Page 87 - Planning and Design of Airports

Air craft Characteristics Related to Airport Design 59

Path of nose gear Minimum turning radius

Path of
main gear

FIGURE 2-2 Turning radius.

The center of rotation can be easily determined by drawing a line
through the axis of the nose gear at whatever steering angle is desired.
The intersection of this line with a line drawn through the axes of the
two main gears is the center of rotation. Some of the newer large air-
craft have the capability of swiveling the main gear when making
sharp turns. The effect of the swivel is to reduce the turning radius
(Fig. 2-2). Minimum turning radii for some typical transport aircraft
are given in Table 2-3.

Landing Gear Configurations
Aircraft currently operating in the world’s civil use airports have
been designed with various configurations of their landing gear. Most
aircraft are designed with one of three basic landing gear configura-
tions; the single-wheel configuration, defined as a main gear of having
a total of two wheels, one on each strut, the dual-wheel configuration,
defined as a main gear of having a total of four wheels, two on each
strut, and the dual-tandem configuration, defined as two sets of wheels
on each strut. These configurations are illustrated in Fig. 2-3.