Today, most operational helicopters are on skids, wheels, and (where needed) floats. But during the early days in the development of helicopters, the vast majority were constructed with a wheeled undercarriage. This was likely due to the thinking that helicopters would mainly operate from airports.

How many wheels does a helicopter have?

Heavy-lift helicopters, for example, use four wheels to simplify loading. But most others use only three, the single being either a trail wheel or a nose wheel. Sikorsky had equipped the U.S. Army's Black Hawk with a far-aft tail wheel to protect the back end from accidental ground strikes in nap-of-the-earth flight.

What are helicopter wheels called?

Gear arrangements

Wheeled undercarriages normally come in two types: Conventional landing gear or "taildragger", where there are two main wheels towards the front of the aircraft and a single, much smaller, wheel or skid at the rear. The same helicopter arrangement is called tricycle tailwheel.