Advanced Pilot Training: Tricycle Landing Gear

The Tricycle landing gear has several advantages over the conventional type:

1. It will not let the airplane ground loop.

2. It gives the airplane an approximately normal flight attitude on the ground.

3. It protects the airplane from nosing over when the pilot applies the brakes too heavily.

4. It provides better visibility while taxiing.

Because the tricycle gear has to be handled differently from conventional gear in ground operations, you should become familiar with its characteristics.

The nose wheel is not "steerable," that is, it is not connected with the rudder control. It tends to roll straight like a bicycle ridden "hands off."

The suggestions which follow are of a general nature and are not to be construed as conflicting with the Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions for the particular type airplane being operated.

Taxiing

When an airplane equipped with tricycle gear moves very slowly, it has little stability. Difficulty, therefore, may be encountered in maneuvering at low speed.

Take-Off

Because the center of gravity is forward of the main wheels and the airplane is in a flat attitude on the ground, it tends to hug the ground regardless of speed, particularly if no flaps are used. Therefore, it is necessary to "pull" the airplane off when sufficient airspeed for take-off is attained.

At minimum take-off speed the angle of attack of the wings is just at the stalling angle. This angle feels unsafe and the natural tendency is to wait until sufficient speed is attained to produce full lift at a lesser angle of attack. Consequently, take-offs often are made at speeds much higher, than necessary, imposing abnormal stress on tires and gear.

Best Take-Off Procedure

The most desirable setting of the center of gravity is such that the nose wheel can be raised from the ground at approximately 80 per cent of the take-off speed. At this speed you can raise the nose sufficiently to produce a convenient angle of attack less than the stalling angle, and the airplane will break away from the ground freely when the proper velocity is -reached without giving you an "uncertain feeling."

Landing

Don't land unduly fast. Airplanes with tricycle landing gear may be landed at various speeds from normal landing speed to 150 mph or more. When the airspeed indicator registers more than the normal landing speed, unnecessary strains are placed on landing gear.

The best landing is one where the nose of the airplane is well up, and the main wheels touch the ground before the nose wheel. This landing attitude is equivalent to that of a landing with conventional gear in which the main landing gear wheels touch while the tail wheel is approximately 6 inches in the air. Don't land so "tail low" that the emergency skid or tail bumper strikes, as this produces excessive shock loads on the empennage.

Immediately after landing, the airplane has a large amount of momentum. Due to aerodynamic drag this momentum is quickly dissipated during the initial part of the ground run. This is especially true if the nose wheel is held off after landing, as the angle of attack is greater, thus producing more drag. Let the airplane roll some distance before applying brakes. This is much easier on the brakes and will save them for the time you need them most.

Caution

Don't apply brakes before the nose wheel is on the ground.

Taxiing, Landing, or Taking Off on Soft Ground

1. When taxiing on soft ground or sand, be sure you know which way the nose wheel is headed. For example: if it is headed to the left when stopped, don't try to steer it either straight ahead or to the right until it is moving. Doing so would cause the nose wheel to dig in deeper.

2. Keep as much weight off the nose wheel as possible, as the nose wheel may not run true.

Slippery Terrain

Sliding the wheels on ice or very slippery sod may cause the main wheels to skid and the airplane to turn sideways exactly as an automobile would with locked wheels on icy pavement. This is not a ground loop. Control can be regained almost instantaneously by releasing the brakes.

Caution

Don't slide your wheels. You can stop quicker under any conditions, slippery or not, by braking just short of the point where wheels will slide.

REFERENCE: Technical Order No. 01-1-33, dated December 16, 1942.