In the field of civil aviation, the nose landing gear is a critical component that is prone to damage during taxiing. With the advent of new technologies such as towing taxi-out and hub motors, the nose landing gear faces increasingly complex operational environments, thereby imposing higher performance demands. Ensuring the structural safety of the nose landing gear is fundamental for the successful application of these technologies. However, current research on aircraft nose landing gear under these new conditions is somewhat lacking, particularly in terms of reliable analysis models for real-world scenarios. This study focuses on a typical Class C aircraft, specifically the B-727 model, for which a finite element model of the nose landing gear is developed. Modal testing of the aircraft’s nose landing gear is conducted using the impact hammer method, and the results are compared with those from the simulations. The experimental data indicate that the error range for the first seven natural frequencies is between 0.23% and 9.27%, confirming the high accuracy of the developed landing gear model. Furthermore, with towing taxi-out as the primary scenario, a dynamic model of the aircraft towing system is established, and an analysis on the structural strength and topological optimization of the nose landing gear under various conditions, including high speeds and heavy loads, is performed. The results show that the developed model can effectively support the analysis and prediction of the mechanical behavior of the nose landing gear. Under high-speed, heavy-load conditions, the nose landing gear experiences significantly increased loads, with the maximum deformation primarily occurring at the lower section of the shock strut’s outer cylinder. However, no damage occurred. Additionally, under these conditions, an optimized structural design for the landing gear was identified, which, while ensuring structural strength, achieves a 22.32% reduction in the mass of the outer cylinder, also ensuring safety in towing taxi-out conditions.

A new towing taxi-out departure mode has become the preferred choice to replace the traditional departure mode of civil aircraft due to its obvious advantages of low energy consumption, low emissions, and high efficiency. However, the inertia may lead to potential lateral instability and even “Jack-knifing”, as the mass of the system is concentrated in the rear. In this paper, the lateral instability mechanism and influencing factors of the civil aircraft towing taxi-out system were studied using computer virtual simulation technology and taking Boeing 737–400 and AM210 tractors as research objects. The results show that the “Jack-knifing” phenomenon was caused by the lateral instability of the system when the sliding speed of the system was more than 15 km/h, and the system was accompanied by the lateral slip condition. Furthermore, the safety zone, side-show zone and jack-knifing zone of the system were defined in terms of towing speed and steering angle. Additionally, a towing safety zone was created under different airport track conditions by analyzing the lateral stability of the system. The conclusion of this study may provide a theoretical basis and reference for the safe application of the new taxi-out departure mode.