METHOD FOR REDUCING THE APPARENT MANOEUVRING TIME FOR LANDING GEAR OF AN AIRCRAFT

• US 20150144735A1
• Filed: 11/14/2014
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Safran Landing Systems
• Original Assignee: Messier-Bugatti-Dowty
• Inventors: LECOURTIER, Gilbert
• Granted Patent: US 9,517,837 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/102.R
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/16 Fairings movable in conjunction with undercarriage elements
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/20 mechanical
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/26 Control or locking systems therefor

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling the manoeuvring of the landing gear of an aircraft, in which at least one of the steps of pulling on the doors of the bay to relieve the door retaining hook, actuating the door hook or hooks to free the doors and opening the doors is executed in response to the detection of a flight situation suitable for the occurrence of a manoeuvre order, even before the manoeuvre order is received.

Claims

1. Method for controlling at least one manoeuvre of deploying or retracting at least one landing gear of an aircraft which is carried out in response to a deploying or retracting manoeuvre order, said manoeuvres comprising at least the following steps:

Deploying manoeuvre;

a. Pulling on the doors of the bay to relieve the door retaining hook;

b. Actuating the door hook or hooks to free the doors;

c. Opening the doors;

d. Pulling on the landing gear to relieve the landing gear retaining hook;

e. Actuating the landing gear hook to free the landing gear;

f. Moving the landing gear to bring it from the retracted position to the deployed position, causing the landing gear to be automatically locked when it reaches the deployed position;

g. Closing the doors, causing the retaining hook to be automatically rearmed when the doors reach the closed position;

Retracting manoeuvre;

a. Pulling on the doors of the bay to relieve the door retaining hook;

b. Actuating the door hook or hooks to free the doors;

c. Opening the doors;

d. Unlocking the landing gear;

e. Moving the landing gear to bring it from the deployed position to the retracted position, causing the landing gear hook to be automatically rearmed when the landing gear reaches the retracted position;

f. Closing the doors, causing the door hook or hooks to be automatically rearmed when the doors reach the closed position;

the method of the invention comprising the following actions;

before the manoeuvre order is received, and in response to the detection of a flight situation suitable for the occurrence of a manoeuvre order, executing at least one of the first three steps (a, b, c) of the manoeuvre in question;

once the manoeuvre order has been received, executing the remaining steps of the manoeuvre.

2. Method according to claim 1, in which the flight situation in which the retracting manoeuvre order may occur is detected when the following logical condition is true:

the wheels of the landing gear are no longer in contact with the ground;

AND the speed of the aircraft is above a given threshold speed Vs1.

3. Method according to claim 1, in which the flight situation in which the deploying manoeuvre order may occur is detected when the following logical condition is recognised as true by the computer:

the speed of the aircraft is below a given threshold speed Vs2;

AND (the height above the ground is below a given threshold height H1 OR the flaps are deployed).