T-Hangar neighbor. WWYD?

Good luck getting support on something like this. I had other pilots parking their cars in front of my hangar and got little support from the airport manager. I even had one (he's no longer the manager) tell me that I was whining about not being able to get my plane out of a hangar when there were a lot of people on the waiting list who would just love to have a hangar!

Luckily, most of the people who do this are flying with an instructor who has a hangar across from me. After many years of this happening, I think he understands the level of rage I now have and he makes his students aware. I told him it was getting to the point it probably wouldn't end well and none of us want that. I just want to fly!


I'm generally an advocate of acting like an adult. But if someone blocked my hangar repeatedly and ignored requests to stop, I would be sorely tempted to remove the valve stems from their tires and leave them in an envelope at the FBO, with a note taped to the vehicle windshield.
 
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We can open carry here, but I choose not to. Although carrying a .45, it's not really concealed I guess! You know there's something there, you just don't know exactly what it is!
Here in Vermont we have both open carry and concealed carry with no permit required. But it's against the law to have a loaded rifle in your car. It's to protect the deer herd!
 
Here in Vermont we have both open carry and concealed carry with no permit required. But it's against the law to have a loaded rifle in your car. It's to protect the deer herd!
Growing up, a lot of us would go to school, then go hunting. It was very common to see trucks in the parking lot with guns in the back windows. There was never a threat of gun violence and if someone had tried... God help them! We only had two police officers in the town, so you'd have been facing well-armed teenagers who knew how to use a gun!
 
Careful letting the dog run loose. Guys use rodenticide for the mice. We just had an owl that died from that by the house. Eating a mouse that had ingested it. The goober that rents space to store his cars in dads hangar left the crap out willy nilly and my dog gnaws on lumber when shes bored. Not a fan of sticks, but dimensional lumber. She found the green block to keep herself occupied. That was a fun few days.
Good point.
Oh man your dog found some rat poison and survived? That does suck. Hopefully he came out of it ok?
 
Do you have kids?
I do. And I've taught them things that I hope they carry through the rest of their lives. First among those is the Golden Rule, something you might want to look into. And also that happiness is a choice and they're responsible for their own.
Do you pick up their socks when the leave them in the middle of the floor?
I do what needs to be done.
Or does your wife continually pick up after you?
Not since we divorced.
I’m not their door closer nor their father. They made the decision to rent a hangar that they maybe would have to open and close multiple times a day. Not me. I’m also not their door mechanic.
Good. **** 'em. Who needs compassion, empathy, seeing other's perspectives, or neighborly relations when you have padlocks and quickcrete.
They are inconveniencing me because they are lazy and to tell you the truth. I wasn’t nearly as angry about it until I see posts like yours defending them.
You should just ignore me and keep doing what you've been doing. No point getting angry about nonsense on the Internet. Maybe since what you have been doing is working so well for you up to this point, you should double down and escalate the conflict.

I can't for the life of me imagine why your prior conversations with them about this haven't had the desired effect, but maybe moving on to property damage or fisticuffs is what's needed for a final resolution. Please post updates.
 
Good point.
Oh man your dog found some rat poison and survived? That does suck. Hopefully he came out of it ok?
Yup. Was getting the plane ready for Daytona last year. 2 days before I left. Hydrogen peroxide and activated charcoal within 30 mins. Luckily my friends wife is a vet, but still needed to do bloodwork. The worst was there's 2 different types of rodenticide. One is a blood thinner. The other attacks the central nervous system. Blood thinner is "better" as you can give the dog vitamin K to reverse the anti-coagulant. Well, he had both there and they look pretty identical so no way to tell. She usually spits stuff out when she chews, but some green stuff made it down. The dude just left the bait blocks out randomly.
 
Not at my current airport (I love my current airport) but the last one I hangared we had the same problem (and lots of other problems). Flight school kept leaving the doors open. Everyone was complaining because then birds were getting into the hangars (the side walls were open at the very top so once in any door, the birds would fly though out the hangars).
Owner of the flight school told everyone that HE DID NOT CARE...complaints were just gonna fall on deaf ears. Then one day, someone took a big CRAP right in the middle of the flight school hangar when their plane was out. The owner of the flight school WENT NUTS!!! He called the police, the township (they owned the airport), etc. Couldn't really get anyone to listen to him now, as everyone just said, "How about you have your students close / lock the door?"
I left that airport in the middle of all that drama, but I did hear he now has his students close the door.
Winner here - new best practice
 
We need a flow chart.

Did you ask nicely? Yes--> Did they respond nicely--> No--> **** 'em up!
 
I still like being passive aggressive before flat out aggressive.
 
If your hangar is the only one blocked by this flight school, anything slightly nefarious will likely be blamed on you (since, presumably, you'd be the only one raising complaints before the nefarious act). If they have multiple planes in multiple hangars, make sure that your nefarious acts are to protect hangars other than yours (and try to give the poor soul you're framing a good alibi). Just... food for thought.

Not to endorse, approve, disapprove, or suggest any nefarious acts.
 
Funny how it's implied that these things should only go one direction.
Not should, but frequently do in situations like this. Indeed, that's often times the hardest part for people to be ok with, myself included. You can choose to have empathy, or not, but you can't force it on others, no matter how hard you try. The amazing thing though is that even when it's only unilateral, everyone is usually better off.
 
Not should, but frequently do in situations like this. Indeed, that's often times the hardest part for people to be ok with, myself included. You can choose to have empathy, or not, but you can't force it on others, no matter how hard you try. The amazing thing though is that even when it's only unilateral, everyone is usually better off.
Not sure we agree on the definition of empathy. I always look at it as when someone can't help / has little no choice in what happened. No empathizing for being being full on dickbags. We actually have in the hangar lease agreement, no leaving hangar doors open even if just going around the patch.
 
Worse than leaving the doors open, my idiot hangar neighbor used to shut and lock his but not put all the pins down. This means that when mine would hit his when I tried to open it. Actually it would have been easier if he left the door open.
 
Not sure we agree on the definition of empathy. I always look at it as when someone can't help / has little no choice in what happened. No empathizing for being being full on dickbags. We actually have in the hangar lease agreement, no leaving hangar doors open even if just going around the patch.
This. If my neighbor was an 80 year old guy that couldn’t close his door without help, I’d be all over helping him and wouldn’t think twice about fixing his door or closing his hangar

A bunch of lazy 20 something’s that think they are gods gift to aviation. F em.
 
I haven’t read every post but if it were me I would be lubing the wheels on the door and doing whatever I could to make it roll easier since it sounds like you have to close it sometimes. But only do one side.

I don’t think we are allowed to sub lease our rented hangars? Do you and your neighbor own your hangars?
 
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So, how close is the nearest Taco Bell to your airport?
 
OK Boomer
Okay since there's some disagreement. Let me expand.

On one side, we have a revenue generating business, with at least one instructor, and at least one student that are leaving a door open while they go fly for an hour or two. Trying to maximize the students' time and money they leave the door open, okay it's more convenient as well. The OP sends a single text to the owner and had a single comment made to one of the CFI's, who for all we know may or may not have received it and now suddenly the users of the revenue generating hangar are declared "A bunch of lazy 20 somethings" by someone that (making an assumption here) flies a LOT less than they do. Presumably, there are 20+ times the CFI/Student do this while the OP is not present and it is not an issue, for every single time the OP is inconvenienced.

Is it a little rude? Sure. I'm not sure it is quite elevated to calling them "a bunch of lazy 20 somethings". But if they're people trying to make a buck in aviation, and I'm just a weekend warrior... you bet I am going to let them do their thing. Maybe I have to arrive 3 minutes earlier. I'm not sure it's worth all of the physical/property damage that's been advocated for in this thread. The OP still has access to his aircraft, and isn't blocked, but is minorly inconvenienced. However, if instead of CFI's and students trying to make/maximize their finite time together, if the offending neighbor was 80 and physically unable to move his hangar, it's suddenly deemed OK and it's no longer an inconvenience to the OP... so why can't that same courtesy be extended to those neighbors that are presumably crunched for time?

My comment was a 'maybe give the benefit of the doubt to the neighbors, regardless of their age rather than casting dispersions due to it' = OK Boomer. It's making a mountain out of a molehill and yelling at clouds for sure.
 
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Okay since there's some disagreement. Let me expand.

On one side, we have a revenue generating business, with at least one instructor, and at least one student that are leaving a door open while they go fly for an hour or two. Trying to maximize the students' time and money they leave the door open, okay it's more convenient as well. The OP sends a single text to the owner and had a single comment made to one of the CFI's, who for all we know may or may not have received it and now suddenly the users of the revenue generating hangar are declared "A bunch of lazy 20 somethings" by someone that (making an assumption here) flies a LOT less than they do. Presumably, there are 20+ times the CFI/Student do this while the OP is not present and it is not an issue, for every single time the OP is inconvenienced.

Is it a little rude? Sure. I'm not sure it is quite elevated to calling them "a bunch of lazy 20 somethings". But if they're people trying to make a buck in aviation, and I'm just a weekend warrior... you bet I am going to let them do their thing. Maybe I have to arrive 3 minutes earlier. I'm not sure it's worth all of the physical/property damage that's been advocated for in this thread. The OP still has access to his aircraft, and isn't blocked, but is minorly inconvenienced. However, if instead of CFI's and students trying to make/maximize their finite time together, if the offending neighbor was 80 and physically unable to move his hangar, it's suddenly deemed OK and it's no longer an inconvenience to the OP... so why can't that same courtesy be extended to those neighbors that are presumably crunched for time?

My comment was a 'maybe give the benefit of the doubt to the neighbors, regardless of their age rather than casting dispersions due to it' = OK Boomer. It's making a mountain out of a molehill and yelling at clouds for sure.
 
Okay since there's some disagreement. Let me expand.

On one side, we have a revenue generating business, with at least one instructor, and at least one student that are leaving a door open while they go fly for an hour or two. Trying to maximize the students' time and money they leave the door open, okay it's more convenient as well. The OP sends a single text to the owner and had a single comment made to one of the CFI's, who for all we know may or may not have received it and now suddenly the users of the revenue generating hangar are declared "A bunch of lazy 20 somethings" by someone that (making an assumption here) flies a LOT less than they do. Presumably, there are 20+ times the CFI/Student do this while the OP is not present and it is not an issue, for every single time the OP is inconvenienced.

Is it a little rude? Sure. I'm not sure it is quite elevated to calling them "a bunch of lazy 20 somethings". But if they're people trying to make a buck in aviation, and I'm just a weekend warrior... you bet I am going to let them do their thing. Maybe I have to arrive 3 minutes earlier. I'm not sure it's worth all of the physical/property damage that's been advocated for in this thread. The OP still has access to his aircraft, and isn't blocked, but is minorly inconvenienced. However, if instead of CFI's and students trying to make/maximize their finite time together, if the offending neighbor was 80 and physically unable to move his hangar, it's suddenly deemed OK and it's no longer an inconvenience to the OP... so why can't that same courtesy be extended to those neighbors that are presumably crunched for time?

My comment was a 'maybe give the benefit of the doubt to the neighbors, regardless of their age rather than casting dispersions due to it' = OK Boomer. It's making a mountain out of a molehill and yelling at clouds for sure.
But where would the entertainment value of this thread be if we all just shut the door someone else opened?

Plus I literally went full on "get off my lawn" at 23, after a displaced person got stuck in my very long unplowed driveway looking for Bill. Theres 5 houses with 5 acres each. Ain't no Bill here. Pretty sure his pucker factor increased when he sees me in flip flops with a 12 gauge wanting to know what he's doing. Then I gotta help get him unstuck so he can leave. So I'm probably not the voice of reason you apparently are.
 
What's the old saying about offering a cup of cold water even to your enemies? Heaping coals of fire on their head by offering kindness?
 
Not should, but frequently do in situations like this. Indeed, that's often times the hardest part for people to be ok with, myself included. You can choose to have empathy, or not, but you can't force it on others, no matter how hard you try. The amazing thing though is that even when it's only unilateral, everyone is usually better off.
I should have empathy for people who ignore polite requests to act in a responsible manner and discourteously require me to correct their selfish behavior? It's my fault if I get irritated and escalate the issue with the management of the airport?

Can I borrow your car until August? When you go on vacation, can you leave a key under the mat?
 
Tough to deal with this. I'd deal direct again, then consider other stuff.
Best I can think of is to shut the doors, then lock them. Leave a typed note saying you left the key/combination with Dave.

But this really reads like 5-10 seconds of work and not worthy of its own thread.
 
I think there’s still value in putting oneself in the others shoes, even if, from your vantage, the person is being a douche.

Let’s say you’re a CFI trying to eke out a living keeping new pilots from killing you all day. You’re flying 3 to 5 flights a day all week long and this guy that comes out once a week wants you to close your hangar every flight just so the one time a week he comes to fly he doesn’t have to close it for you.

To sum up, he's asking you to close and re-open both doors 15 to 35 times so that he doesn’t have to close half of it one time. You’re practically living at the airport and this once in a blue moon guy wants you to do everything different all the time in case he happens to show up.

Now, the folks parking their cars in front of the hangars….those guys I have no compassion for.
 
I think there’s still value in putting oneself in the others shoes, even if, from your vantage, the person is being a douche.

Let’s say you’re a CFI trying to eke out a living keeping new pilots from killing you all day. You’re flying 3 to 5 flights a day all week long and this guy that comes out once a week wants you to close your hangar every flight just so the one time a week he comes to fly he doesn’t have to close it for you.

To sum up, he's asking you to close and re-open both doors 15 to 35 times so that he doesn’t have to close half of it one time. You’re practically living at the airport and this once in a blue moon guy wants you to do everything different all the time in case he happens to show up.

Now, the folks parking their cars in front of the hangars….those guys I have no compassion for.
if you're flying 3 - 5 times a day, why are you putting it back every time? Just leave it on the ramp. That's what we did at the flight school. Came out in the morning, went back in the afternoon/evening.
 
if you're flying 3 - 5 times a day, why are you putting it back every time? Just leave it on the ramp. That's what we did at the flight school. Came out in the morning, went back in the afternoon/evening.
I don't know the situation. Maybe the aircraft owner doesn't allow that. Just trying to see things from a different angle.

More likely is the guy gets away with it 20 times a month, and maybe once a month the OP happens to want in when he's flying. It might just not be high enough on his "give a ****" radar. Maybe that makes him a douche, maybe not.
 
I think there’s still value in putting oneself in the others shoes, even if, from your vantage, the person is being a douche.
If you put yourself in his shoes, do you become a douche? That's what seeems to be happening in some of these responses. ;)

But flying is full of all kinds of annoyances. Some of them you just need to accept and move on without over-reacting. The OP's scenario is similar to what starts deadly road rage in cars.
 
If it only takes a few seconds to close the door, then the CFI and student won't be inconvenienced at all by closing the door.

If the CFI and student is so rushed for time that a few seconds to close the door would be a burden, then what other shortcuts are they taking?
 
Used to be a flight school at VKX. They're still around (initials are AA) that were a complete pain in the ass to the other airport users. First, they decided that they wanted their planes all parked together, so me and a couple of others got kicked out of our tie down space so they could have the ones up front. The instructors would regularly leave the plane at the pump between students (or while debriefing one I guess) which bogged things up when the place was busy. Then, despite being given prime parking with plenty of room to pull through, their yahoo flight instructor decided to swing wide and clipped a pristine O-2 sitting on the maintenance ramp.
 
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