Definition
A landing gear arrangement in which a single strut supports a truck-style assembly carrying multiple wheels arranged in pairs along its length, allowing the load of a heavy aircraft to be distributed across more tires and a larger pavement area.
Plain English
A landing gear leg that ends in a small wheeled cart instead of just one or two wheels, so the aircraft's weight is spread out over many tires.
Context Anchor
Seen in descriptions, inspections, and maintenance of large airplanes that use multi-wheel main landing gear.
Derivation
The word bogie comes from British railway terminology, where it described a small four- or six-wheeled truck pivoting under a railway carriage to spread its weight along the track. Aviation borrowed the term for the same reason — to describe a multi-wheel truck mounted under each main gear leg.
Why Pilots Care
This design reduces stress on runways and tires while giving large aircraft better stability during takeoff, landing, and taxi.
Intuition Check
“Bogie” here does not mean an unidentified aircraft or target. It means the multi-wheel carrier assembly in the landing gear.
Example Sentence 1
The Boeing 747's main landing gear uses bogies with four wheels each to spread its weight across the runway.
Example Sentence 2
During the walk-around, the mechanic checked the bogie landing gear for even tire wear and proper oleo strut extension.