Hangars

Nobody owes you a hangar. If you think there's a shortage? Build a bunch and get rich leasing them out. But you'll quickly find that the numbers don't work, and that's why there aren't many hangars.

Around here you find out that the airport authorities are waiting for the BBD (bigger, better deal). Presumably Amazon's gonna create a hub with cargo 747's going into the 75' wide, 4,000 runway, so the airport authority are holding out for them and won't release land leases to people who are actually legitimate customers.
 
The fabric hangars seem doable, but will management want a bunch of tents on the field??

I think perception would be the biggest hurdle. Also management is usually lazy and doesn't want to rack the boat and lose that cushy govt gig.

If anyone gets the go ahead to build one on an airport, please post
 
Nobody owes you a hangar. If you think there's a shortage? Build a bunch and get rich leasing them out. But you'll quickly find that the numbers don't work, and that's why there aren't many hangars.

Our airport manager was just telling me that years ago they built 2 sets of hangars for 1.2 mil. Now the airport owner wants to build another hangar and now just one hangar building is 1.2 mil. He said do the math and it does not work out. Unfortunately he said our hangar rents will be going up this year but still won't pay for a 1.2 mil hangar.
 
I would think that if an airport had more hangars then more planes would base there rather than at another airport in the area. That should increase fuel sales as most pilots tend to get fuel at home more than elsewhere. Also, with more planes based at an airport, the maintenance shop would be busier and make more money. Often, an airport will base a business's rent as part fixed rate and part percentage of sales. And more based planes leads to more operations (takeoffs and landings) which could mean getting more FAA free money. So, it isn't just the hangar rent that the airport will gain if they build more hangars. It's those other sources of income as well.
My home drome offers free tie-downs as long as you buy their fuel. Done and done.
 
A lot of it has to do with the government/fund accounting that a lot of these airports use. It makes it really hard to make any long term project make any financial sense. Add to that some inane rules on ground leases (my home airport said the best they could do was 10 years) and it’s hard to get anyone else to build the hangars.

Also the weird wait list schemes. I am still on a wait list from 5 years ago at EDC because I had heard I may be moving there for work. No cost to get on the list and I still may end up there at some point. No point taking my name off.
 
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they already have "tents" at Denver International.
 
#2 is not an option. Letting that airplane sit un-flown for a year will do far more damage than letting it sit outdoors.

Keep looking for a community or corporate hangar. They can always play Tetris better and find a way to stuff one more airplane inside. Broaden your radius. Even if you have to drive an hour or two, you will be glad that you were able to fly it every few weeks to prevent engine corrosion from starting. Go far enough out in the boondocks and you are bound to find something.
 
A fabric hangar that can be removed when the ground lease is up. Fabric 30 year life for white. colors less. Engineering specs to meet local codes.
Fabric hangars? Tell us more please! What’s the approximate cost of the ones in the pic?
 
I love these off-median solutions. Quite American in spirit. The ladder-pulling NIMBYS of course shoot it down, but that's also quite an american experience. I got a feva'...and the only prescription.. is more fabric hangars.
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:thumbsup:
 
funny... I was thinking the other day how much I dislike that our norm is a tendency to spend so much money on asphalt shingle roofs for our houses that really don't even last all that long. It just keeps getting worse and worse....
 
Beautiful setup all the way around. Congratulations.

Curious if you could provide a ballpark estimate of the cost to “build” one of this hangars.


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A fabric hangar that can be removed when the ground lease is up. Fabric 30 year life for white. colors less. Engineering specs to meet local codes.

Life is a barrel of fun.

Ken Andrew.
 
Cost I can not tell you. I was in the business for 50 years but we specialized in high end weddings and corporate events. Our supplier for what we called Clearspan Structures was
Losberger De Boer - out of Germany, I visited their factory several times and was amazed at the permanent structure that they produces. Many of them two story. Having just erected a 80' by 75' hangar with a 70' bi-fold door I can tell you that the steel buildings are a lot more flimsy than the aluminum structures. The door is typically half the cost of a hangar if you go bi-fold etc, If a person is willing to do a little work closing the doors they can be fabricated for a fraction of the cost. More like a curtain with steel cables built in that are attached to the threshold with ratchets. I have enclosed a couple of pics of what we put up. Different animal.
The whole idea of this is a hangar that can be moved when the ground lease is terminated. The aluminum structure will last for ever, far outlast steel, the fabric may have to be replace after 20 so years but it is relatively inexpensive as they are all flat pieces with keder sown in. Nothing like the fabrics of yesterday.
They go up just like a standard steel building with beams, trusses, columns, girts, purlins and cross cables. Anchorage can vary from 42" steel stakes like we used on temporary structures to eight foot screw anchors or concrete J
anchors. The one in the pics is 18 m wide (about 59') and each bay is 5 meters. (16.5') We would put up a 60' by 120' with sides with six men in one day.

clearspan.jpg clearspan2.jpg

I am not trying to sell anything, just thinking out of the box.
the pics below are of the hangar that I have just completed out at the farm.

IMG_2454.JPG IMG_2357.JPG

Life is a barrel of fun.

Ken Andrew
 
I believe that, outside of Oshkosh, the most GA aircraft I have seen at an airport was Lake Hood Alaska and not a hangar to be seen. A 172 can survive six months out in the elements, they aren't that fragile.

AK0001_0687-00005.jpg
 
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I parked airplanes at Lake Hood for 25 years. Now I have a hangar attached to my house. Hangar homes are the ultimate hangar life solution.
 
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