A torque link assembly for a landing gear includes a lower torque link and an upper torque link that releasably engage first and second quick release pin assemblies. The pin assemblies each include a housing attached to one of the torque links, and a locking pin member extending through the housing. The locking pin member includes a rod portion and a pin portion, and is slidable between an engaged position and a disengaged position for hingedly connecting/disconnecting the torque links. One of the housing and the locking pin member includes a channel having a longitudinal portion and a circumferential portion, and the other has a guide pin that engages the channel. The guide pin is in the longitudinal portion of the channel when moving between the engaged and disengaged positions, and is retained in the disengaged position when the guide pin is in the circumferential portion of the channel.

A nose structure of an aircraft includes an airframe. A wheel well assembly is coupled to the airframe and forms a portion of a nose landing gear bay. The wheel well assembly includes a pressure deck that extends from a right side of the airframe to a left side of the airframe and that forms a portion of a pressure boundary delimiting a pressurized space and a non-pressurized space. A floor-panel support is supported by the pressure deck in the pressurized space. The pressure deck and the floor-panel support form a portion of a flight deck floor of a flight deck of the aircraft. A plurality of transport elements is located between the floor-panel support and the pressure deck. The plurality of transport elements is associated with at least one high-level system of the aircraft.

A nose structure of an aircraft includes an airframe. A wheel well assembly is coupled to the airframe and forms a portion of a nose landing gear bay. The wheel well assembly includes a pressure deck that extends from a right side of the airframe to a left side of the airframe and that forms a portion of a pressure boundary delimiting a pressurized space and a non-pressurized space. A floor-panel support is supported by the pressure deck in the pressurized space. The pressure deck and the floor-panel support form a portion of a flight deck floor of a flight deck of the aircraft. A plurality of transport elements is located between the floor-panel support and the pressure deck. The plurality of transport elements is associated with at least one high-level system of the aircraft.

Aspects related to aircraft for commercial air travel and methods of manufacture. An aircraft includes a blended wing body, a single deck located within the blended wing body, wherein the single deck additionally includes a passenger compartment located in a lateral middle portion of the blended wing body and at least a cargo store located laterally outside the passenger compartment, and a landing gear, wherein the landing gear includes at least a nose gear located substantially forward of the single deck and at least a main gear located substantially aft of the single deck, wherein one or more of the at least a nose gear and the at least a main gear occupies a gear housing that overlaps with a plane coincident with at least a portion of the single deck.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake. The landing gear modules are configured and controllable to differentially deploy downwardly so as to enable countersteering during taxi maneuvers and turns.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake. The landing gear modules are configured and controllable to differentially deploy downwardly so as to enable countersteering during taxi maneuvers and turns.

An aircraft having a retractable landing gear assembly configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more wheels, and another retractable non-wheeled landing gear assembly or device configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more “low-friction” supports such as an air cushion is disclosed. The aircraft may have a maximum take-off weight between 100 and 150 tonnes. There may be two main landing gears each carrying two wheels, a nose landing gear, and a central non-wheeled landing gear providing the low friction vertical support when the aircraft is moving on the ground/operating surface.

Systems and methods for folding landing gear of a cargo aircraft. One embodiment is a main landing gear of an aircraft that includes a shock strut coupled to a truck with one or more wheels, and a yoke pivotally coupled with the shock strut via a lower trunnion, and pivotally coupled with an aircraft structure via an upper trunnion. The yoke is configured to pivot about the upper trunnion in a direction back toward a tail of the aircraft and up toward a fuselage of the aircraft, and the shock strut is configured to pivot about the lower trunnion in a direction forward toward a nose of the aircraft and up toward the fuselage of the aircraft to retract the one or more wheels.