3 planes, one cup...err.. hangar

schmookeeg

schmookeeg

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Nov 6, 2008
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4,832
Location
Alameda, CA
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Display name:
Mike Brannigan
Hello.

I have recently moved to the Bay Area, and hangars here are contentious, like any urban area. I'm on the waitlists for my 4 preferred airports.

My number one choice airport has a cabal of pilots trying to split a 60' hangar 3 ways and I've indicated interest in the plan.

I've done Tees, I've done Rectangles, and I've had an 80' hangar at the shop. We fit 4 comfortably and 5 uncomfortably in the 80', but they were all low wings.

Can 3 planes share a 60' hangar comfortably? Or will I be buying airplane rash ointment quickly?

I don't yet know the other planes, but I assume XC-grade singles. Mine is a big fat Baron.

Can this even be done? I'm assuming one needs to be a high wing?

Curious if this is a common practice. There aren't really $ savings to be gained, but I think a 60' box will give me MORE space for tools and spares. But maybe I'm dreaming. :D

Appreciate any insights :)

- Mike
 
Get a carousel!


As far as fitting planes, I'm sure it can be done but it depends on their planes and might take some experimentation for what works best. I recommend keeping your plane in the back corner. The extra half hour you spend moving their airplanes out of the way to fly yours is a small price to pay for their planes being the ones that get hangar rash. :)
 
schmookeeg said:
Hello.

I have recently moved to the Bay Area, and hangars here are contentious, like any urban area. I'm on the waitlists for my 4 preferred airports.

My number one choice airport has a cabal of pilots trying to split a 60' hangar 3 ways and I've indicated interest in the plan.

I've done Tees, I've done Rectangles, and I've had an 80' hangar at the shop. We fit 4 comfortably and 5 uncomfortably in the 80', but they were all low wings.

Can 3 planes share a 60' hangar comfortably? Or will I be buying airplane rash ointment quickly?

I don't yet know the other planes, but I assume XC-grade singles. Mine is a big fat Baron.

Can this even be done? I'm assuming one needs to be a high wing?

Curious if this is a common practice. There aren't really $ savings to be gained, but I think a 60' box will give me MORE space for tools and spares. But maybe I'm dreaming. :D

Appreciate any insights :)

- Mike
Click to expand...
I've had my plane in a community hangar before for a couple months. Had to move another plane and others had to move mine. Made it without rash. I own a hangar now and rent it to two folk with planes. One was C172, since replaced by a Citabria. The other is low wing Rans. The Rans guy has to move the other plane. He pranged its wing once. When paying up he threw some other stuff the Cessna needed but not from the prang as a consolation to the inconvience of having the plane down for a couple months. I guess it gets down to do you want to take the risk, what is the character of your hangar mates and what does your insurance have to say about it
 
A shared hangar is ok if the planes in the back rarely fly. If the guy in the back flies much he's going to get tired of moving one or two other planes every time he wants to fly.

I'm in a shared hangar with two other planes. The one on the back never flies, the owner pulls it out once or twice year to taxi it around. At one point there were three nonflying airplanes in the back. Right now there's another plane in back which I think is a refugee from a nearby airport that's being repaved, I don't think it's moved since it arrived.
 
iamtheari said:
Get a carousel!


As far as fitting planes, I'm sure it can be done but it depends on their planes and might take some experimentation for what works best. I recommend keeping your plane in the back corner. The extra half hour you spend moving their airplanes out of the way to fly yours is a small price to pay for their planes being the ones that get hangar rash. :)
Click to expand...
I feel like that thing should go up and down in addition to 'round and 'round.
Carousel.gif


EDIT: Why oh why can't Xenforo handle animate GIFs?
 
iamtheari said:
Get a carousel!


As far as fitting planes, I'm sure it can be done but it depends on their planes and might take some experimentation for what works best. I recommend keeping your plane in the back corner. The extra half hour you spend moving their airplanes out of the way to fly yours is a small price to pay for their planes being the ones that get hangar rash. :)
Click to expand...

The more I ponder that carousel, the less I think it's an efficient use of space. I'm guessing that hangar is wha, 70' square? I grant it saves jockeying planes around though.

Now that vertical lift doodad, I forgot those were a thing. I wonder what insurance would have to say about parking in the loft. :D Probably nothing until I pooched it and dropped a baron on two other nice aircraft.
 
schmookeeg said:
The more I ponder that carousel, the less I think it's an efficient use of space. I'm guessing that hangar is wha, 70' square? I grant it saves jockeying planes around though.
Click to expand...
I agree. It's one of those ideas that seems really smart until you think about it more. In the same size hangar, how many planes could you park such that you can just roll them out the front door without moving any others? I've been borrowing hangar space this summer and the way we have the hangar arranged proves that this can be done. There are an A36, a retractable Cessna, a Super Cub, a Champ, and my RV-14. The A36 and Cessna are on the left side and the RV-14, Super Cub, and Champ are on the right side, both sides in that order from front to back. Any plane can be rolled out without touching the others except that the Champ needs the Super Cub to be out first.
 
Dana said:
The one on the back never flies, the owner pulls it out once or twice year to taxi it around.
Click to expand...
Oh, boy. He'll need a new engine, or the poor-sucker buyer will.
 
iamtheari said:
I agree. It's one of those ideas that seems really smart until you think about it more. In the same size hangar, how many planes could you park such that you can just roll them out the front door without moving any others?
Click to expand...
If the hangar and carousel were properly designed you could roll one airplane nose-first onto it and rotate it to a corner and back it off into the corner. Would work OK for hangar queens. Since there are four corners.........
 
schmookeeg said:
The more I ponder that carousel, the less I think it's an efficient use of space. I'm guessing that hangar is wha, 70' square? I grant it saves jockeying planes around though.

Now that vertical lift doodad, I forgot those were a thing. I wonder what insurance would have to say about parking in the loft. :D Probably nothing until I pooched it and dropped a baron on two other nice aircraft.
Click to expand...
2 ton electric chain hoist with an upper welded on stop so the hoist can't creep. Or if it does it's not coming down. Probably best to figure out what the other planes are and how often each flies.
 
schmookeeg said:
Can 3 planes share a 60' hangar comfortably? Or will I be buying airplane rash ointment quickly?
Click to expand...
Obviously depends a bit on the particular airplanes in question, but yes, you can easily fit 3 typical GA airplanes in a 60 x 60.

My 60 x 60 currently holds a Beech 18 (50' wingspan), a T6 (42' wingspan) and a Waco biplane (30').

A couple years ago, we actually had a 4th airplane in there (a small single seat EAB acro plane).

In my case, what makes it work is an RC Towbot. Without that, I would not be able to position the Twin Beech and T6 in such a way as to make enough room for the biplane. And for the Twin Beech, the Towbot has already paid for itself in self serve fuel savings over having to always have the plane filled from the truck.

A Baron a couple of singles would have plenty of room without the need for a Towbot and hangar rash shouldn't be a big concern as long as you trust the people who are moving the planes.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Obviously depends a bit on the particular airplanes in question, but yes, you can easily fit 3 typical GA airplanes in a 60 x 60.

My 60 x 60 currently holds a Beech 18 (50' wingspan), a T6 (42' wingspan) and a Waco biplane (30').
Click to expand...

Oh, jeez, this is very encouraging!

I just learned the other 2 planes are an Ercoupe and a Mooney. I think I could put those IN the ruddy Baron if I had to. :D I was figuring Bonanza-sized items or larger.

Should be a luxurious arrangement, will chat particulars with the rest of the cabal tomorrow, but hoping it works out.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Oh, boy. He'll need a new engine, or the poor-sucker buyer will.
Click to expand...

It's an ultralight Minimax with a 2-stroke. 2-strokes often survive long periods of disuse without problems, if not they're cheap to rebuild. This particular plane has flown just once, a few years ago.
 
schmookeeg said:
Hello.

I have recently moved to the Bay Area, and hangars here are contentious, like any urban area. I'm on the waitlists for my 4 preferred airports.

My number one choice airport has a cabal of pilots trying to split a 60' hangar 3 ways and I've indicated interest in the plan.

I've done Tees, I've done Rectangles, and I've had an 80' hangar at the shop. We fit 4 comfortably and 5 uncomfortably in the 80', but they were all low wings.

Can 3 planes share a 60' hangar comfortably? Or will I be buying airplane rash ointment quickly?

I don't yet know the other planes, but I assume XC-grade singles. Mine is a big fat Baron.

Can this even be done? I'm assuming one needs to be a high wing?

Curious if this is a common practice. There aren't really $ savings to be gained, but I think a 60' box will give me MORE space for tools and spares. But maybe I'm dreaming. :D

Appreciate any insights :)

- Mike
Click to expand...

well it sort of depends on the planes. Four RV’s or four DC3’s?

I have a 70 x 65 and very easily fit: a Mooney J, a Cessna 140, a 172, a 20’ Bass boat, a Vintage pickup, a golf cart and either my car or pickup whichever I’m not driving at the time. I also have a reasonable amount of work area for my side by side clutch reconditioning retirement business. Four planes could fit easily if the only toys in the hangar were aviation ones. If a combination of high and low wings it would be easier.

If it weren’t for the non aviation items and it were a combination of high and low wings, I am quite confident that four single engine planes would fit.
 
Last edited:
RyanShort1 said:
You never know. Sometimes you can get quite a lot of use out of an engine that's sat "too long."
Click to expand...
Sitting doesn't hurt it much. It's the ground-running. Dana had said, "The one on the back never flies, the owner pulls it out once or twice year to taxi it around."
 
Dan Thomas said:
Sitting doesn't hurt it much. It's the ground-running. Dana had said, "The one on the back never flies, the owner pulls it out once or twice year to taxi it around."
Click to expand...
I know, but, while I wouldn't pay full price for such a plane, I'd also not immediately trash the engine. One of my Taylorcrafts was one of these aircraft and it ended up being just fine.
 
iamtheari said:
Get a carousel!

Click to expand...
This is just so kewl. In the spirit of Not worthy of its own Thread, I gotta ask since this appears to have a hump to get up on the best lazy susan Ive ever seen.
How strong is the average tail tie-down point, could it be used for pulling? Im thinking a winch in the middle of that thing would be useful. For that matter, why have I never seen a winch in the floor of a hangar to pull in a plane in, even if it attached to the nose wheel? Bad idea?
 
Robert Gee said:
This is just so kewl. In the spirit of Not worthy of its own Thread, I gotta ask since this appears to have a hump to get up on the best lazy susan Ive ever seen.
How strong is the average tail tie-down point, could it be used for pulling? Im thinking a winch in the middle of that thing would be useful. For that matter, why have I never seen a winch in the floor of a hangar to pull in a plane in, even if it attached to the nose wheel? Bad idea?
Click to expand...
Haven't looked hard enough? Got one in the hangar with a wireless remote. Gotta mount the winch off the ground a bit so it pulls straight back and not down.
 
Apparently so. Ive got a lot of living and learning still I hope.
 
Does anyone know if Vicsaircraft is still in business? I just tried their URL and got not found. There is a good video on YouTube, but it appears to be old. I have seen them at Oshkosh, hope I don't have to wait that long to get up with them.

We are considering building a carousel hangar and I'm just starting the research.
How big a box hangar is needed?
Any recommendations on carousel machinery?
How many airplanes can we think to shelter? This is for DA40s, Cirrus SR20/22 and Piper Warriors. All low wing at this point.
 
Racerx said:
The Six fits up top as well. I'd have to do some fabricobbling to make a Baron work

View attachment 100548
Click to expand...
Yikes because of the infer red tube heater above it! Even with the shield I would not be OK with that, shield needs to twice that big and then you defeat the radiant style of heating. Those heaters have min distance underneath and it's like 8'.

How is that working out for you?
 
Gary Ward said:
Yikes because of the infer red tube heater above it! Even with the shield I would not be OK with that, shield needs to twice that big and then you defeat the radiant style of heating. Those heaters have min distance underneath and it's like 8'.

How is that working out for you?
Click to expand...
Zero issue. Built it for a 150 years ago. Sold the 150 and modified it to fit the Cherokee 180. The heater was a big concern and brought the scissor lift to feel the plane surface when it's heating. Doesn't even make it get warm.
 
Jan Squillace said:
Does anyone know if Vicsaircraft is still in business? I just tried their URL and got not found. There is a good video on YouTube, but it appears to be old. I have seen them at Oshkosh, hope I don't have to wait that long to get up with them.

We are considering building a carousel hangar and I'm just starting the research.
How big a box hangar is needed?
Any recommendations on carousel machinery?
How many airplanes can we think to shelter? This is for DA40s, Cirrus SR20/22 and Piper Warriors. All low wing at this point.
Click to expand...
15 seconds to Google it and this popped up. Before that was a "permanently closed" Google listing.

https://kfgo.com/2019/06/03/grounded-fargo-flight-instructor-wants-his-license-reinstated/
 
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