Why do airplanes have disproportionately smaller wheels than those on cars?

Question

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

Answer 1

Cars accelerate and brake using their wheels, planes less so, so they don’t need traction as much. Also the bigger reason cars have larger wheels has more to do with that they have to be able to roll on bad roads, while aircraft usually have a very good runway to use. Look up bushplanes, they are made to land on bad terrain and they indeed have bigger wheels.