Why does the nose wheel of most airliners fold up forward-ways?

Question

ie: against the airflow - wouldn't it be better if they folded in the direction of the aiflow?

Answer 1

aerodynamics is the basis

Answer 2

Allows full extension to lock position in the unlikely case of hydraulic failure.  Air flow against the gear will force it down into position.

Answer 3

It goes that way so that when it deploys the force of the oncoming air helps it to lock into position.

This is especially helpful in the even of a hydraulic failure.

Answer 4

The reason the gear folds forward is usually because there is more space at the front for the bulky wheel assembly to retract than to the rear of the wheel well where there is the cockpit floor to get in the way.

As for the airflow free falling c**p, I don't buy it.  There are plenty of planes that have gears fold the other way (and some fold sideways!)  

It is accumulator pressure (sometimes combined with another pneumatic source) and gravity that makes the gear free fall.  Also the down locks prevent the gear from collapsing.  If it was up to air pressure the gear would collapse as soon as the plane slowed down.

As a mechanic I've performed several gear free-falls and I've never had to put a fan in front of the plane to help the gear down.

Answer 5

no, if it folded along the airflow, it has a higher chance of collapsing when landing, the way they are designed now, its a lot harder to collapse the nose wheel.  the hydraulics are so strong anyways, folding them up is no big deal

Answer 6

boeing and most other manufactures make backward-ways, to make it more aerodynamic.

airbus does straight up

Answer 7

A small point - under-carriages dont "fold" - they rertract.

The reason the nose gear (and main gear) retract forward is to facilitate emergency extension in the case of hydraulic failure.

In this case we can use gravity and airflow to extend and lock the gear.

Some aircraft use emergency air bottles to do the final locking.