reubenT
Well-Known Member
I've done a bunch of watching off airport landings of small planes on u-tube and been thinkin. Has anyone invented a way to have both big wheel landing gear and floats? The only wheels I see combined with floats are little bitty things only good for paved runways. (and an occasional pilot forgetting to retract them and flipping the plane on water.) I know there would be extra drag and extra weight to deal with. I've been dreaming of possible ways to put both on and have one or both systems retractable with air pressure/vacuum cylinders which would also serve as air suspension shock adsorption. Something like wheels that would fold back and fit into aerodynamic boxes, or floats that are inflatable with a partial aluminum housing that would flatten and fold up against the fuselage. Might help with drag but not weight. Although the air cylinders would replace steel spring suspension. With someone doing a lot of back country flying it would be very handy to have a choice of either kind of landing gear.
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