What is a kneeling gear feature and where is it used?

• A. A feature that lowers the main gear to ease loading/unloading on the ground, used on some cargo or passenger aircraft.
• B. A feature that increases wheel size for rough terrain.
• C. A device to retract gear into the wheel wells only.
• D. A mechanism to deploy additional gear for redundancy.

Answer: (A)

Kneeling gear is a system that hydraulically lowers the main landing gear to drop the aircraft a bit closer to the ground. This reduces the fuselage height on the tarmac, making loading and unloading cargo (and sometimes passengers) much easier by bringing doors or cargo decks to ground-level or near the ground-based loading equipment. It’s used on some cargo aircraft and on certain passenger aircraft where ground handling or palletized loading benefits from a lower stance. The concept isn’t about changing wheel size, retracting gear in the normal way, or adding extra gear for redundancy. It’s specifically about lowering the main gear to facilitate ground loading and unloading.