The landing gear systems on rotary-wing aircraft come in several different designs. A helicopter may have a nonretractable landing gear, such as that found on the H-46 and H-60 helicopters, or it may have a retractable type landing gear like that incorporated on the H-3 and H-53 helicopters. Some helicopters have a nose landing gear while others have a tail landing gear. The H-53 has a retractable nose landing gear, but the H-46 has the nonretractable type of nose landing gear. The H-3 and H-60 helicopters use tail landing gears. The tail landing gear on both these helicopters is nonretractable. While both these helicopters have tail landing gear, the H-3 can retract its main landing gear while the H-60 has a nonretractable main landing gear. As you can see, helicopter landing gear systems come in several different configurations. The landing gear systems on most of the helicopters used in the Navy use wheel and brake assemblies. The components used in the landing gear system of a helicopter are very similar to those used in a fixed-wing aircraft landing gear system. In helicopters that use retractable landing gear systems, the components and means of actuation are also similar in design to fixed-wing aircraft. For discussion purposes, we will use the landing also system of the H-60 helicopter. This helicopter uses a nonretractable main and tail landing gear.

The main landing gear system of the H-60 helicopter consists of nonretractable left and right single wheel landing gear assemblies and the weight-on- wheels system. Each main landing gear assembly is composed of a shock strut, drag beam, axle, wheel, tire, and wheel brake. The left main landing gear assembly also includes a weight-on-wheels sensing switch, The main landing gear supports the helicopter when it is on the ground, and cushions the helicopter from shock during landing. The weight-on-wheels switch provides helicopter ground or flight status indications for various helicopter systems.

The H-60 tail landing gear system consists of a dual-wheel landing gear, tail wheel lock system, and tail bumper.

The tail landing gear is a cantilever type with an integral shock strut. The gear is capable of swiveling 360 degrees. It can be locked in the trail position by the tail wheel lock system. A tail recovery assist, secure, and traverse (RAST) probe is mounted on the tail gear.