In article ,
"Kyle Boatright" wrote:


1) Isn't the screw jack "sized" for air loads, with some sort of over
center mechanism to handle the ground loads?

No "over center" lock.

2) If that's the case, does the gear retraction mechanism have enough power
to pull the gear back "under center" (?) while the aircraft is on the
ground?

Again, no "over center" lock. Yes, you can retract the gear on the
ground. On the B-17 I flew there was a "weight on wheels" switch to
prevent this but this was an add-on and might not be on all B-17s flying
today.

3) Would the screw jacks fail in this case?

I don't know.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html