Oleo strut

Landing gear with oleo strut and scissor- or torque links
Landing gear with oleo shock absorber and trailing link

An oleo strut is a pneumatic air–oil hydraulic shock absorber used on the landing gear of most large aircraft and many smaller ones. This design cushions the impacts of landing and damps out vertical oscillations.

It is undesirable for an airplane to bounce on landing as it could lead to a loss of control, and the landing gear should not add to this tendency. A steel coil spring stores impact energy from landing and then releases it, while an oleo strut instead absorbs this energy, reducing bounce. As the strut compresses, the spring rate increases dramatically because the air is being compressed. The viscosity of the oil damps the rebound movement.

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