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AIRCRAFT GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

HYDRAULICS AND LANDING GEAR

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Hydraulic Systems

The term hydraulics explains the flow of fluids used to transmit

control forces to various systems in an aircraft.
Force is the action of one body on another that tends to change
the state of motion of the body acted upon. Force may be either a
push or a pull. It may be expressed in pounds (lb) or kilograms (kg).
The amount of force distributed over each unit of area is the
pressure and may be expressed in pounds per-square inch (psi) or
kilograms per square centimeter (kg/cm2).
In an aircraft hydraulic system, a liquid flowing through tubing is
used to transmit force from a pump to the point where the force is
to be applied. This is made possible by the incompressibility of
liquids.

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The use of hydraulic power is not new. The common hydraulic jack is
an example.

A truck weighing several tonnes may be raised by operating the

handle of the jack. In this manner, a small initial force exerted by a
man may be used to move a weight that requires a far greater force.
The hydraulic system of a jack is self-contained, it contains within
itself the pump, the actuating cylinder, the piston, the reservoir, fluid
and the necessary valves.

Aircraft hydraulic systems have the pump or power source separate

from the actuating unit and the force is transmitted from the pump
through tubing to the actuating unit by means of hydraulic fluid
flowing through the tubing.

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Air is a fluid and some aircraft use air systems

called pneumatic systems rather than liquid as in
a hydraulic system to transmit force.

Pneumatic systems are less popular than

hydraulic systems since air is compressible and do
not transmit force as efficiently as hydraulics and
may be slower to operate.

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Simple Hydraulic systems

When the piston of the hand pump in the illustration moves down,
it forces the fluid to flow into the lower part of the actuating
cylinder. The fluid is incompressible, so the piston is forced
upward, carrying the piston rod with it and compressing the
spring.
When the pressure exerted by the hand pump is released, the
compressed spring in the actuating cylinder returns the piston to
its original position and the piston in the hand pump also returns
to its original position.

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RESERVOIR SYSTEM

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Item A is the accumulator.

Item B is the engine driven
pump.
Item C is the fluid
reservoir.

If the pressure regulating

feature of the pump fails, a
backup pressure control
device is required to
prevent the pressure from
becoming excessive.

This backup is usually

provided by a pressure
relief valve.

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On large jet transport aircraft, a two position switch is used to

control the engine pump. The switch is usually in the ON position. In
this position the engine pump will run whenever the engine is
operating and control the system pressure at 3000 PSI. When placed
in the OFF position the variable flow mechanism of the pump will
move to a minimum flow position.

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A shutoff valve is located between the

reservoir and the engine pump. When
the engine fire switch is pulled, the
shutoff valve closes.
The shutoff valve is normally in the
OPEN position. If it is closed due to in-
flight emergency, for example an
engine fire or fluid leakage, for longer
than the prescribed period then it
must not be reopened. This is because
there is no lubrication and cooling of
the pump when the shutoff valve is
closed and this may cause mechanical
damage to the pump.

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On some jet transport aircraft the engine pumps are backed up by a

ram air turbine driven pump. The ram air turbine pump unit is
retracted within the aircraft until required. It may be deployed
automatically upon the loss of RPM on all engines or it may be
deployed manually by actuation of a switch in the flight station.
The ram air turbine consists of a variable displacement hydraulic
pump powered by an air-driven variable pitch propeller. It supplies
sufficient hydraulic power to maintain essential hydraulic components
including flight controls

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LANDING GEARS

Large jet transports have retractable landing gears

to reduce drag and therefore give more
economical operation.

Heavy jet transports are fitted with truck type

landing gears and multiple gear systems to
distribute the great weight over runways and
taxiways.

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Sequencing valves ensure the components operate in the correct order.

During the retraction cycle, the door opens first. Secondly the gear retracts, but a
sequencing valve within the system prevents the gear retracting until the door is
fully open.
Thirdly the door closes, but once again the sequence valve ensures the door will
not move until the gear is fully retracted.

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NOSE GEAR STEERING

On light aircraft the nose gear steering is a simple mechanical

arrangement with the pilot's leg muscles doing the work.

On jet transports, the power for turning the nose wheels is the hydraulic
system pressure. Both the Captain and First Officer are provided with
rudder pedals and a tiller for nose wheel steering.

The tillers and pedals operate a steering valve which directs hydraulic
pressure to the steering actuating cylinder. The cylinder turns the steering
collar which turns the nose wheel by means of the torsion links.

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The design of modern airline terminals necessitates that during

departure, the aircraft be pushed back by a tractor.

During push back, excessive forces can overload the nose gear
steering mechanism. To prevent this, the nose gear steering can be
quickly and conveniently locked out by inserting a steering lock-out
pin. The pin is removed after push back is completed.

If the ground crew forgets to remove the steering lockout pin after
the push back is completed, nose gear steering will be inoperative.

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On some jet transports the rudder pedals do not control nose wheel
steering. It can only be controlled by the pilots' tillers.

On these aircraft, during the first part of the take-off roll, the pilot
must use the tiller to maintain directional control.

When the rudder becomes effective at air speeds above 80 knots, the
pilot releases the tiller and then on uses the rudder to maintain
directional control.

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Most jet transport aircraft have nosewheel steering which can also be controlled
by-the rudder pedals.
The rudder pedal steering input does not produce a sharp enough turning circle for
it to be used for sharp taxi turns. The tillers should be used for sharp turns.
Rudder pedal nosewheel steering is mainly intended to be used to maintain
directional control during take-off and landings

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BODY GEARS STEERING

When aircraft with truck type landing gears were first introduced
into airline operations, there were incidents of landing gear
structural failure.
These failures were caused by excessive side loads on the trucks
during sharp taxi turns, particularly at low speeds. The excessive
loads also caused scuffing of the tyres.
Pilots can prevent these problems by avoiding sharp taxi turns
particularly at slow speeds. Also after making the final turn onto a
parking bay they should taxi forward a short distance to relieve
side loads on the gears.

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The problem of excessive side loads is even greater on wide bodied

aircraft which have more than two main landing gears. On these
aircraft the two outer main gears attached to the wing are known
as wing gears. The two inner main gears attached to the fuselage
or body is known as body gears.

The designers of this type of aircraft have relieved he heavy

turning loads on the body gears by fitting body gear steering.
There is no extra control in the flight station for steering the body
gear. The body gear steering system receives electric turning
signals from the nose gear steering.

The amount of turn signal into the body gear is dependent on the
amount of turning of the nosewheel. The muscle power for body
gear steering is hydraulic actuating cylinders.

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The body gear turns in the opposite direction to the nose gear so that the side
loads on the gears and the scuffing of the tyres are reduced.
Body gear steering operates only when it is armed, by the arming switch in the
flight station. Selecting DISARM renders the body gear steering inoperative.
Normal practice is for body gear steering to be ARMED for all operations on the
ground except takeoff and landing.

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TILTING TRUCKS

On modern jet transport aircraft truck type landing gears are tilted
when airborne. One advantage of tilting trucks is it allows them to fit
into smaller wheel wells. The trucks are tilted automatically after lift-
off by hydraulic tilt actuators. Failure of the tilt actuator or failure of
the hydraulic system serving it results in the truck not tilting.

If the gear is retracted while in this condition it would cause structural

damage to the aircraft. The tilting of the trucks at lift off operates
switches to change various aircraft systems from the ground mode to
the air mode of operation such as the gear lever lock which allows the
gear lever to be selected up only once airborne.

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Similarly, when the trucks un-tilt at touchdown the tilt switches

change the aircraft systems back to the ground mode of operation.

On aircraft without tilted trucks the air-ground programming is

provided by safety switches operated by strut compression and
extension. These switches are known as squat switches or scissor
switches.

A lever lock override button allows the pilot to select gear up after
takeoff if the safety switches fail to unlock the gear lever after
liftoff.

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LANDING GEAR LEVER LOCK

We have previously seen that the nose landing gear is centered

automatically for correct retraction into its wheel well.

There are defects which can occur in the main landing gear that will
prevent them retracting safely into their wheel wells. If these defects
occur, they will be detected by a safety switches in a monitoring
circuit.

The monitoring circuit controls a landing gear lever lock which will
prevent the crew from selecting GEAR UP.

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The two defects that call prevent the main gears from retracting
safely into their wheel wells are body gear steering not centered
and main gears not tilted correctly.

On wide bodied aircraft, body gear steering and gear tilt are
monitored by switches. If both these conditions are satisfactory, a
circuit is made to energize the solenoid to retract the landing gear
lever lock.

The lever lock solenoid is energized to remove the lock after every
take-off with normal gear. If the lock fails to release with normal
gear it can be overridden by use of the lever lock override button.

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ALTERNATE GEAR EXTENSION

The landing gear is normally extended

hydraulically. In the event of hydraulic failure, an
alternate means of extending the landing gear and
locking it in the down position is provided.

On a typical wide bodied aircraft an electric motor

actuates the alternate gear extension system.

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The alternate gear extension sequence is:

first the door opens
second the gear unlocks, allowing it to free fall
to the extended position and
thirdly the gear locks in the down position
The gear doors remain open following alternate
gear extension. There is no alternate system for
retracting the gear.

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BRAKES

On general aviation aircraft sufficient brake pressure to stop the

aircraft can be produced by the pilot physically pushing on the brake
master cylinders. This method of producing brake pressure is
inadequate on large jet transports.

On these aircraft, main hydraulic system pressure is used to apply the

brakes. The pilot modulates the amount of brake pressure to the brakes
by varying the amount of toe pedal depression.

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Modern jet transport brake systems consists of the normal brake system,
the anti-skid system, the emergency or reserve brake system, the auto
brake system, the auto retraction braking and the parking brake.

During the landing roll, spoiler operation transfers the aircraft weight to
the wheels increasing brake efficiency. The brakes convert the kinetic
energy of the moving aircraft into heat energy. This heat energy in the
brakes is known as the brake energy level. This heat energy must be
dissipated.

On heavy aircraft, the required landing field length may depend on the
ability of the brakes to dissipate heat. So braking capability may limit the
aircraft performance.

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THE ANTI-SKID SYSTEM

• 0n a multi-bogeyed aircraft, the pilot has no feed-back

through the aircraft of the effectiveness of the brakes.
• To safeguard against blowing out tires due to over-braking
an anti-skid system is fitted.
• This system monitors the speed of each individual wheel
and electrically modulates the hydraulic pressure to each
brake to vary the amount of braking to provide: skid
protection, locked wheel protection, touchdown protection,
hydroplane protection and fail safe protection (to disable the
system if it develops a fault).

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The antiskid system performs five functions:

Normal skid control,

Normal skid control prevents a wheel from locking as it slows under
heavy braking by relieving brake pressure if a skid is detected then
reapplying pressure as the wheel speeds up again.

Locked wheel skid control,

Locked wheel skid control causes the brake to be fully released when
its wheel locks as may occur running over a patch of ice under heavy
braking.

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Touchdown protection,
Touchdown protection prevents the brakes from being applied
prior to landing by air/ground logic (truck tilt sensors) and a
requirement for a wheel speed of ~20 kts before brake pressure is
available.

Hydroplane protection,
Prevents the wheels from locking during hydroplaning which may
occur if the aircraft runs into a depth of water (6 mm or more) on
the runway.

Fail safe protection.

Fail safe protection disables the system in the event of a fault.

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THE AUTO BRAKE SYSTEM

Large modern jet transports are fitted with an Auto Brake

System. This system applies the brakes at touchdown and
during the landing roll without the pilot touching the toe
pedals.
The system maintains a desired level of deceleration during
the landing roll. This is achieved by automatically varying
the brake pressure to maintain the deceleration rate.
The pilot calls take over manual braking at any time. Manual
braking disengages autobrakes operation.

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With no reverse thrust applied as the landing roll continues, drag

decreases as speed decreases, so brake pressure increases to
maintain a constant aircraft deceleration rate.
When reverse thrust is used, brake pressure is automatically
reduced to maintain the same aircraft deceleration rate through
out the landing roll. As reverse thrust terminates brake pressure
increases to maintain the aircraft deceleration rate.
If while decelerating on an icy runway the aircraft deceleration
rate decreases due to the wheels slipping, the auto-brake system
will increase the brake pressure to maintain the selected aircraft
deceleration rate up to the limit of the anti-skid system,
Autobrakes provides braking to a complete stop or until disarmed.

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On some wide bodied aircraft, the auto-brake system can also be
armed to operate during a rejected take-off (RTO).
An RTO ARM switch is added to the auto-brake control panel. The
pilot can select to take-off with auto-brake RTO ARMED or OFF.
On a typical wide bodied aircraft the auto-brake will operate
during a rejected take-off only after certain conditions which
indicate an aborted take-off have been met.
In the B767, RTO Autobrakes operate if the thrust levers are
retarded to idle above 85 kts during the takeoff. The RTO mode
brake pressure is equivalent to that provided by full manual
braking.

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Autobrakes operation may be terminated by

the following pilot actions:

Manual braking
Rotating the selector to off or disarm
Stowing the speed brake lever following deployment on the ground
Advancing either thrust lever above idle

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AUTOMATIC RETRACTION BRAKING

If the pilot of a large jet transport inadvertently applied the brakes

after take-off while the gear is retracting, gyroscopic forces can cause
severe damage to the struts and wheel well areas.

An automatic retraction braking feature is built into the brake system

to apply light braking to gently stop the spinning wheels. Automatic
retraction braking occurs as a result of selecting the landing gear lever
to UP.

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THE PARK BRAKE

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WHEEL WELL FIRE DETECTION. WHEEL PROTECTION

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A check valve is installed in the hydraulic system:

a. To prevent reverse flow within the system

b. To check hydraulic pressure
c. To check reservoir pressure
d. To check hydraulic quantity

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A check valve is installed in the hydraulic system:

a. To prevent reverse flow within the system

b. To check hydraulic pressure
c. To check reservoir pressure
d. To check hydraulic quantity

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Hydraulic pressure is regulated

a. To avoid cavitations
b. To prevent excessive pressure to using
units and to avoid cavitations
c. To protect delivery lines and other
components
d. To prevent excessive pressure to using
units and to protect delivery lines and other
components

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Hydraulic pressure is regulated

a. To avoid cavitations
b. To prevent excessive pressure to using
units and to avoid cavitations
c. To protect delivery lines and other
components
d. To prevent excessive pressure to using
units and to protect delivery lines and other
components

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Hydraulic reservoir is pressurized:

a. To prevent flow cavitation

b. To increase hydraulic output pressure
c. To provide ventilation
d. b and c are correct answer

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Hydraulic reservoir is pressurized:

a. To prevent flow cavitations

b. To increase hydraulic output pressure
c. To provide ventilation
d. b and c are correct answer

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