Hangar or No Hangar

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norcal64d
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Hangar or No Hangar

Post by norcal64d »

I've got a move coming up over to Burlington, VT and that area has the main Burlington airport with very few hangars, a waitlist a mile long, and if you do get one, they are $450 a month. All the other public airports are about an hour and change drive. There is one grass airport that probably will have hangar space, but closes in the winter and spring apparently. (Waiting to hear why they close down, I don't really want to park the plane for 5 months out of the year.)

I love to work on the Maule and do almost all my own maintenance so having a hangar has always been a high priority but I am curious who all has their plane sit out? If it came down to it I would rather have my plane sit outside and get to fly as much as I want vrs inside a hangar but not fly much because it was so far away. Is it really that much of a problem to park a Maule outside? The winters are cold and wet up here, but figured I would ask and see if anyone else has been in the same situation and how its worked out.
Tim
1991 MX-7-180

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andy
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Re: Hangar or No Hangar

Post by andy »

I won't park mine outside except for trips where there isn't any transient hangar space. My fabric and paint look as good today as when they were re-done in 2010. Not only is the sun and UV tough on the paint, but birds crap all over the airplane and will nest in it if you give them any small access to the engine compartment or wing tips. Then you have to worry about wind, hail and corrosion. You can buy all kinds of wing, cowling and cabin covers which help but don't remove all the negatives of keeping the airplane outside. Additionally, I keep a bunch of stuff in my hangar like engine preheaters, tools, spare parts, jacks, cleaning equipment, etc. When I was based in Virginia, I was hangared 1.5 hours away since that was the closest reasonably-priced hangar space. I flew mostly on weekends since I was working full time. Now my hangar is 30 minutes away and I'm sort of retired. I used to be based at a grass field closer to my house (9A9) but flight operations in the winter were chancy because of snow or soggy conditions. There wasn't any weather reporting there and if you wanted to fly IFR, you had to take off and land VFR.
Andy
1986 MX7-180
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norcal64d
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Re: Hangar or No Hangar

Post by norcal64d »

andy wrote:
Fri Jan 20, 2023 9:14 am
I won't park mine outside except for trips where there isn't any transient hangar space. My fabric and paint look as good today as when they were re-done in 2010. Not only is the sun and UV tough on the paint, but birds crap all over the airplane and will nest in it if you give them any small access to the engine compartment or wing tips. Then you have to worry about wind, hail and corrosion. You can buy all kinds of wing, cowling and cabin covers which help but don't remove all the negatives of keeping the airplane outside. Additionally, I keep a bunch of stuff in my hangar like engine preheaters, tools, spare parts, jacks, cleaning equipment, etc. When I was based in Virginia, I was hangared 1.5 hours away since that was the closest reasonably-priced hangar space. I flew mostly on weekends since I was working full time. Now my hangar is 30 minutes away and I'm sort of retired. I used to be based at a grass field closer to my house (9A9) but flight operations in the winter were chancy because of snow or soggy conditions. There wasn't any weather reporting there and if you wanted to fly IFR, you had to take off and land VFR.
Thanks for the reply, Andy. Man, an hour and a half drive? That's some serious dedication. Sounds like we have similar habits with keeping stuff in hangars. My current one is kind of like my garage! My plane is no hanger queen but I have also spent way too many hours removing corrosion, repainting small parts, and generally keeping everything serviceable and corrosion free and it is really nice to be able to tear into a project without having to worry about the weather. I think the more I think about it, the more I'd like to continue hangaring and just accept the drive time.
Tim
1991 MX-7-180

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Re: Hangar or No Hangar

Post by asa »

For me the biggest draw of a hangar is (like you) a place to tinker and work on airplane. I believe the environmental protection aspect is second to that. Lots of airplanes live outside year round in Alaska and they work fine. Mostly.

I’m not sure what I’d choose if I were in your situation. Driving 1.5 hours seems rough. But then again my maule has been 3ft away from my living room for a year so
I’m a little biased.

Its hard for me to fathom paying $450 a month. In 5 years, that would afford to pay for a new fabric job ($27k).

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Re: Hangar or No Hangar

Post by Dkuber »

I live in the northern most temperate rainforest up here in AK. Mine is outside. Very few times in the winter does it make me unable to fly. My threshold is probably different than some others. It does require daily checks on my part. We tend to get about 680” snow as well as lots of rain/ice.

I wish it was inside. We have 9 hangers on the field and then a new complex with 8 or 9 in the same building. For me, hangers are not even an option locally. The next closest that I could use would be 80+ miles away.

Flying it regularly helps keep the moisture out. I don’t feel too bad having it outside. It was outside for the 20 years before I owned it.

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