Landing gear is a critical system of an aircraft and is limited by cycles/ landings and calendar time. A set of landing gear requires heavy maintenance visits at scheduled calendar or cycle intervals throughout its lifetime to make sure the landing gear system is not operating outside of its safe life limits. These visits are accomplished within a 60–120-time frame and vary for each landing gear type, size, weight rating, and complexity.

Though a typical aircraft teardown will yield approximately 800-1200 different parts, a landing gear set is counted as one of the many—the set is actually a system comprised of hundreds of components. What’s more, landing gear components are accompanied by a tome of required documents that tediously track times, cycles, installations and removals throughout the life of the landing gear called back-to-birth trace.

This tracking and reporting requirement is set forth by the airworthiness bodies like the FAA and EASA. Typically, aftermarket companies that distribute aircraft parts have to manage around 800 to 1200 parts per aircraft, including the landing gear, in a single tear down. While overhauling the landing gear, maintenance teams have to take care of parts, including metal, electrical harnesses, wiring, sensors, shimmy dampers, and more.

Consequently, aftermarket aerospace companies that distribute nose to tail parts of an aircraft lose oversight over the landing gears’ overhaul. Air Spares Unlimited (ASU), a service and solution provider for the aftermarket aerospace industry, offers the best platform support and knowledge for their customers and suppliers in the aerospace market to mitigate the complexities of selling sourcing, and repairing landing gears, brakes, and wheels.

With an extensive focus on Chapter 32 materials—landing gears and brakes—ASU works with OEM’s, operators, repair facilities, and teardown companies and helps them source and redistribute commercial airline parts in a market where the visibility to spares availability and access to specific product knowledge is low or limited.“Our focus on the Chapter 32 product line drives a culture founded on quality and integrity. We constantly improve our technical and market knowledge to bring value to our clients in the form of cost savings and peace of mind,” mentions Stephanie Boccarossa, founder and Chief Innovation Officer of ASU.

The company undertakes an extensive methodology to navigate its customers through the highly complex overhaul. To do that, they keep in touch with the customers regularly and make real-time market assessments. For example, when the COVID pandemic hit, it had a significant impact on the aviation industry. ASU engaged their clientele and worked closely with them to develop innovative solutions for impending requirements.The company understands such unique needs as they continuously engage with the clients and study the market thoroughly. Their in-depth knowledge of Chapter 32 materials and in-house expertise allows them to deliver a solution that works for the client. “We are able to provide our customers with what they ask for and often times work together with them to develop solutions that better fit the situation,” says Stephanie.

Stephanie recalls the story of a client who required a landing gear replacement for an aircraft—the existing gear had reached its operational limit. The cost to purchase landing gear ranges from a hundred thousand dollars to seven and a half million dollars, depending on landing gear type. As the client had budgetary and time constraints, ASU presented them with an offer to trade their existing gear with a ready-to-install refurbished gear at a fraction of the price. Such success stories stem from ASU’s talented team with diverse industry backgrounds. As they go beyond the aviation industry to hire individuals, they can bring fresh ideas to build solutions and provide excellent customer service to their client base.

Moving ahead, the company plans to expand its inventory capabilities to include components and parts for narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. They also plan to expand their product line from commercial to regional and smaller aircraft. More recently, Stephanie has started a nonprofit organization to create a lasting effect on its community, The Deb Noreen Foundation, which offers scholarships to women looking to enter a STEM-based curriculum in universities.