Definition
A high-visibility marking pattern, painted or applied to the visible portion of a retractable landing gear strut, that becomes visible to the pilot when the gear is not fully extended and locked. The stripes serve as a direct visual position indicator, supplementing the cockpit gear position lights.
Plain English
Bright striped markings on the landing gear leg that the pilot can see if the gear isn't all the way down. If the stripes show, the gear isn't locked in place yet.
Context Anchor
Seen on some cockpit position indicators, especially older or mechanical landing gear indicators.
Derivation
The phrase describes the actual appearance of the indicator: diagonal red and white bands. Pilots often call this a “barber-pole” pattern because it looks like the striped pole outside a barber shop. That visual idea helps: when the stripes show, the system is drawing your attention to an unfinished or unsafe condition.
Why Pilots Care
Crossing without clearance creates a runway incursion risk and violates ATC instructions.
Grounding Statement
If you see the stripes, the airplane is telling you the selected position has not been safely confirmed.
Intuition Check
Do not read the red and white diagonal stripes as decoration or simple color coding. In this cockpit context, the stripes are an indication that the position is not confirmed normal or locked.
Example Sentence 1
On final approach, the pilot glanced at the nose gear and saw red and white diagonal stripes still showing, indicating the gear had not fully locked down.
Example Sentence 2
During the surface movement, the red and white diagonal stripes indicated the limit of the movement area.