If every one of our landings were a perfect "grease job" where the mains kiss the runway at an infinitesimally small descent rate -- and if every runway we land on were a perfectly smooth surface without any bumps or potholes -- then the landing gear on our airplanes could be dead simple. Wheel assemblies rigidly attached to the airframe would work fine, just as they did on the toy wagon and roller-skates I had when I was a kid.Dream on!In the real world, some of our landings ("arrivals"?) involve embarrassingly firm touchdowns. Some of the runways and taxiways we use are not exactly pool-table smooth, either. Which is why nearly every airplane ever built has been equipped with a shock-absorbing landing gear designed to survive considerable abuse.Lightweight aircraft can often get away with a simple, spring-loaded gear. Many older tube-and-fabric designs (like the venerable Piper Cub) use a simple, hinged gear leg with stranded rubber shock cords used to absorb the shock of landing. Mooneys use a stack of shock-absorbing rubber doughnuts for the same purpose.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/ownership/the-savvy-aviator-31-know-your-oleo