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The Boeing 737 MAX 10 occupies a unique place in the history of aerospace design. It is the largest in a family of four aircraft based on an airframe from the 1960s, despite being engineered for the 21st century. The jet is the longest and heaviest of the current model lineup, and yet its landing gear folds away into the same storage bays as the other aircraft that share the same core fuselage and wing components.
The 737 MAX 10 fuselage is stretched by 66 inches (1.68 meters) compared to the MAX 9. If it used standard landing gear, the extra rear fuselage length would drastically limit its rotation angle on takeoff, triggering a severe risk of tail strikes. In order to overcome that, it has a novel semi-levered landing gear design with a telescoping main gear. The SLG extends 9.5 inches (241 mm) during takeoff rotation and uses a mechanical "shrink link" to compress upon retraction.
Boeing's Semi-Levered Landing Gear
Boeing developed the SLG with UTC Aerospace Systems as a kind of two-stage mechanical assembly to solve the unique limitations of the MAX 10 for landing and takeoff. Crucially for rotation, the landing gear extends in parallel with the lifting of the nose as the jet begins to point skyward. This essentially moves the pivot point under the plane at the moment when aerodynamic lift begins to raise the wings off of the ground and take the plane up into the air.
What that does is prevent the tail of the 737 MAX 10 from rotating around a point further forward in the length of the fuselage, which would normally be the center of the landing gear. Because the lever on the main gear wheels pushes the wheels back down as the nose begins to rise, they remain in contact with the surface of the runway and essentially move the center axis backwards. This stops the tail from continuing to pivot down toward the ground until the wheels also come off the tarmac.
This action effectively shifts the rotation fulcrum slightly aft and pushes the entire tail higher off the ground. Once the 737 MAX 10 has risen high enough to bring the main landing gear wheels into the air, the tail now has sufficient clearance to rotate with the rest of the airframe without risk of striking the ground. This grants the MAX 10 the same takeoff and landing pitch margins as the shorter MAX 9 without changing pilot technique.
The 737 MAX 10's Shrink-Link
Now that the Boeing engineers had solved the problem of making the landing gear long enough to keep the 737 MAX 10 safe during takeoff, the uniquely extendable gear had to go back into the same wheel wells as its smaller counterparts. The solution they came up with was to add a mechanical component called the shrink link. What happens is that as the gear retracts upwards into the base, it uses an existing actuator found on the other 737 MAX variants to pull the lower assembly up and in.
As the gear is pulled sideways up into the belly, the geometry of the shrink link mechanically forces the inner cylinder upward. This compresses the telescoping shock strut, packing it tightly into the standard enclosure. That same extending cylinder that drops down when the plane takes off, thanks to the lever arm, can conform to the same dimensions as the gear found on the smaller 737 MAX jets thanks to the shrink link.
These innovative engineering solutions tie into the broader design challenge of making the 737 MAX conform to the footprint of its older predecessors while introducing innovative new technologies to the 737 family tree. Every upgrade on the plane, especially its much larger turbofan engines, is constrained by a footprint defined by the original 737. This is also notably the reason why the 737 MAX series does not have doors that cover the landing gear wheels completely.
Prisoner Of Success: The 737 Series
Until last year, the Boeing 737 family was the best-selling airliner ever made. The Airbus A320 family overtook it last year as Boeing continues to work toward resuming full production, but 2026 has shown a reversal of fortunes already. The 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 are expected to be certified this year and begin deliveries in 2027. The MAX 10 is one of the most highly anticipated aircraft in commercial flying history, with more than a thousand in the order backlog.
The introduction of the massive CFM International LEAP-1B engines achieves approximately a 15% leap in fuel efficiency over the preceding 737 Next Generation’s CFM56 engines. These engines have a very high bypass ratio and therefore very large nacelles with a distinctive flat bottom, unlike the vast majority of jetliners, which have circular engine fairings. This is the immediate visual cue that illustrates the greatest engineering constraint of the 737 MAX series: its low ground clearance.
Because the aircraft sits so low, mounting the giant, high-bypass LEAP-1B engines required moving them forward and upward on the wing so they wouldn't scrape the runway. Similarly, the landing gear needed to be longer for the MAX 10, but changing the wheel wells for the longest variant would have greatly reduced its parts commonality and pilot type rating commonality with the rest of the MAX fleet. The 95% shared parts and identical operating procedures inside the flight deck are crucial selling points of the 737 MAX. Thus, the semi-levered landing gear was born.
Building Fleet Commonality To Sell Airplanes
Inside the cockpit of a Boeing 737 MAX 10, the complex mechanics of the SLG assembly are completely invisible to aircrew. Pilot rotation techniques, V-speeds, and braking dynamics remain identical to the smaller MAX variants, allowing airlines to mix flight crews seamlessly while utilizing the increased passenger capacity of the MAX 10. The pilots do not need to change their 'stick and rudder' skills or adapt the takeoff and landing procedure from a MAX 8 or MAX 9. This saves airlines and pilots untold sums of money by eliminating training requirements and increasing the safety of flight in mixed fleets.
Strict adherence to fleet commonality is the most valuable business asset of the 737 MAX family that will give it the opportunity to reclaim its throne as the best-selling airliner in history. While modern aerodynamics and engine technologies provide physical efficiency, it is the preservation of a singular, grandfathered Pilot Type Rating and a shared operational footprint that makes the aircraft a financial powerhouse.
For an airline executive, introducing a brand-new aircraft type brings astronomical costs. Even making the switch to the Airbus A320, currently the most popular twinjet ever made, would cost millions of dollars for even a small carrier. Such a transition will also require either hiring new pilots in the airline or retraining every member of the aircrew on a new platform. For the MAX 10, pilots certified on older 737 NGs or other MAX variants require only minor, computer-based differences training.
SLG And Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System
From the cockpit, Boeing engineers went to extreme lengths to ensure that flying the largest 737 ever built feels exactly like flying its smaller siblings, hiding massive mechanical differences behind software and clever geometry. While the SLG landing gear has proven to be an elegant and effective mechanical engineering solution, the software that complements the updated geometry of the 737 MAX is another story.
The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, was designed to assist pilots in flying the 737 MAX despite its differences from the previous generation of 737s. Unfortunately, when the plane debuted, flaws in the software led to two tragic crashes that killed hundreds of passengers and crew on Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air jets. This led to the longest type grounding in the history of commercial aviation, forcing Boeing to completely rework the assembly line and allow the A320 to surpass it as the top jetliner.
To maintain a common type rating, regulations dictate that the plane must feel exactly like the older 737 NG when hand-flown near a stall. The undoing of MCAS in attempting to solve this problem was that it took data from only one of the two external Angle of Attack vane sensors. Additionally, Boeing completely omitted MCAS from the pilot manuals to keep training requirements minimal. Decisions by the company led to the tragic mishaps, but after a colossal restructuring effort over the years, Boeing and the 737 MAX are back on track.
The Huge Order Book Backlog For The Biggest 737 Max
Airlines have placed thousands of orders for the MAX 10 because its seat-mile economics directly rival the dominant Airbus A321neo. The MAX 10 backlog is a vital multi-billion-dollar lifeline for the company's financial turnaround. The FAA capped Boeing's production at 38 jets per month for many months following the accidents. After passing rigorous capstone safety reviews under CEO Kelly Ortberg, the FAA cleared Boeing to step up output to 42 jets a month in 2025.
As of mid-2026, the Boeing 737 MAX 10 has amassed over 1,400 firm orders, making it one of the largest single narrowbody backlogs in aviation history. As the 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 become production-ready after completing certification this year, Boeing is aiming for as many as 53 deliveries per month. To achieve this, the company has set up a fourth assembly line that is optimized for the MAX 10 at its enormous production facility in Renton, Washington.
