Tilting landing gear systems and methods

A rotating landing gear system for an aircraft, comprising:

• a nose gear disposed proximate a front of the aircraft, the nose gear comprising:
• a main strut/gear link;
• a rotatable aft/retract link rotatably attached to the main strut/gear link;
• a pivot-piston rotatably attached to the aft/retract link;
• and
• two or more main gears disposed proximate a rear of the aircraft;
• two or more main cylinders, each mechanically coupled to the two or more main gears to move the main gears between a third position, in which the main gears are extended, and a fourth position, in which the main gears are retracted;
• and
• a hydraulic valve hydraulically coupling an upper master link, the pivot-piston, and the main cylinders to enable fluid to flow between a nose cylinder and the main cylinders to change a pitch angle of the aircraft with respect to the ground.

A method for mechanically rotating an aircraft to a desired pitch angle during a procedure, the method comprising:

• determining that the aircraft has reached a predetermined speed;
• opening a hydraulic valve hydraulically coupled to a nose gear cylinder and a main gear cylinder to enable fluid to flow from the nose gear cylinder to the main gear cylinder, or vice-versa, to achieve the desired pitch angle, the nose gear disposed proximate a front of the aircraft, the nose gear comprising:
• a main strut/gear link;
• a rotatable aft/retract link rotatably attached to the main strut/gear link;
• and
• a pivot-piston rotatably attached to the aft/retract link;
• and
• determining that the nose gear has moved to a third position and a main gear have moved to a first position in which the aircraft is positioned at the desired pitch angle;
• and
• closing the hydraulic valve to hydraulically lock a position of the nose gear relative to the main gear.