West Star Aviation, together with DAS Aviation, has built an inventory of red gear covering a range of business aircraft platforms. The equipment is currently available to West Star’s in-house customers at no additional charge for Challenger 300, 601, 604, 605 and 650; Hawker 700, 800 and 900 series; Phenom 100 and 300; Legacy 600 and 650; Global 5000, XRS, 5500, 6000 and 6500; Falcon 50, 2000, 900 series and 7X; Legacy 450 and 500; Praetor 500 and 600; Piaggio P.180 and P.180 II Avanti; and Gulfstream G450 aircraft.
Red or roll-around landing gear is a temporary substitute assembly used to support an aircraft after its certified landing gear has been removed. The equipment is not flight hardware and is not intended for normal aircraft operation. Instead, it supports the aircraft within the maintenance facility and allows controlled repositioning during a maintenance event. Typical applications include landing gear overhaul, major inspections, structural repairs requiring gear removal, exterior painting, and hangar repositioning.
This capability can be particularly useful during maintenance visits involving several concurrent work scopes. Once an aircraft is supported by the appropriate red gear, technicians can continue other work rather than waiting for the operational landing gear to complete its overhaul or repair. This can include avionics modifications, cabin refurbishment, structural work, and exterior paint.
Landing gear overhaul can involve disassembly, inspection, non-destructive testing, component replacement, repair, reassembly, and recertification. Depending on the work required, the landing gear may be unavailable while other scheduled maintenance remains in progress. Roll-around gear allows these activities to run separately from other aircraft work, helping maintenance teams continue with the wider aircraft maintenance plan.
The ability to reposition the aircraft is also important within a large maintenance facility where different work scopes may require different areas of the hangar. Without replacement gear, an aircraft with its landing gear removed may need to remain on jacks or other support equipment, limiting its movement within the facility.
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For operators, the use of red gear can help make better use of planned aircraft downtime by allowing separate maintenance work packages to progress concurrently. This is particularly relevant when landing gear overhaul is combined with a major inspection, modification programme or refurbishment.
West Star’s red gear inventory forms part of the equipment and tooling infrastructure supporting complex business aircraft maintenance events. The capability complements its broader activities across airframe maintenance, avionics, modifications, interiors, structures and exterior paint, allowing multiple work scopes to be coordinated during a single aircraft visit.
