Falcon Owners Could Face $300K Landing Gear Directive

The FAA has proposed a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Dassault Falcon 50, 2000 and 2000EX aircraft following concerns about a manufacturing defect affecting main landing gear components. The proposal, published Thursday, covers 683 U.S.-registered aircraft, although the agency estimates that up to 178 have affected components installed.

Potential Landing Gear Failure

According to the FAA, a manufacturing quality issue may have caused high-temperature oxidation in the upper and lower torque links of certain main landing gear assemblies. The condition could lead to landing gear failure. The proposed action follows a January EASA directive and would require operators to replace affected landing gear assemblies with serviceable equipment. The directive would also restrict the installation of certain affected parts.

“The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could result in failure of the MLG, possibly resulting in damage to the airplane and injury to occupants,” the FAA stated in its proposal.

Estimated Compliance Costs

The FAA estimates that replacing an affected main landing gear assembly would require 36 labor hours at $85 per hour, plus up to $300,000 for new equipment. That would bring the maximum estimated cost to $303,060 per aircraft. Alternatively, operators could rebuild the landing gear by replacing the upper and lower torque link assemblies, which the agency estimates would cost $48,990 in parts.

Across the 178 aircraft expected to require replacement, the FAA estimates maximum compliance costs of approximately $53.9 million. According to the proposal, Dassault indicated that warranty coverage could reduce or eliminate some of the expenses for certain operators. The agency is accepting public comments through Dec. 28 under docket FAA-2026-13805.

Neither the FAA nor EASA identified any accidents or in-service landing gear failures associated with the manufacturing defect in their respective directives.