Undercarriages
Forgive me if this a daft question but:
I have often wondered what sort of considerations go into the design of an aircraft's landing gear. There seems to be such a wide difference between the various models.
Some examples have the landing gear hanging with a rearward bias, presumably resulting on the rearmost wheels touching down before the forward ones. Boeing 777 are an example of this. On the other hand, the 767 has the landing gear has a forward bias so the forward set of wheels will touch down first.
And then, there is the 747 with one set of wheels on each side hanging almost vertically!
The Boeing 737 puzzles me too in so far as they don't have enclosed wheel bays, just a wheel shaped "hole" in the belly. Doesn't this cause noise and drag, as the belly is not 100% clean?
A spot of enlightenment would be very much appreciated.
Thanks