Retractable Main Landing Gear for Canards | Military Style Stick Grips (HOS)

This is Bill Theeringer's award winning stock 0-235 powered Long-EZ-RG that had been flying for almost 3 years before it was retrofitted with our Infinity 1 Oleo Strut Main Retract Gear. Bill's plane has been flying as a full RG aircraft since Jan. 1994. His cruise speed increased 19 to 23 mph, depending on his altitude and weight. Here's a picture of JD showing the Main Retracts to Burt & Mike, March 31st, 1994.

A few other aircraft landing gear projects completed and flying, in work and planned (10 have flown already, about 100 sets are being installed):

        See Rick Robert's really cool King Kozy 1 with our Infinity 1 main retract gear ;

        See Jim Marshall's Cozy MK-IV-RG / AeroCanard-RG with our Infinity 1 Main Retract Gear -- he's flying now as of Nov. 2004 ;

        See Phil Johnson's VERY innovative Kinda Kozy with our Infinity 1 Main Retract Gear -- will fly soon ;

        See Marv Schuh's Cozy III-RG / Cosy-RG retrofitted plane that flew ~May 1995 with our Infinity 1 Main Retract Gear ;

        See the Cozy Girrrl's cool gadget filled Cozy MK-IV-RG with our Infinity 1 Main Retract Gear -- maybe fly next year.

We designed and manufactured the original Custom Oleo Main Retract Gear seen on the Glassic Composite's (now KLS) prototype SQ 2000 ;

We designed the original, 3400 lb. Maverick Twin Air prop aircraft Retractable Oleo Main Landing Gear. To see two *.jpg pictures, click for a close-up , and click for a 3/4's view! Their prototype set was on display in their booth at Oshkosh '98, then flew soon thereafter;

We also designed the 4560 lb., 700 HP turbo-prop powered, Orion-TS Retractable Oleo Landing Gear for Orion Aviation first seen at Sun 'N Fun 2001;

We are designing the Retractable Oleo Strut Landing Gear for the 6300 lb., 700 HP turboprop powered, Golden Arrow for Abaris Aircraft ;

We should be starting a Retractable Oleo Strut Landing Gear design, then production, for a 12,500 lb. GW sub-orbital aircraft;

We are the designer and manufacturer of Retractable Oleo Strut Landing Gear for 2 major aerospace companies for aircraft under 12,500 lbs. Gross Weight;

Many more designs are forthcoming.  Contact us ANY afternoon PT if you need Retractable Landing Gear designed (using the latest Solid Works 3D Solid Modeling CAD and COSMOS Works FEA) and/or manufactured (using the latest CNC mils and lathes, and CAM Software) for your design.

 

 

Retractable Oleo Strut Main Landing Gear SET includes (subject to change without notice):

 

1 - Set of Assembled Infinity 1 Retractable Oleo Strut Main Landing Gear

1 - 12 VDC Bi-Directional Electro-Hydraulic Power Pack and Pump

1 - Electronic Control Module

1 - Hydraulic Sequencing Cartridge Valve

2 - Hydraulically Actuated Electric Cut-Off Pressure Switches (UP & DN)

1 - Emergency Gear UP Release Valve Blow Down System with CO2 Bottle

1 - Set of Molded Drop-In Wheel Wells

1 - Set of DN and locked Reed Switches with magnets

1 - Detailed Installation Manual and specification sheets, and a 3+ hour Installation DVD

A few more Documented Facts, Features and Answers to a few Common Questions concerning our Oleo Strut Main Retracts for Canards in random order (see Info Pack & Video for further details):

• DEMONSTRATED 12+% (19 to 23+ MPH/LE/Lyc. 0-235/118 HP /// 25+ MPH/LE/Cozy III/Lyc. 0-320/160 HP) faster cruise TAS speed. Even Rutan guesstimated a LE would cruise 12 to 14 knots / 13.8 to 16.1 mph faster with the main gear UP. Therefore, better economy/MPG -- Saving you MONEY $$$ -- Adding our Main Retracts pays for itself in a short time! A Long-EZ, or any other 2, 3 or 4 place Long-EZ derivative Canard aircraft, with a 200 HP engine should cruise 220+ MPH, depending on how well you did building your scratch built plane;
• Faster take-off acceleration, therefore shorter takeoff distance, and rotates sooner. Aircraft climb and roll rate increased, too;
• No more down pitching moment from the fixed main gear (and drag) during cruise requiring nose up trim to compensate (which is more drag);
• Drop tested per FAR's for a 2200 lb. gross aircraft on 2 different aircraft with the owners help on their own planes (1 aircraft was even tested with the tanks full of water, which is 36 lbs. more weight in the fuel tanks than before!), and Taxi and Flight tested per FAA by the owners in their own planes (see video). Approved by US, Canadian, French and Brazilian FAA's;
• Strakes asymmetrically load tested to a sustained 6 g's for over 10 minutes with the tanks full of water (see video);
• Demonstrated -- strakes and center section spar are stronger. Safer (see info pack);
• With Infinity 1 Main Retracts on your LE pride and joy, your Turn-Over Angle (TOA) is 48.4º, which is less than the 50º TOA (or less) rough terrain recommendation. Therefore, ground handling is greatly improved, better braking and no more brake problems. Also, a much wider track (9.1+ ft. for Long-EZ & Cosy // 11.1+ ft. for the Cozy MK-IV & AeroCanard) means no more Foreign Object Damage (FOD) thrown from the main gear tires into the prop. Look at general aviation aircraft which typically have a TOA of 55º, or less. This is considered to be maximum safe. "NOTE (from any landing gear design books): Under no circumstance should TOA ever exceed 60º ". Fixed gear tandem canard aircraft TOA is 64.2º. Retract attempts on other tandem canard aircraft main mount axle points are 4" narrower per side and 4.5"+ aft of the standard fixed gear axle FS location, meaning a longer takeoff roll, and lower crosswind capabilities, among other limitations. Their TOA is 67 to 70+º, too!!! (see info pack & video);
• The gear is double redundant in extension -- it is virtually impossible not to get the gear down. The side brace is mechanically locked down by an internally mechanically locking actuator. Once the gear is locked down, it cannot come UP, or ever fold, without first applying hydraulic pressure to unlock the internal mechanical down lock -- another safety feature;
• Totally flush strake bottom and top -- no unsightly gear door bumps or blisters. Also, unlike other attempts at Main Gear Retracts, our Main Gear Doors totally covers the wheel wells (see video);
• Yes, the aircraft still sits level like with the fixed main gear, so takeoff rotation is not affected. Total Main Retract Strut stroke is about 7.0" with Weight-Off-Wheels. Nominally, 4.2" of the oleo strut remains visible with Weight-On-Wheels;
• If you could bottom out the strut (which is only 4.2" from nominal height -- we couldn't do it in a per FAR 2200 lb. worst case, 16+ units high angle-of-attack (which tests forward motion simultaneously) drop test scenario, you will not/cannot hit the prop. If you drop it in that hard with either a fiberglass fixed or retract main gear, you WILL hit the prop;
• Both retraction and extension time takes approximately 12 seconds;
• Each complete oleo strut assembly weighs only 32 lbs., and comes ready to install. The pump only weighs 10 lbs., replacing dead weight ballast usually needed in the nose. Retrofits to a flying stock Long-EZ or Cosy only adds about 40 lbs., but you gain 875 lbs. of main landing gear carrying capability, from 1325 lbs. to 2200 lbs., by changing to the Infinity 1 Main Retract System -- a nice trade;
• Total fuel loss is only about 8+ gallons for retrofits to stock Long-EZ's and Cozy III's / Cosy's with already completed strakes -- none for original construction (see info pack);
• Lost 8 lbs. of flying weight on a flying stock Long-EZ, compared with his fixed main gear LE, by installing the I-1 Main Retract System -- range remained the same, MPG increased, and he gets there faster (see info pack);
• The axle Fuselage Station (FS) is at the SAME FS as the fixed main gear. Therefore, takeoff rotation is NOT affected. Aircraft now rolls easily at idle power too, and "turns on a dime". No more tire toe-in or cant (tilt) -- tires face straight ahead. So, tires and brakes last much longer saving $$$'s (see video);
• Empty weight CG moved forward 0.68" for a Long-EZ :-) . All canard empty weight CG's would move forward about the same -- this main retract installation does not move the empty weight CG aft (which wouldn't hurt anything if it actually did);
• No need to lift the wing up so the main gear will spring back so it doesn't take a set from sitting in the sun every time you move the aircraft like with fiberglass fixed or retract main gear;
• Professionally designed, engineered, and drawn in Solid Works. All the main gear parts are CNC machined. MIL SPEC 'O-rings' and fasteners used throughout;
• The wings have been load tested to 50.03% more torque on the center section spar than our retractable oleo main landing gear would ever impose -- meaning a 149.97% Safety Margin. Oh, and this is all done at 2200 lbs. ! The LE fixed main gear is only designed for a GW of 1325 lbs. (see info pack for torque analysis and video for drop test results);
• If you land short of the runway and tear out our mains (which is repairable), they do not tear out the fuel tanks, which can happen with production aircraft, or with other Sport Aircraft with fixed or retract main gear, since the fuel is forward and inboard of our main gear mounting points. If you tear out either of the fiberglass fixed or retract main gear protruding out of the fuselage bottom under the passengers back, your passenger(s) may come out of the bottom of the aircraft with the fiberglass gear (which has happened!);
• The installation time is no longer nor harder to do than installing the plans fixed fiberglass main gear -- most say easier. In fact, one builder did it in 3 days!
• Also, even MORE GOOD NEWS! Now you can have a normal diameter sized prop. Ya see, you must allow for a larger safety factor for both fixed or retract fiberglass main gear because they both will bow outboard extra far from a hard landing (ours will NOT do this!), therefore you are stuck with a small diameter, not as efficient as you could have, prop. In fact, with our main retracts, you could have a prop as large as 72" in diameter ~10.85" aft of the plans location for the small wood prop (a little larger in diameter if you're forward of 10.85" aft), equating to higher prop efficiency, which means better overall aircraft performance and a faster cruise. Plot it out for yourself. And, a 3 blade prop is best (yes, I know they cost more, but they're sure worth it!);
• 56 sets have already been shipped and are being installed -- 12 have already flown from around the world; 60 more sets are being delivered ; Hundreds more are forthcoming.

 

Additional Answers to Questions Specific to the Cozy MK-IV and the AeroCanard (and to the above) in random order:

• It has been assumed by many that there is very little drag from the fiberglass fixed main gear because the fixed main gear strut is tear-drop shaped with wheel pants. Yes, there is obviously less drag with an airfoil shaped strut and using wheel pants, but obviously not near as much as retracting the mains. ALL our customers have reported demonstrated 19 to 25+ mph INCREASE in cruise speed (depending on engine HP, prop used, aircraft weight and quality of overall aircraft workmanship/finish) because their main gear is now retracted. Unless the nay-sayers are willing to say ALL these people are flat out liars, one cannot deny the documented facts (see above and info pack);
• It has been illogically stated that "a retractable main gear could not possibly be as strong or as light as the fixed (main) gear". This is simply not true if referring to our oleo strut main retracts -- everyone knows this (just look at them)! If this statement were true, why do so many aircraft designs have oleo strut retractable landing gear?!? But, this statement may be true for other attempts at main retracts for canards -- I don't know. You'll have to determine this for yourself. See our info pack, video for the facts about our main retracts;
• It has been erroneously stated that "retracting the main gear into the strake would sacrifice fuel capacity". In fact, there is NO fuel loss for the Cozy MK-IV or AeroCanard with the fuel sump under the rear seat, like most are doing now. In fact, you will probably GAIN 1 to 3 gallons. Therefore, the range is increased, NOT decreased. You are faster and have the same, or more, gas on board, with better MPG which saves you $MONEY$, meaning our main retracts pay for them selves in a short time (see info pack);
• It has been misleadingly stated that you will "only travel 5 or 10 knots faster, have to land more often from fuel (letting down from 10,000 ft, spending 1/2 hour on the ground, and climbing back to 10,000 ft.) therefore would not be cost effective". You can figure this one out all by yourself from the facts above (obviously this statement is not true). Again, even Rutan guesstimated a LE would cruise 12 to 14 knots / 13.8 to 16.1 mph faster with the main gear UP ;
• The uninformed want you to think "insurance costs would increase" just because the mains retract -- not true! Our Long-EZ and Cosy customers insurance have NOT gone up. And lets get something else straight, these aircraft are already complex, high-performance, aircraft because of the retractable nose strut, Belly Board and higher speeds -- AND your plane is Experimental to boot. If anything, insurance would probably go down since it is SAFER to have all 3 gear UP in an off-field landing; and, in fact, may go down for many other reasons. Also, insurance companies ALREADY consider the aircraft as *WITH* Retractable Landing Gear (AND a complex, high-performance, aircraft), whether the Main Gear retracts or not, and you pay accordingly;
• Some have deceivingly said that our gear is not insurable -- not true! In fact, the insurance companies are very impressed with our gear, stating how 'substantial' they are, and that our main retracts "are much better than most other landing gear they have ever seen on other Sport Aircraft" (document letter from insurance carrier in hand if you want to read it). If your insurance goes up, or you can't get insurance, it's because of the safety record and/or experience of **YOU** and the kind of people flying that type of aircraft, and/or the safety record of that aircraft as a whole, NOT just because you added retractable main gear -- that's silly to think this. Remember, your plane is ALREADY a complex, high-performance, retract aircraft BEFORE you add our main retracts!  NOTE -- most builders do not insure for Hull (invest that money for a rainy day), they just have Liability (which is cheap) -- even the "designer(s)" did this.  After all, if you ding your toy, you will be the one fixing it;
• Once the main retracts are installed, they are virtually maintenance free. Therefore, there's no increase in maintenance costs;
• It has been falsely stated that installing the main retracts would "increase building time" -- not so! In fact, customers are demonstrating every installation that there is less build time compared to installing the fixed main gear -- AND, more fun, educational and rewarding to do;
• Some will try to convince you, "that retractable main gear are subject to failure (to go down)". Maybe for others, but this is not true of our gear. It is impossible not to get our main gear down and locked easily every time under any situation. The gear is held up hydraulically -- no mechanical up-locks to get out of adjustment keeping the mains from coming DN. Our main retracts are double redundant DN, just like production aircraft are;
• A naive person has stated, "Located outboard on the spar, when the gear goes down and one leg stay's up, you got a problem with yaw that you don't want at slow flight". This is impossible for the UP and DN hydraulic lines are 'T'ed together -- the gear ALWAYS go UP and DN together;
• This same person also stated, "your always landing on your box spar putting load's on it that it was not meant to have." As I've said earlier, the wing imposes substantially more bending and torque loads on the center section spar than our Main Retracts ever could. Also, most all landing gear (retracts or fixed), including the Beech Starship, mounts the gear on the center section spar;
• Another truly intelligent person has stated, "Thanks for pointing out the sadly obvious (this is to the Mr. Naive). Those gear at the end of the spar always scared the bejesus out of me. It looks like it was engineered by someone eyeballing an EZ from ten yards, over the top of his thumb, and saying, 'Hmmm... right about there looks good..." Well shut my mouth -- yeap, that's how we did it!
• Another fellow has wisely speculated, "I understand that the gear has to compress (get shorter) to fit in the wheel well by putting pressure on the other side of the strut. If this fails I bet anything the gear won't come down!" (I'll bet he does well at Las Vegas.) Not true! You only need to compress the oleos prior to retraction on Long-EZ and Cosy III aircraft because their strakes are a little short with the gear UP and Weight-Off-Wheels (the tire bumps into the fuselage). The Cozy MK-IV, AeroCanard, or other 4 seat canard aircraft do not need to compress the oleos prior to retraction, but they lose about 2 gallons of the gas they gain above the fixed gear fuel capacity. Also, we HAVE failed the oleo strut compression (which could only occur with either a pump or motor failure AND a bad leak of ONLY the compression line -- again, BOTH must occur, which is statistically virtually zero % possibility) into the wheel well, and by pulling with just 2 fingers simulating a little 'g', the gear came right out of the wheel well when the gear switch was put DN, and that's with the wheel well walls made near vertical. If the wheel well walls closest to the fuselage are made with a slight draft angle, a little 'g' would not be needed;
• A poor pilot will try to tell you, "you may forget to lower the gear" as a "reason" not to install main retracts (they are just admitting their own limitations and problems, not yours, and should have their nose gear fixed down permanently also, if they are that worried). Lets get something else straight (again) -- these canard aircraft are ALREADY a retractable gear aircraft because of the retractable NOSE gear -- if you are "forgetful", you will forget the nose as well. But you will have horns and lights going off if you ever "forget" to put the nose gear down. This kind of forgetfulness, "Forgetfulness, (forgetting to lower) the gear", is like forgetting to put your pants on, or to remove nose ballast when flying with a heavy front seat passenger. If a pilot justifies to you why not to put in retractable main gear because s/he may forget, they are ignoring checklists, horns, lights, training and procedures. There is a much bigger underlying problem here -- one must wonder why these individuals are even driving a car, let alone still flying (and/or have an ulterior motive, so consider carefully the source of these rare bizarre statements). Fortunately, by having the mains retracted too, the plane will be soooo sleek, the pilot will not be able to slow down normally to land once he begins his descent from the perch (abeam the numbers) in the pattern to land, and THIS will flag in his/her mind big time that the gear (all 3) are not down if he has "forgot". So having all 3 retracted, compared to just the nose strut, would be safer, for you couldn't forget them -- you'd be too fast to land normally. Also, you could easily install the same feature that Piper has in some of their aircraft, that when the throttle is reduced/power is back and airspeed drops below 100 MPH IAS, the landing gear AUTOMATICALLY extends -- their insurance is cheaper too because of this feature;
• Nay-sayers ignorantly want you to believe that in the event of an off-field landing, our retractable main gear attached to the center section main spar (just like most all other production aircraft in the world including the prototype Beech Starship) "would probably cause more structural damage, including rupturing of the fuel tanks and increased likelihood of fire". This is absolutely absurd! These few people obviously have no concept or proper training of operating **any** complex retractable gear small aircraft!! If you have an off-field landing with **any** small aircraft with retractable gear, all 3 gear would be UP -- no damage to the spar or fuel tanks would occur from our main retracts, and minor damage to the overall aircraft. Fact is, with the mains fixed down, the fixed main gear will probably flip the plane over in an off-field landing possibly killing you and/or your passenger(s) (already happened!); or they will catch those power lines (already happened!) where our main retracts won't; or the fixed main gear will tear out and the rear seat passenger(s) could be hanging out the bottom of the plane (already happened!) dragging along the pavement when the gear rips out the bottom of the fuselage -- Again NOTE:  all of these events have already occurred way too many times. In fact, inadvertent off-field landings is one of the main reasons many of our customers have decided to put in our main retracts -- SAFER;
• A few point out that installing main retracts would "increase building cost at least $4000" -- that's not exactly true. Our main retract kit is only $5995. Subtract out the fixed main gear and hardware, the building cost increase would be much less than the return on your investment. So a $4000 increase in the overall production of your dream machine -- 5% to 8% of the overall plane costs -- is a small drop in the bucket when you consider all the benefits our main retracts gain you. The increase in speed alone pays for the main retracts in economy (better MPG) in a very short time, and there's less wear and tear on the brakes, and the increased speed may get you around or ahead of a weather front (what's that worth to you just once? -- ask your spouse);
• As I said earlier, there should be no weight gain, but a few have reported adding 1 to 7 lbs. to the empty weight. Still a pretty good trade for all that you get, don't you think!;
• As stated earlier, our retractable oleo strut main gear have been drop tested at 2200 lbs. per FAR (with the fuel tanks full of water), which is 150 lbs. More than the published GW of the Cozy MK-IV and AeroCanard;
• You do not need to compress the oleo struts prior to retraction if you don't want to for the Cozy MK-IV, AeroCanard, or any other 4 seat canard (except SQ-2000). Just for the Long-EZ and Cosy/Cozy III/Cozy Classic;
• Someone (we'll call "A") relayed a friend's personal belief (we'll call "B") 'that during take off, if the main wing begins to fly before the canard and unloads the main gear, the oleo struts begin to extend, raising the aircraft's aft section and effectively decreasing AOA'. ANSWER: NO! -- if so, someone better warn Beech Craft, AV Tec 400, Jet Cruiser, etc. In reality ("A" figured), 'the nose lifts off before the main wing begins to fly (carrying load off the main gear)'. ANSWER: YES!! -- the canard begins to fly first and the plane rotates. If the wing begins to fly before the canard, then the canard is stalled -- a plane that really does this has some serious canard problems whether the mains are our main retract oleos, fixed main gear oleos, fixed fiberglass hoop main gear, retract fiberglass main gear, or retract fiberglass hoop main gear. "A" reasoned, "I hadn't thought about this before and now wonder if the main wing does start lifting at this time, wouldn't the hoop style fixed gear also stand up creating a negative AOA too?" ANSWER: CORRECT!!! -- logic prevails when one thinks this through :-) ;
• Logic and common sense dictates that ANY aircraft that cruises 150+ MPH should have all 3 gear retracted [ and a constant speed prop :-) ].  In other words, put your money into a larger engine, turbo charge it, hang a 3 blade constant speed prop, and of course retract the mains, so that you can go faster and get out ahead and/or around and/or over that weather front quicker. Then you won't need to buy (at least in the beginning of your project) -- and rely on -- that full IFR panel, and that $8,000 to $15,000+ HSI, that you might use once in a blue moon (AND, you might be rusty) -- put your money into the plane in the beginning, not the panel, particularly if money is tight (yeesss, having a full IFR panel eventually is a REALLY nice thing to have, but you can always easily add to the panel over time);
• So bottom line -- don't listen to the handful of jealous poltroon nay-sayers out there who don't know what they are talking about, for obviously they have never read this Retractable Main Landing Gear page on our web site, and/or read our info pack, and/or seen our video, and/or even seen our main gear, and/or installed our main gear, and/or talked to our customers, and/or have even talked to us. Ask them why they are saying what they do, and to state their facts. You'll find NONE have a valid argument, let alone any facts. Again, they've never contacted us to get all the facts, let alone ever own or have ever installed a set of our main retracts -- just simply call us and find out the facts for yourself! And ALWAYS remember, these few who slander and liable us have ulterior motives for what they are trying to convince you of, sad to say. How pathetic :-( !

For Retractable Main Gear, Info Pack & DVD, and/or Installation Manual & DVD Order Form, click here for interactive Excel File

Item                                                           Prices (subject to change without notice)

Retractable Main Landing Gear Set ***
      Cash, check or money order                                           $5995.00 US & Overseas (plus S & H)
           Credit Card Price (MasterCard or Visa ONLY)            $6234.80 US & Overseas (plus S & H)

Info pack (each)
      Cash, check or money order                                           $15.00 US / $20.00 Overseas (S & H is included)
          Credit Card Price (MasterCard or Visa ONLY)             $15.60 US / $20.80 Overseas (S & H is included)

DVD (~40 minutes)
      Cash, check or money order                                           $15.00 US / $25.00 Overseas (S & H is included)
           Credit Card Price (MasterCard or Visa ONLY)            $15.60 US / $26.00 Overseas (S & H is included)

Info pack and DVD (if ordered together)
      Cash, check or money order                                           $25.00 US / $45.00 Overseas (S & H is included)
          Credit Card Price (MasterCard or Visa ONLY)             $26.00 US / $46.80 Overseas (S & H is included)

Installation Manual and 3.2+ hour DVD of the Infinity 1 Retractable Main Landing Gear, that also fits other canards (see list of canards at top of this page).
      Cash, check or money order                                           $103.00 US / $121.00 Overseas (S & H is included -- the package weighs ~3 lbs.)
           Credit Card Price (MasterCard or Visa ONLY)            $107.12 US / $125.84 Overseas (S & H is included -- the package weighs ~3 lbs.)

  If you're ready to order your Retractable Main Landing Gear Set, just mail a deposit check in US funds for $2500.00 to our POB.  I won't know what S & H will be until I send you your Retractable Main Landing Gear Set.

 When I receive your deposit, and your properly Notarized Purchase and Hold Harmless Agreements, I will send you the following items so you can get started ( items subject to change without notice ) :

          * the Installation Manual and 3.2+ hour DVD
          * electro-hydraulic 12 VDC pump
          * UP & DN Pressure Switches
          * Emergency Release Valve and CO2 Bottle
          * DN Lock Reed Switches with magnets
          * left and right rear Retractable Main Landing Gear Set support plates for canards
          * wheel well cut out drawing for bottom of strakes

*** Orders for the Retractable Main Landing Gear Set must have a properly completed Purchase and Hold Harmless Agreement returned to  INFINITY Aerospace  prior to Retractable Main Landing Gear Set shipment. ***

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