Landing Gear Up Position

[Alan Evan Hanes]

I was invited to look at a Falco under construction in the UK. The builder asked me whether I knew much about the main gear uplocks and ultimate up position as he was concerned about possible interference with the fuselage frames. In fairness he showed me where it actually could touch but we quickly agreed about a solution.

But to answer the question please comment on the correctness of my understanding - there are no specific uplocks nor up position. The gear legs are set by making them vertical in the down position, where the taper pins holes are then match drilled into the gearbox gear wheels. The up position is merely wherever they are when the nose gear limit switch determines that they are up. Obviously there is some minor play in the compression springs. The up position is helped by the landing gear arm going effectively over centre.