Why there is such a drastic shortage of hangers in the US? At most (ok, there are lots of exceptions) airports there is lots of available real estate yet planes sit in want of a real home.
I just moved from a small town in the midwest where there was a 3 year waiting list for a hanger. I found one after a 4 month wait about 45 miles from home even though there were 6 closer airports. Now that I am in San Diego, I am faced with a 6+ year waiting list. This doesn’t seem like free flight to me. The time to drive to my local airport should be characterized as the time to drive to the airport an hour or more away. Makes commercial flight alot more competitive in the long run. I might save time taking a commercial flight to where my plane is.
I am too impatient, and N208CD is too nice of a bird to sit outside for anywhere near that long. Does anyone know of an available hanger anywhere near San Diego?
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
At the risk of making an annoying comment about your well-reasoned message — a ‘hanger’ is what you’ll find in your closet, while a ‘hangar’ (from the French word for a shed) is where airplanes are kept. Would that the latter were as easy to obtain as the former! (There’s a multi-year waiting list here in Santa Barbara, too.)
Cheers,
Roger
Simple, no one( except for the the tiny population of GA owners ) wants anymore GA aircraft or GA airport development to happen anywhere.
Jim has a great book and concept, but in the current state of affairs is pissing into the wind IMHO.
Why there is such a drastic shortage of hangers in the US? At most (ok, there are lots of exceptions) airports there is lots of available real estate yet planes sit in want of a real home.
Why there is such a drastic shortage of hangers in the US? At most (ok, there are lots of exceptions) airports there is lots of available real estate yet planes sit in want of a real home.
I just moved from a small town in the midwest where there was a 3 year waiting list for a hanger. I found one after a 4 month wait about 45 miles from home even though there were 6 closer airports. Now that I am in San Diego, I am faced with a 6+ year waiting list. This doesn’t seem like free flight to me. The time to drive to my local airport should be characterized as the time to drive to the airport an hour or more away. Makes commercial flight alot more competitive in the long run. I might save time taking a commercial flight to where my plane is.
I am too impatient, and N208CD is too nice of a bird to sit outside for anywhere near that long. Does anyone know of an available hanger anywhere near San Diego?
Stuart
Here is a day of freedom (flying that is)…
Yesterday my wife needed to be in Bakersfield (110 miles)for a deposition at 4pm .At 2:45 We walked out our front door of our house and got in our Piper (soon to be a SR20,see CHRISTMAS in DULUTH post) taxied about 1000’to the runway and took off.Home by 7:30 waved at all the neighbors out for there evening walk as we taxied down our extra wide street with colapsable mailboxes and street signs that are only 2 feet tall.Into the hangar hit the button and its time for desert.Life is good.
dan yates
Sierra Sky Park Q60
(PLANE AND PILOT june 01 cover)
Stuart,
A couple of enterprising entreprenuers (is there any other kind?) put together an arrangement to construct hangars at one of the ‘reliever’ airports close to Charlotte, NC. They worked out an agreement with the airport commission that allowed them to construct private hangars on airport property that would be privately owned as what would basically be condominiums for airplanes. Why would the airport commission agree? Well, hangar owners pay a nominal monthly ground lease, we give the airport commission 1/3 of any gains on sale of the hangar to another owner, and the airport did not have to pay to have the hangars constructed. A typical 41’ wide fully enclosed T-hangar with an electric bifold door and flourescent lights sold for about $32,000 several years ago and I believe about 30-40 hangars were constructed. There are a couple left that remain unsold that are listed at a somewhat higher price, but I do not know what it is.
If you really want to know more about this, drop me an e-mail and I will give you the name and number of the guys that did it so you can ask questions.
Greg
Why there is such a drastic shortage of hangers in the US? At most (ok, there are lots of exceptions) airports there is lots of available real estate yet planes sit in want of a real home.
I just moved from a small town in the midwest where there was a 3 year waiting list for a hanger. I found one after a 4 month wait about 45 miles from home even though there were 6 closer airports. Now that I am in San Diego, I am faced with a 6+ year waiting list. This doesn’t seem like free flight to me. The time to drive to my local airport should be characterized as the time to drive to the airport an hour or more away. Makes commercial flight alot more competitive in the long run. I might save time taking a commercial flight to where my plane is.
I am too impatient, and N208CD is too nice of a bird to sit outside for anywhere near that long. Does anyone know of an available hanger anywhere near San Diego?
Stuart
Why there is such a drastic shortage of hangers in the US? At most (ok, there are lots of exceptions) airports there is lots of available real estate yet planes sit in want of a real home.
At PAO or SQL in the SF Bay Area, if you get on the waiting list for a hangar today, your heirs MIGHT get one. You’re lucky ot be on the west coast where keeping an airplane outside does comparatively littleharm so long as you keep it clean. After a year outside with a teflon coating on the paint, my 260se still looks great.
There are incredible delays to have anything new or upgraded done at most GA airports, especially those in any proximity to urban or suburban communities. Here at PAO, a modest airport ramp nighttime lighting and security fencing program was delayed for eons. One of the most vocal objections came from local blue-haired old lady types, perhaps more at home in a place like Berkeley than the Silicon Valley, who objected to the security fence because IT WOULD IMPEDE SMALL ANIMALS’ ABILITY TO ESCAPE FROM PREDATORS. The city council actually took this seriously. I’m not making this up.
This situation won’t improve until GA has a significant and relatively obvious positive impact on the lives of a majority of people in most communities. For most “civilians” as JF calls them, GA airports are at best a light-to-moderate nuisance and at worst viewed as a wholly inappropriate use of land in crowded urban/suburban areas. Let’s all offer prayers that ventures such as Eclipse will be hugely successful and really bring on-demand point-to-point air taxi service within reach of the general public at a price/convenience comparable to the airlines. Then we’ll see GA accorded a “strange new respect.” Otherwise it will be continue to be viewed by most people as a self-indulgent activity of the rich.
I just moved from a small town in the midwest where there was a 3 year waiting list for a hanger. I found one after a 4 month wait about 45 miles from home even though there were 6 closer airports. Now that I am in San Diego, I am faced with a 6+ year waiting list. This doesn’t seem like free flight to me. The time to drive to my local airport should be characterized as the time to drive to the airport an hour or more away. Makes commercial flight alot more competitive in the long run. I might save time taking a commercial flight to where my plane is.
I am too impatient, and N208CD is too nice of a bird to sit outside for anywhere near that long. Does anyone know of an available hanger anywhere near San Diego?
Stuart
A little economic pressure and leverage might change some opinions too. I was delighted that Larry Ellison challenged the mindless SJC weight-based curfew in the courts. He has made some headway too. However I wonder what the impact might have been if he’d told the city of San Jose something like, “The ability to take advantage of the convenience of personal air travel is crucial to the conduct of my business. If this ordinance is not overturned or modified to accomodate the needs of my business, I will move it and its [however many] jobs SOMEWHERE ELSE.” It may be that only one such move would have little impact, but if it happened a few more times it might get some attention.
In West Virginia, I’m on an airport authority at a small GA airport commissioned about 3 years ago. We’re constantly looking for ways to afford the cost of construction, but the reality of rental rates in the area is our biggest deterrent. The going rate is about half the monthly cost to amortize construction, even over an extended (20 year) period, even with advantageous interest rates.
Older, established airports already have paid-up hangars, and use their rental fees to build new ones. Having no capital to invest, nor revenue to make payments on borrowed funds, makes it nearly impossible for a public entity to do this kind of construction.
And the FAA doesn’t fund hangars, more’s the pity.
The posting regarding “airplane condos” is intriguing, and I’ve passed it along to others on our authority to consider.
Simple, no one( except for the the tiny population of GA owners ) wants anymore GA aircraft or GA airport development to happen anywhere.
I saw a very interesting editorial about this in one of the magazines, I think it was actually FLIGHT TRAINING.
They used Van Nuys as a case study, and how by pricing policy, the powers-that-be turned a GA airport into one dominated by jets - because they are the only ones who can afford the upkeep of “living” there.
(May post more on this on a new thread)
…keeping an airplane outside does comparatively littleharm so long as you keep it clean. After a year outside with a teflon coating on the paint, my 260se still looks great.
Kevin, what do you mean by a "teflon coating
on the paint"? What type of product did you
apply? Obviously you seem pleased with it.
Where do you buy it?
Bert Farin
Kevin, what do you mean by a "teflon coating
on the paint"? What type of product did you
apply? Obviously you seem pleased with it.
Where do you buy it?
Bert Farin
See http://www.wingwaxers.com
Not sure where you live so you’ll have to contact the distributor in your area (info on their webpage). I do not know how many other companies offer competitive services, but I have been very happy with the results so far. I have done it once each year.