How does the Airbus A320 landing gear work in a simulator?
In an Airbus A320 flight simulator, the landing-gear lever sends an electrical command to simulated Landing Gear Control and Interface Units (LGCIUs). They sequence Green hydraulic pressure to open the doors, unlock and move the nose and main gear, engage the locks, close the doors, and update the cockpit indications.
In our Aviation & Real-World Flying coverage, we use the real A320 architecture as the baseline. Exactly how much of that architecture works in a simulator depends on the aircraft: a basic model may provide only an animation, while a systems-focused add-on can reproduce hydraulic failures, sensor logic and gravity extension.
What controls the A320 landing gear system?
The cockpit lever requests a gear position; it does not route hydraulic pressure directly. Two LGCIUs normally alternate between complete operating cycles, using proximity sensors to determine whether each gear leg and door is locked in the commanded position.
Hydraulic power comes from the aircraft's Green system. The PTU can help restore Green-system pressure using power from the Yellow system, but the landing gear itself remains a Green-system user. Our explanation of the A320's Green, Blue and Yellow hydraulic systems covers that relationship in detail.
Hydraulic actuators move the doors and gear, while mechanical uplocks and downlocks secure them at the ends of travel. For the underlying hardware, see our guide to landing-gear struts, doors, locks, wheels and brakes.
What happens during gear retraction and extension?
| Selection | Normal sequence | Final cockpit state |
|---|---|---|
| Gear UP | Doors open, downlocks release, the gear retracts, uplocks engage and the powered doors close. Wheel rotation is arrested before the wheels enter their bays. | Gear-down lights extinguish with no unlock or fault warning. |
| Gear DOWN | Doors open, uplocks release, hydraulic actuators extend the gear, downlocks engage and the powered doors return to their normal position. | All three gear units show green and downlocked. |
Air-ground logic normally prevents retraction while the aircraft is firmly on its wheels. This is why selecting gear up during a ground test may produce no movement even though the lever or keyboard command appears to work.
At what speed should A320 landing gear be operated?
Common A320 limits are 250 kt for extension, 220 kt for retraction, and 280 kt or Mach 0.67 with the gear extended. Check the placard, documentation or cockpit indications supplied with the specific A320 variant because an add-on may represent a different model or simplify the limits.
Selecting the gear above an operating limit does not guarantee that every simulator will react identically. A basic aircraft may display only a warning; a more detailed one may model excessive loads, damaged doors or a gear fault.
How should you operate the A320 landing gear in a simulator?
- Before departure: verify that the lever is down and all three gear units indicate downlocked. Do not rely solely on the external model.
- After take-off: establish a positive climb, then select the lever UP. The ground-sensing logic should change to flight mode before retraction begins.
- Monitor the sequence: watch for the temporary transit indication, followed by a clean gear-up state without an unlock warning.
- During the approach: reduce below the extension limit, select DOWN and confirm three green indications before landing. Our overview of the relevant A320 controls and cockpit displays shows where these indications fit into the flight-deck scan.
- During a go-around: apply go-around thrust first and select gear UP only after confirming a positive climb. The complete sequence is covered in our A320 simulator go-around procedure.
What do the A320 gear indications mean?
Green indications confirm that the associated nose or main gear is downlocked. A red UNLK light or equivalent ECAM symbol means the gear is moving or has failed to lock in the selected position; the exact artwork varies between add-ons.
With the gear correctly retracted, the green downlock lights are extinguished and no unlock warning remains. A visible wheel in an external view is not sufficient evidence of a safe gear state because visual animation and systems logic can become desynchronised in simplified aircraft, replays or network sessions.
How does emergency gravity extension work?
Gravity extension mechanically releases the gear when normal hydraulic operation is unavailable. On the real A320, turning the GRVTY GEAR EXTN handcrank through the prescribed three turns isolates hydraulic supply and releases the door and gear uplocks, allowing the landing gear to fall and lock down.
The hydraulically operated doors remain open, and nose-wheel steering is unavailable after this extension method. Systems-focused add-ons may reproduce those consequences; basic aircraft often map the generic gear command directly to a down animation and bypass the emergency mechanism. In real operations, crews use the aircraft checklist because the associated braking and steering capability depends on the failure that caused the extension.
Why will the A320 landing gear not move in my simulator?
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Gear UP is rejected on the ground | Normal weight-on-wheels interlock | Test after becoming airborne rather than overriding the protection. |
| Gear remains down after take-off | No Green hydraulic pressure, incomplete aircraft initialisation or the wrong control event | Check hydraulic indications, ECAM messages and the add-on's supported gear assignment. |
| Gear stays in transit or one green light is missing | Door, lock, sensor or hydraulic failure | Remain within gear speed limits, allow the sequence to finish and use the simulated abnormal checklist. Do not cycle it repeatedly at high speed. |
| Lever or gear repeatedly changes position | Duplicate keyboard, joystick or cockpit-hardware bindings | Search the control assignments for every landing-gear command and remove competing toggle, up and down bindings. |
| External gear position disagrees with ECAM | Visual animation and system state are out of sync | Trust the cockpit warning logic in a detailed aircraft, reload only if the add-on has clearly malfunctioned, and avoid using replay state as a systems check. |
A mistake we see constantly is assigning both a generic gear toggle and a physical two-position switch. One command selects DOWN while the other immediately sends UP, producing flickering indications or a lever that appears stuck.
Why does landing-gear realism differ between A320 add-ons?
Simulator aircraft do not all model the same system depth. Basic A320s usually provide lever logic, three position indications, sounds and an external animation. Detailed add-ons may also simulate both LGCIUs, Green hydraulic pressure, individual locks and sensors, speed-related damage, gravity extension and failures.
The practical test is to remove Green hydraulic pressure in a controlled ground scenario and observe whether normal gear operation becomes unavailable while the emergency mechanism still behaves independently. If the generic gear key always completes the animation regardless of electrical or hydraulic state, the aircraft is using simplified rather than system-level logic.