The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) owns a fleet of Bell 429 that operates in some of the most demanding, challenging and severe operational and environmental conditions. It cannot, therefore, afford any downtime for skidtube replacements. The 429 skidtubes presently offered on the market are delivered with partial protection, leaving large areas unprotected and subject to damage. To avoid this possible damage to its landing gear, Transport Canada, the entity maintaining the CCG's helicopter fleet, turned to the aftermarket landing gear supplier Dart Aerospace for a solution.

Dart responded by creating full-length wearplates composed of wearpads with tungsten-carbide welds and full-length stainless steel wearplates, compatible with OEM skidtubes. To prevent corrosion, the wearplates have a 'Rockguard-type' rubber inner finish which eliminates gaskets for ease of installation. No drilling is required as they use the existing Bell OEM wearpad inserts and fasteners and include additional clamps to secure the installation.