Abstract A method is proposed for analyzing contact characteristics of aircraft spiral bevel gears.The effects of loads,misalignments and deflection of their supports on the tooth bearing and transmission error of spiral bevel gears have been investigated with the present method.The conclusions of this work are as follows:(1)The disalignment and deflection of the supports exert an evident influence on the contact pattern and the displacement curve of the spiral bevel gears.(2)The gears are sensitive to the position changement of △G and △Σ,but insensitive to △P and △E.(3)For the sake of acquiring optimum parameters of gears and cutters,the contact characteristics of spiral bevel gears can be analyzed with this method during design of the gears.