraft about its vertical axis. This motion is called yaw. Like the other primary control surfaces, the rudder is a movable surface hinged to a fixed surface, in this case to the vertical stabilizer, or fin. Moving the left or right rudder pedal controls the rudder. When the [...]

Flight Controls (Part Three) – Ailerons

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0savesSave Differential Ailerons With differential ailerons, one aileron is raised a greater distance than the other aileron is lowered for a given movement of the control wheel or control stick. This produces an increase in drag on the descending wing. The greater drag results from deflecting the up aileron on the descending wing to a [...]

Aerodynamic Forces in Flight Maneuvers (Part One) – Forces in Turns

Aerodynamics

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0savesSave If an aircraft were viewed in straight-and-level flight from the front [Figure 4-28], and if the forces acting on the aircraft could be seen, lift and weight would be apparent: two forces. If the aircraft were in a bank it would be apparent that lift did not act directly opposite to the weight, rather [...]