I was watching videos of aircraft landings and noticed how disproportionately small the wheels were on just about every aircraft. Wouldn’t it be better to have larger tires (like in cars) to provide better traction for take off/landing?
In: Physics
on takeoff, the wheels only keep you from sliding side to side, the engines push against the air, not the ground. On landing, you do use them for braking, but an aircraft a given size is a lot lighter than a car or truck the same size.
Bigger tires would weigh a lot more, and take up more space. They’d also have a bigger moment of inertia, so you’d lose more rubber every time you land.
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