Patent ID: 8882043

Claim:
An aircraft comprising a landing gear moveable between a stowed position and a deployed position, the landing gear including a wheel/tire assembly, said wheel/tire assembly including a wheel having a rim around which there is mounted a tire, wherein (a) the tire and the rim are each so shaped that a gap is defined between a surface of the rim and a surface of the tire, (b) a separate part is provided at the junction between the tire and the rim, and (c) said separate part has (i) a first surface that abuts the tire, (ii) a second surface in contact with the rim, and (iii) a third surface which extends between the first surface and the second surface, so as to provide a surface to smooth and close the gap in the region of the junction between the tire and the wheel rim, whereby on at least one side of the wheel, during use of the landing gear on an aircraft when airborne and the landing gear is in a position ready for landing of the aircraft, the third surface of said separate part acts to reduce the noise that would result in the absence of the separate part from the interaction of the gap and the airflow during approach of the aircraft on landing and wherein (d) on at least one side of the wheel during use of the aircraft when airborne and the landing gear is in a position ready for landing of the aircraft, the surface of the wheel/tire assembly presented to the airflow across the part bounded by the widest part of the tire is substantially flat.