Understanding Your Undercarriage

With the possible exception of a hot-air balloon, no matter what kind of aircraft you fly—airplane, glider, helicopter or blimp—it has an undercarriage of some sort, used when it’s on the ground. The component(s) actually resting on the ground can be tires, skids, floats or skis, but they’re attached to the airframe via the undercarriage. In turn, the undercarriage can be fixed, retractable or a mix (e.g., the main gear retracts while the tailwheel doesn’t). And just as there are a seemingly endless number of airframe configurations, undercarriages come in many different flavors.

Key Takeaways:

• Aircraft undercarriages are essential for ground operations and come in diverse configurations, including fixed, retractable, skids, floats, or wheels, with significant variations in design.
• Two primary land-based undercarriage types are conventional (taildragger), known for simplicity but prone to groundloops, and tricycle, which offers greater stability but is heavier and more fragile.
• Undercarriages can be fixed, offering simplicity, lower weight, and reduced maintenance, or retractable, which provides speed advantages at the cost of increased complexity, weight, and maintenance demands.

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