What are three landing gear extension modes?

• A. Normal, Electrical Override and Alternate gear extension
• B. Normal only
• C. Electrical Override and Alternate gear extension
• D. Normal and Emergency extension

Answer: (A)

Landing gear extension is designed with backups so the gear can deploy even if part of the system has a fault. The three modes at play are normal extension, electrical override, and alternate gear extension.

Normal extension uses the aircraft’s primary hydraulic system to unlock, extend, and lock the gear in the down position. It’s the standard, fully integrated method for deploying the gear during normal operations.

Electrical override provides a backup path when hydraulic pressure isn’t available but electrical power still is. This mode uses an electrical drive to operate the gear extension sequence, bypassing the main hydraulic route so the gear can still reach the down-and-locked position.

Alternate gear extension is another backup path that uses a separate mechanism (often a dedicated hydraulic source or a manual/alternate drive) to extend the gear when both the normal hydraulic system and the electrical drive aren’t usable. This ensures deployment even in more severe failure scenarios.

The other options omit one of these essential backups, leaving gaps in gear deployment capability under certain failures, which is why they aren’t correct.