Tricycle gear describes a kind of aircraftundercarriage, or landing gear, arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one gear strut in front, called the nose wheel, and two or more main gear struts slightly aft of the center of gravity.
Tricycle gear is essentially the reverse of taildragger or conventional gear. Tricycle gear aircraft have the advantage that it is (nearly) impossible to make them 'nose over' as can happen if a taildragger hits a big enough bump. In a nose over, the airplane's tail tips up, burying the propellor in the ground and causeing extensive damage. As well, tricycle gear planes are much easier to handle on the ground and significantly reduces the possibility of a ground loop. As well, tricycle gear aircraft are easier to land because the attitude required to land on the main gear is the same as that required in the flare. As a result, the majority of modern aircraft are fitted with tricycle gear.
The taildragger configuration does have a few advantages though. Having the rear wheel keeps the plane in a nose-up attitude on the ground which is useful for operations on non-paved surfaces (i.e. gravel) where one would be concerned about debris being sucked into the propellor and damaging it. As well, taildraggers exhibit less form drag in flight, though this is irrellevant for airplanes with a retractable undercarriage.
Wheeled undercarriages come in two main types: either taildragger, where there are two main wheels towards the front of the aircraft and a single, much smaller, wheel or skid at the rear; or tricycleundercarriage where there are two main wheels (or wheel assemblies) under the wings and a third smaller wheel in the nose.
Sometimes a small tail wheel or skid is added to aircraft with tricycleundercarriage, in case the tail strikes the ground during take-off.
Other examples of unusual undercarriage configuration include the Hawker Harrier, which has two mainwheels in line under the fuselage and a smaller wheel near the tip of each wing (but they were moved further inboard on second generation Harriers).
Tricycle gear describes a kind of aircraftundercarriage, or landing gear, arranged in a tricycle fashion.
Tricycle gear planes are also much easier to handle on the ground and significantly reduce the possibility of a ground loop.
Tricycle gear aircraft are easier to land because the attitude required to land on the main gear is the same as that required in the flare, and they are less vulnerable to crosswinds.
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