The rejected takeoff of a Boeing 777 at approximately 160 knots results in the landing gear absorbing more than one billion joules of energy in a few seconds, according to research recently done by Messier-Bugatti. To put this number in perspective, consider it as the equivalent of supplying energy to the average house (lamps, outdoor lights, refrigerator, television, computer and other appliances) for about 18 hours. While the 777 weighs in substantially heavier than almost all corporate aircraft, there is still a lesson to be learned: every airplane’s landing gear takes a beating.
Sam Jantzen, v-p of marketing and sales for Commuter Air Technology of Scottsdale, Ariz., waxed poetic and put it this way: “Of all the various and sundry systems, from the simple to the complex, that are incorporated in the design of an aircraft and are fully intended to perform their needed function to the highest designed level of performance, there is none that is so absolutely ordinary and common as the system on which the aircraft departs and arrives the landing surface. And, at the same time, there is none, no matter its level of sophistication, that takes the abuse that this blue-collar working system endures day after day and without due recognition. All too often it goes about its business without the comfort of a caring inspection and a polite touch before the commencement of a flight, or a comforting look and quiet thank you after a routine return.”
