Aircraft landing gear assembly

A method of detecting aircraft weight on wheels during a landing of an aircraft, wherein the aircraft comprises a control system and a landing gear assembly;

• the landing gear assembly comprises:
• a shock absorber strut, a bogie supporting a forward wheel and a rear wheel, a link assembly, and a movement detector;
• the shock absorber strut comprises an upper telescoping part and a lower telescoping part, the upper telescoping part is connected to the airframe of an aircraft and the lower telescoping part is connected to a first joint on the bogie between the forward and rear wheels such that the bogie may adopt different pitch angles;
• the link assembly extends between the upper and lower telescoping parts, such that relative movement between the upper and lower telescoping parts causes relative movement between parts of the link assembly, and the link assembly includes an upper arm and a lower arm, the upper arm is pivotally connected directly to a point fixed to the upper telescoping part of the shock absorber strut, and the lower arm is pivotally connected directly to both a pivot point fixed to the lower telescoping part of the shock absorber strut and a pivot point fixed to the upper arm;
• the method comprising:
• the link assembly adopting an initial position relative to the bogie after the landing gear assembly has been deployed for landing and before the aircraft has touched down;
• the link assembly moving relative to the bogie during touchdown of the at least one wheel;
• the movement detector detecting the movement of the link assembly relative to the bogie, irrespective of the initial position of the link assembly relative to the bogie, wherein the movement detector is attached to the link assembly and to a second joint on the bogie spaced from the first joint in a longitudinal direction of the bogie;
• the control system receiving a signal from the movement detector in response to the detection of the movement;
• and
• the control system determining, on the basis of the signal, that there is aircraft weight on the at least one of the forward wheel and the aft wheel.

A method of determining a rate of descent of an aircraft upon landing, wherein the aircraft comprises a control system and a landing gear assembly, the landing gear assembly comprising:

• a shock absorber strut, a bogie supporting a front wheel and a rear wheel, a link assembly, and a movement detector;
• wherein the shock absorber strut comprises an upper telescoping part and a lower telescoping part, the upper telescoping part is connected to the airframe of the aircraft and the lower telescoping part is connected to a first joint on the bogie between the front wheel and the rear wheel along a longitudinal direction of the bogie, wherein the bogie adopts different pitch angles with respect to the lower telescoping part, and the link assembly extends between the upper telescoping part and the lower telescoping part such that relative movement between the upper and lower telescoping parts causes relative movement between parts of the link assembly, wherein the link assembly includes an upper arm and a lower arm, the upper arm is pivotally connected directly to a point fixed to the upper telescoping part of the shock absorber strut, and the lower arm is pivotally connected directly to both a pivot point fixed to the lower telescoping part of the shock absorber strut and a pivot point fixed to the upper arm;
• the method comprising:
• the link assembly moving relative to the bogie during landing;
• the movement detector detecting a speed of the movement of the link assembly relative to the bogie, wherein the movement detector is attached to the link assembly and to a second joint on the bogie spaced from the first joint in a longitudinal direction of the bogie;
• the control system receiving a signal from the movement detector, the signal is indicative of the speed of the movement;
• and
• the control system determining, on the basis of the signal, the rate of descent of the aircraft upon landing.