Why are tricycle landing gear configurations the most popular among large aircraft?

Question

What happened to the taildragger configuration?

Answer 1

Stability, maneuverability, comfort, safety.

Answer 2

They are easier to land

Answer 3

Tricycle undercarts are easier to handle during take off and landing. But remember real aeroplanes have a tailwheel.

Answer 4

A taildragger also sits on the ground in a nose-high attitude. This would be uncomfortable and inconvenient for passengers getting on and off.

Answer 5

The answers on center of gravity and ground handling are excellent.  Also, it is impractical to load palletized or containerized cargo on a tail dragger- the floor needs to be level for the cargo handling system to move those big boxes around.

Answer 6

Why isn't the Tour de France on unicycles?

Answer 7

On taildragger aircraft when the pilot is either taxying or taking off with this type of configuration, he/she is always trying to compensate for nose & tail wiggle with constant left/

right rudder input until the craft is either stopped or off the ground. I have flown with my brother in both types of configur-

ations & I have to say that the Nose/main type is the smoothest & safest for ground movement.

Answer 8

it is the most popular config among all aircraft. It is more stable for one.. but your view out the cockpit window for taxi and  take off is much better than out of a taildragger...  so it is much safer...  you won't run over or into as many objects when you can see them.

Answer 9

Beyond the already proposed reason of pilot vision and ground handling facility, there is another aspect of the tricycle landing gear that has not been mentioned: feasability.

A wing has its center of lift at the 1/4 chord, and in most conventional design, the center of gravity has to be in front of it (with the tail providing down-lift, for stability). A tail dragger would need the front wheels to be in front of the center of gravity, and in the case of modern large airplane (which lack a proportionally very heavy piston in the front, which in turn pushes the wing pretty far forward), a designer essentially runs out of options to attach the landing gear in front of the CG; something that gets even harder as the wing requires sweepback (for speed). The solution is then to put the main gear aft of the center of gravity, and to put the 3rd wheel at the front.