For many years Risbridger Ltd has proudly developed and supplied numerous aircraft fluid replenishment pumps and accessories to support the various military aircraft that BAe Systems have built for exercises or training purposes.
In 2012 we were invited to look at improving upon the existent method of charging the Main and Nose Undercarriage Oleo Legs with fluid on the various marks of Hawk Trainer Aircraft.
Background: Oleo – relating to or containing oil.The ‘Oleo legs’ are the hydraulic landing gear struts.
After concentrated design and development work and prototyping we successfully trialled our Risbridger 5580 Oleo Leg Charging Rig which enabled the Undercarriage Oleo Leg to be charged in accord with procedures. The rig has a self-contained fluid supply reservoir and collects the return waste fluid into a separate container into the bargain.
“Excellent”, I hear you say – “I’ll have ten of them!”
Whilst successful trials ticked the boxes and much more, the procedures demonstrated that improvements could and should be made to support the Undercarriage Leg throughout the fluid and nitrogen replenishment process.
Problem: Develop a kit that would compress and allow extension of both the nose and main undercarriage Oleo Legs on all marks of Hawk Trainer aircraft whilst replenishing the Oleo legs with fluid and nitrogen. It had to be able to fully support the aircraft wheel throughout the lifting axis and incorporate a safety release clutch mechanism that would operate when the Oleo is in the fully compressed position thereby preventing the aircraft to be inadvertently lifted off of the main aircraft jacks.
Solution: Our Risbridger 5580-8200 Oleo Leg Compression Kit.
Again after successful trials we have now gained approval from BAe Systems for this kit to be incorporated into the Hawk Oleo fluid charging procedures alongside the Risbridger 5580 Oleo Leg Charging Rig.
The Risbridger 5580-8200 Oleo Leg Compression Kit not only fulfils everything that was requested by the customer it is also self contained, has no requirement for external power, is considered a one-person operational item and can accommodate different sizes of nose and main wheel tyre.
Most importantly to the operator it is safe and secure to use and to the project leaders it has significantly reduced the operation time to charge the Undercarriage Oleo Legs.
Keith Robinson
Director of Engineering
