As is known, an air cushion landing system for aircraft consists of an inflated bag of continuous tubular configuration on the bottom of an aircraft. In many cases, it resembles an inverted rubber life raft. In one type of landing system, air is pumped into the middle of the surrounding tubular configuration and is allowed to escape out the bottom. In other embodiments, the air used to inflate the tubular configuration is permitted to escape through orifices in the bottom of the configuration. In either case, as the system nears the ground, the escape of air is retarded such that pressure builds up between the ground and the inflated tubular configuration. This pressure, acting over the area of the inflated bag and the cavity defined within the tubular configuration, will support the weight of the aircraft during landing, takeoff and taxiing.
One problem encountered with inflated landing bag systems of this type is that they are large and have poor aerodynamic characteristics. In particular, they usually cause a reduction in the directional stability of the aircraft. Previous attempts to solve this problem have merely been to make the tail surfaces on the aircraft larger in order to counteract the effects of the air cushion landing bag system. This, however, increases the weight of the aircraft, aircraft drag and also increases the overall cost of the aircraft.