An aircraft’s interface with the ground—through its wheels, tires, and brakes—is critical to ensure safe and reliable operation, demanding constant technology development. Significant advancements have occurred with almost all civil airliners entering service with radial tires, and with the Boeing 787 having entered service in 2011 with electrically actuated carbon-carbon brakes. This book is divided into three sections: tires, control systems, and brakes, presenting a selection of the most relevant papers published by SAE International on these matters in the past fifteen years. They have been chosen to provide significant interest to those engineers working in the landing gear field. With almost all current large civil aircraft (and many smaller aircraft) opting exclusively for carbon-carbon brakes, a number of papers addressing the challenges of this technology are included. Papers touching on tire behavior and papers discussing brake control strategies are provided. For those looking for more information on aircraft landing gears, brakes, and tires, the SAE A-5 committee (the Aerospace Landing Gear Systems Committee), which meets twice a year, serves as a useful forum for discussion on landing gear issues and development. A current listing of documents produced and maintained by the A-5 committee is included in the appendix.

The authors cannot recommend dual-use as a clear remedy for the Army's need for a near-term medium-heavy rotorcraft, but do suggest the examination of several cost-reducing technologies.

The book describes the state of the art and latest advancements in technologies for various areas of aircraft systems. In particular it covers wide variety of topics in aircraft structures and advanced materials, control systems, electrical systems, inspection and maintenance, avionics and radar and some miscellaneous topics such as green aviation. The authors are leading experts in their fields. Both the researchers and the students should find the material useful in their work.

Few technological advances have affected the lives and dreams of individuals and the operations of companies and governments as much as the continuing development of flight. From space exploration to package transport, from military transport to passenger helicopter use, from passenger jumbo jets to tilt-rotor commuter planes, the future of flying is still rapidly developing. The essays in this volume survey the state of progress along several fronts of this constantly evolving frontier. Five eminent authorities assess prospects for the future of rotary-wing aircraft, large passenger aircraft, commercial aviation, manned spaceflight, and defense aerospace in the post-Cold War era.