Airbus has received the first set of Messier-Dowty-built A350 XWB main landing gear, the European airframer announced today. Delivered to Airbus’s A350 XWB landing gear systems test facility in Filton, UK, the main landing gear set for the A350-900 follows the arrival last month of the nose landing gear produced by Liebherr.

Airbus plans soon to install both the main landing gear and nose landing gear sets together into the landing gear systems test-rig, in preparation for integration testing to begin toward the end of 2011. Engineers will carry out the tests to demonstrate reliability and maturity, and to provide evidence for certification, especially regarding the extension-retraction, braking and steering systems.