Messier-Dowty Gears Up for A3XX

Messier-Dowty-the world leader in landing gear design, development and manufacture-has made a considerable investment in producing a comprehensive solution for the landing gear system of the Airbus A3XX.

For almost three years, a Messier-Dowty engineering team has been working with Airbus Industrie and British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) on various landing gear configurations for the new Airbus "superjumbo." In a 50-50 partnership with the French National Test Center in Toulouse, Messier-Dowty (a Snecma Group company) has also built a dedicated drop test tower, dubbed MEGA. This $3.5 million facility is the largest in Europe and is devoted to the testing of very large landing gear assemblies.

On display at the Messier-Dowty stand at Farnborough is a representative design for one of the A3XX's six-wheeled main undercarriage bogies. If it is successful in its A3XX RFP bid, Messier-Dowty will have to expand its organization and tooling facilities in Europe and Canada to supply what will be the largest tensile steel and titanium landing gear parts ever produced.

By John Fricker