What is the maximum nose-wheel angle of deflection on modern commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 787? Can it deflect to 90 degrees or even more?
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For the B787, the maximum steering angle is 70°. This information can be found in the Airport Planning Manual:
For the A380, which has also a steerable main landing gear, the nose gear steering limit is the same:
The center of the turn is off center, at the level of the main landing gear. With a multiple-boogie landing gear the main gear slips on the ground, which is not desirable.
This effect also occurs with a single bogie, unless the wheels are steerable. Limiting the steering angle also limits this slippage, and the wear going with it.
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1$\begingroup$ I suspect anything much beyond 70° would make the aircraft rather difficult to maneuver on the ground. Certainly a nose wheel fully perpendicular to the forward motion could become... interesting, if there is even the slightest thrust imbalance. $\endgroup$ – a CVn Jan 7 '18 at 13:42
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1$\begingroup$ The maximums indicated here do not necessarily mean that is as far as they will go however... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetBlue_Flight_292 comes to mind where Airbus A320-200 landing gear stuck at 90 degrees. $\endgroup$ – Trevor_G Jan 8 '18 at 16:44
