Helicopter skid landing gear
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorWilliam A. Amante
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A landing gear for an aircraft can include a skid tube having an inboard flat side wall and an outboard flat side wall, the skid tube having a skid tube centerline plane that is parallel to at least one of the outboard flat side wall and the inboard flat side wall, the skid tube being canted inboard at an angle The landing gear can include a forward cross tube having a straight horizontal portion, a first bend transitioning the straight horizontal portion into a straight angled portion, and a second bend transitioning the straight angled portion into a straight end portion.
Claims20
A landing gear for an aircraft, the landing gear comprising:
- a skid tube having an inboard flat side wall and an outboard flat side wall, the skid tube having a skid tube centerline plane that is parallel to at least one of the outboard flat side wall and the inboard flat side wall, the skid tube being canted inboard at an angle;
- a forward cross tube having a straight horizontal portion, a first bend transitioning the straight horizontal portion into a straight angled portion, and a second bend transitioning the straight angled portion into a straight end portion;
- and
- a step member coupled to a forward end portion of the skid tube, the step member having a first inboard flat side wall and a first inboard flat side wall, the first inboard flat side wall and the first inboard flat side wall being parallel to the inboard flat side wall and the outboard flat side wall of the skid tube, respectively.
A landing gear for an aircraft, the landing gear comprising:
- a skid tube having an inboard flat side wall and an outboard flat side wall, the skid tube having a skid tube centerline plane that is parallel to at least one of the outboard flat side wall and the inboard flat side wall, the skid tube being oriented at a canted angle such that the skid tube centerline plane is canted at the canted angle relative to a fore/aft centerline plane of the aircraft;
- a cross tube having a straight horizontal portion, a first bend that transitions the straight horizontal portion into a straight angled portion, and a second bend that transitions the straight angled portion into a straight end portion, the straight end portion being oriented at the same canted angle as the skid tube;
- and
- a saddle member for coupling the cross tube to the skid tube, the saddle formed from a constant thickness sheet metal, the saddle member having an outboard planar portion and an inboard planar portion with a bend portion therebetween, the outboard planar portion being adjacent and parallel to the outboard flat side wall of the skid tube, the inboard planar portion being adjacent and parallel to the inboard flat side wall of the skid tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.