Landing gear
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The landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft. In airplanes, it is used for taxiing, takeoff, and landing. Attached to it are wheels that allow the airplane to maneuver while making contact with the ground. The landing gear takes load off the other parts of the airplane when not airborne.
On airplanes, landing gear takes four forms:
- tricycle landing gear (nosewheel);
- conventional landing gear (tailwheel);
- pontoons;
- ski-planes.
Nosewheel planes have one nose wheel in the front as well as two or more wheels in the back. The wheels in the back are slightly off the center of gravity. This variant is common in most modern planes.
Taildragger planes have one wheel in the back attached to the tail and two wheels slightly off the center of gravity in the front. Planes with this type of landing gear include the Douglas DC-3, some older small aircraft, and most gliders.
Pontoons are big and hollow tanks attached to an airplane allowing it to float. Airplanes that can take off and land on water are called amphibious aircraft.
Ski-planes have skis below the plane to allow landing on snow or ice.