the.com/landing gear
The only part of the plane whose entire job is admitting the flight is over.
means The wheels, struts, and supporting mechanisms that let an aircraft bear its weight on the ground during takeoff, landing, and taxiing.
from A straightforward compound from aviation's early vocabulary: 'landing,' the act of returning to earth, plus 'gear,' meaning equipment or apparatus — a sense of 'gear' going back to general mechanical tackle and tools long before flight existed. As airplanes evolved from fixed skids to wheeled undercarriages, engineers needed a plain working term for 'the apparatus used in landing,' and the phrase simply described the job, no metaphor required.
- retract speed
- Tucks away in seconds to cut drag
- shock absorption
- Oleo struts absorb touchdown forces, not springs
- weight share
- Can be 3 to 5 percent of aircraft weight
- failure drama
- Belly landings work precisely because gear sometimes does not