Found an old manual that said a DC-3's main tires only needed 55 psi

I was cleaning out a storage room at the small airport in Bakersfield and found a 1950s maintenance guide for the DC-3. It said to inflate the main tires to just 55 psi, which is way less than I would have guessed for a plane that size. What's the lowest tire pressure you've ever seen called for on a bigger aircraft?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey8186d ago

Remember the old Convair 580s. Their tires ran at a surprisingly low 45 psi. The big, soft tires were meant for rough fields and absorbed a lot of shock. Pressure isn't always about weight alone.

carr.abby6d ago

Honestly, that low pressure sounds like a great way to blow a tire on a modern runway.

xena5826d ago

Casey's point about the Convair 580 is spot on. It's all about the design and where it lands. Those old planes with big, soft tires were built for grass or dirt strips, not modern concrete. The DC-3's low pressure makes total sense for that era. You see the same idea with bush planes today, they run really soft tires to soak up bumps on rough ground.