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What It's Like To Fly America's Biggest Jet, The Gargantuan C-5 Galaxy
One of Foxtrot Alpha’s readers, Ben Brown, flies the Pentagon’s biggest jet, the mighty Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. (foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
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There was a crosswind computer on the A models that was supposed to automatically caster the main gear to the centerline of the runway when landing in a crosswind but the computer sometimes failed leaving the gear at a odd angle to the runway and causing great stress on the tires and struts, all computers were taken off the A models and never installed on the B models. The A models had a fiberoptic scope by the crew door on the cargo level that was used by the pilot to make sure the nose gear was down and locked if he did not get a lock light in the cockpit when the gear was extended
The original A models had a crosswind computer that was supposed to automatically caster the main gear relative to the runway center line when landing in a crosswind however the computer sometime failed and left the gear cocked at a angle not parallel to the runway, hard on tires and gear struts. The computers were removed from the A models and never installed on the B models. Another device was a fiberoptic scope located by the crew door downstairs that was connected through the nose wheel bulkhead to make sure the nose gear was down and locked if the pilot did not get a lock light in the cockpit he could look in one end of the scope at a line on the gear strut.
Amazing how today's technology is taken for granted!. I read that the gear main gear was capable of 90 e.g. rotation (presumably for negotiating tight ramps) and up to 20 deg either side for the wind help. Todays computers would calculate this with ease but when the C5A was designed very little of this technology was available.
the gear rotates 90 degrees not for taxi but for storage, 4 main bogies 6 wheels on each bogie
What a great article. Thank you!