Aircraft wheels, part of an aircraft’s landing gear assembly, are an incredible feat of engineering. An aircraft’s landing gear has to be strong enough to support the aircraft’s maximum weight. They also need to be able to withstand high take-off and landing speeds, with sudden acceleration at take-off, and rapid deceleration when the aircraft touches down on the runway.
In this article, I explore the relationship between the number of aircraft wheels and an aircraft’s maximum take-off weight. I’ll also investigate the number of wheels required by commercial aircraft, private jets, light aircraft, and military aircraft. And, I’ll point out any unusual arrangements or anomalies.
Let’s start with a look at commercial aircraft.
How Many Wheels Do Airliners Have?
Commercial aircraft manufacturers determine the required number of wheels based on one key factor – the aircraft’s weight, and as you would expect there is a strong correlation between the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of an aircraft and the total number of wheels.
I’ve plotted the number of wheels against MTOW for a range of Airbus, Boeing, Comac, Embraer, and Dornier airliners, on the graph below:
The above graph shows that there are two common landing gear configurations for commercial airliners:
- 6 wheels – comprising two wheels for the nose gear, and 2 wheels for each of the two main landing gear assemblies
- 10 wheels – comprising two wheels for the nose gear, and 4 wheels for each of the two main landing gear assemblies
After around an MTOW of 300 tonnes, the number of wheels increases up to a maximum of 18 for the 400-tonne B747, and 22 for the 500-tonne A380.
The B747’s wheels are arranged as follows:
- Single nose gear – 2 wheels
- Two inner main landing gear assemblies – 4 wheels each
- Two outer main landing gear assemblies – 4 wheels each.
The A380’s wheels are arranged as follows:
- Single nose gear – 2 wheels
- Two inner main landing gear assemblies – 6 wheels each
- Two outer main landing gear assemblies – 4 wheels each.
The A340 has an unusual landing gear arrangement. Rather than having inner and outer landing gears, it has a single center main landing gear under the fuselage, and two outer main landing gears under the wings. And not only that, the center main landing gear can have either 2 or 4 wheels depending on the variant!
Each aircraft type tends to have a standard number of wheels. So, if an airline orders an A320 it will usually come with a total of 6 wheels (2 nose wheels, and 2 pairs of main landing wheels). However, non-standard landing gear arrangements can be provided. Air India ordered some A320-200s from Airbus with tailor-made main landing gear arrangements. These A320-200s have double main landing gears such that the aircraft has a total of 10 wheels. This arrangement allows the weight of the aircraft to be spread among more wheels, permitting it to land on poorer quality/lower strength runways.
So, in summary, commercial airliners typically have between 6 to 22 wheels arranged over 3 to 5 landing gears. Airliner nose gears always contain 2 wheels, and each of the main landing gears can have anything from 2 to 6 wheels.
Aircraft wheel sizes also vary by aircraft weight, with the diameter tending to increase as the aircraft weight increases. So, for example, the diameter of Airbus A320 tires is 29.5 inches, Boeing 747 tires are 49 inches in diameter, and Airbus A380 tires are 56 inches in diameter.
Boeing
Landing gear and wheel arrangements for a range of Boeing commercial aircraft are shown in the table below:
| Aircraft | Total Wheels | Narrow or Wide-Body? | Nose Gear Wheels | Inner Gears x Wheels | Outer Gears x Wheels |
| Boeing 737 | 6 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 2 |
| Boeing 757 | 10 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Boeing 767 | 10 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Boeing 777 | 14 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 6 |
| Boeing 787 | 10 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Boeing 747 | 18 | WB | 2 | 2 x 4 | 2 x 4 |
Airbus
Landing gear and wheel arrangements for a range of Airbus commercial aircraft are shown in the table below:
| Aircraft | Total Wheels | Narrow or Wide-Body? | Nose Gear Wheels | Inner Gears x Wheels | Outer Gears x Wheels |
| Airbus A220 | 6 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 2 |
| Airbus A319 | 6 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 2 |
| Airbus A320 | 6 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 2 |
| Airbus A321 | 6 | NB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 2 |
| Airbus A300 | 10 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Airbus A330 | 10 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Airbus A340-200/300 | 12 | WB | 2 | 1* x 2 | 2 x 4 |
| Airbus A340-500/600 | 14 | WB | 2 | 1* x 4 | 2 x 4 |
| Airbus A350-900 | 10 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 4 |
| Airbus A350-1000 | 14 | WB | 2 | N/A | 2 x 6 |
| Airbus A380 | 22 | WB | 2 | 2 x 6 | 2 x 4 |
*Single center fuselage landing gear
Embraer
All Embraer airliners including the original ERJs (ERJ-135 and ERJ-145) and E-Jets (E170, E175, E190, and E195) have 6 wheels in total – 2 nose gear wheels and two main landing gears with 2 wheels each.
Bombardier
All Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8 (DHC-8) aircraft have 6 wheels in total – 2 nose gear wheels and two main landing gears with 2 wheels each.
How Many Wheels Do Private Jets Have?
Private jets typically have between a total of 3 and 6 wheels, often arranged as a single nose landing gear assembly with 1 or 2 wheels, and a pair of main landing gear assemblies with one or two wheels each.
Smaller business jets such as the Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100, the Cessna Citation II, and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet have a single nosewheel and 2 main landing gear wheels.
Medium and larger size business jets such as the Gulfstream G550, Embraer Lineage 1000, and Bombardier’s Challenger and Global business jets have a total of 6 wheels comprising a pair of nose wheels on the front landing gear assembly, and a pair of wheels on each of the 2 main landing gear assemblies.
There are some business jets with 5 wheels such as the Learjet 70/75. These aircraft have a single nose wheel and a pair of main landing gears, each with 2 wheels.
How Many Wheels Do Small Prop Planes Have?
Light and general aviation aircraft, which can range in size from aircraft such as the Cessna 150 to the more impressive Piper M600, all tend to have 3 wheels.
The wheels are either in a triangular arrangement with a nose landing gear plus 2 main landing gear assemblies (e.g. Cessna 172) or in a ‘taildragger’ arrangement with a rear landing gear with a single small wheel instead of a nose landing gear (e.g. Tecnam P92). Some light aircraft, such as the Cessna 150 are available in both the triangular and taildragger arrangements.
How Many Wheels Do Fighter Jets Have?
Modern jet fighter aircraft tend to have 3 or 4 wheels (1 or 2 nose gear wheels, and a pair of main landing gears each with a single wheel). Some examples are listed below:
- Dassault Rafales: 4 wheels
- Eurofighter Typhoon: 4 wheels
- Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet: 4 wheels
- Northrop YF-23: 3 wheels
- Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor: 3 wheels
- Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II: 3 wheels
- Shenyang FC-31: 3 wheels
- Sukhoi SU-57: 4 wheels
There are some variations to this general pattern. The British Harrier fighter jet has an unusual five-wheel arrangement consisting of a single nose wheel, a single main landing gear with 2 wheels under the fuselage, and two smaller ‘outrigger’ wheels, one under each wing.
Which Aircraft Has the Most Wheels?
The aircraft with the most wheels is, or was, the massive 640-tonne Antonov An-225. Only one An-225 was ever built, but unfortunately, that aircraft has been recently destroyed as part of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The An-225 had a total of 32 wheels. It had a single 4-wheel nose gear, and each of the An-225s two main landing gears consisted of 14 wheels arranged as a row of 7-wheel pairs.
Given that the An-225 is no longer flying, the record for the current aircraft with the most wheels goes to the C-5 Galaxy with 28 wheels consisting of a single nose gear with 4 wheels and 4 main landing gears, each with 6 wheels.
For reference, An-225’s smaller companion, the An-124, has 24 wheels. The An-124’s landing gears are arranged in a similar fashion to the An-225’s with a single nose gear with 4 wheels, and the 2 main landing gears consisting of 10 wheels, each arranged as a row of 5-wheel pairs.
Summary
The number of wheels on an aircraft increases as the size and weight of the aircraft increase. As a general rule, the number of wheels on an aircraft ranges from 3 up to the observed maximum of 32.
The landing gear and wheel arrangements used by aircraft manufacturers tend to fit into well-used patterns such as the triangular or taildragger arrangement for light aircraft, and the single nose wheel with either 2 or 4 main landing gears for commercial airliners. That said, there are some aircraft with landing gear arrangements that don’t fit into these standard patterns.
An aircraft’s wheels can be considered its unsung heroes as they have to cope with very high stresses, and they need to be able to cope with rapid acceleration on take-off and rapid deceleration on landing.
