Patent ID: 11939045
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 18:
19. A method of activating a landing gear system of an aircraft, the method comprising:
positioning a land-contact assembly in an extended position;
detecting a position of a piston of an energy absorber within a housing of the energy absorber, wherein the piston is movable along a first axis in a plurality of normal-operation stroke positions, and the land-contact assembly is attached to the energy absorber;
actuating an actuator of a retraction assembly to a locked position which locks the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly in the extended position, wherein the retraction assembly is attached to the energy absorber via a pivot point;
activating a trigger assembly in response to the piston of the energy absorber reaching a maximum stroke position to trigger the actuator to actuate from the locked position to an unlocked position to release the retraction assembly in a controlled manner which rotates the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly relative to the pivot point to a retracted position, and wherein the maximum stroke position of the piston is beyond the normal-operation stroke positions of the piston, and wherein the trigger assembly is coupled to the energy absorber and the retraction assembly; and
determining whether the maximum stroke position is reached via a switch that provides active control of the trigger assembly.