A retractable landing gear on an aircraft is operated by a landing gear control system 20 having a manually operable lever 26 movable from a first, e.g. gear-down, position to a second, e.g. gear-up position, in response to which a signal (e.g. a gear-up command) is outputted causing the landing gear to move to an up position. The landing gear control system 20 also includes a motor 40 configured to move the lever 26 in dependence on a signal, for example a signal received by a landing gear lever control unit 42 from a take-off detection system 46 which indicates that the aircraft has taken-off. Thus, the lever 26 may be considered as being configured both to be operated by a pilot of the aircraft manually and to be operated by the motor automatically.