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, a link assembly, and a movement detector;
• the shock absorber strut comprises an upper and a lower telescoping parts, the upper part being connected to the airframe of an aircraft and the lower part being connected to the bogie 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;
• the bogie supports at least one wheel on at least one axle;
• and
• wherein the movement detector comprises:
• a piston slidably received within a cylinder, wherein movement of the piston within the cylinder causes fluid to flow in the movement detector, one or more pressure transducers arranged to sense a local pressure change in the fluid;
• the method comprising the steps of:
• the link assembly adopting an initial position relative to the bogie at a point in time that is 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 least one wheel thereby causing the piston to move within the cylinder and there to be a transient change in pressure in the fluid;
• the one or more pressure transducers detecting the change in pressure;
• the control system receiving a signal from the one or more pressure transducers, the signal being indicative of the change in pressure;
• and
• the control system determining, on the basis of the signal, that there is aircraft weight on wheels.

A movement detector for detecting the weight on wheels condition of an aircraft landing gear, wherein the movement detector comprises:

• a piston slidably received within a cylinder, the cylinder comprising a first chamber, the first chamber being in fluid communication with a second chamber, and
• one or more pressure transducers arranged to detect a pressure change in the fluid,
• wherein, in use, the movement detector is arranged such that movement of the piston relative to the cylinder from a neutral position is caused by movement of parts of the aircraft landing gear caused by one or more wheels contacting the ground, and movement of the piston relative to the cylinder causes a pressure change in the first chamber and/or the second chamber,
• whereby the weight on wheels condition is, in use, detected by the one or more pressure transducers arranged to detect a pressure change in the fluid.