Hangar floor "lip"

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phludzenski

Filing Flight Plan
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phludzenski
I'm looking for some feedback on the acceptable height difference between apron pavement and hangar finished floor. What's tolerable for pilots getting their planes in and out of a T-Hangar? If a lip can't be avoided, are there practical ways to deal with it (special shims, for example)? Thanks.
 
Push plane until you get some momentum up, hit lip. Plane rolls up lip almost, but not quite over the lip. Back up a little farther, and try again. Repeat as necessary
 
A ramp slightly wider than the wheels and with a very gradual slope works well.
 
Special shims. Yeah, that's it. Ha. As opposed to the non-special ones.
 
phludzenski said:
I'm looking for some feedback on the acceptable height difference between apron pavement and hangar finished floor. What's tolerable for pilots getting their planes in and out of a T-Hangar? If a lip can't be avoided, are there practical ways to deal with it (special shims, for example)? Thanks.
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A winch, and drag it in by the main gear not the tail tiedown.
 
I thought I was the only one with this problem. When I first bought my 182 I found that pushing it into the hangar by myself was not much fun, nor very easy. I had a friend(now unfortunately deceased, the first pilot I personally knew who died in a crash:() in a hangar a few doors down who would help me when he was around. Finally got smart and bought a tug which worked okay but the 1" lip made life difficult. I finally found a way by pushing the one main over the lip at a slight angle and then the other it worked quite well, as long as everything was aligned. If not the nose wheel went over the bar it pushed on and crushed the nose pant. When I moved to a new hangar six months ago the lip was slightly higher and my technique did not work as well. Finally, a light bulb(LED not incandescent) went off in my head and I increased the height of the bar and all is now good, and no more dents in my nose pant. It was so simple a solution, I am embarrassed it took almost two years to figure it out.

I tried the ramp thing but it never really worked well. The shim technique did not work well either.
 
Don't forget the problem of pushing/pulling the plane when there is ice on the ground.
 
Fortunately, our hangar 'lip" is just the 0.25-0.50" rail for the door to slide on. Pavement outside is pretty level too.

Pulling it out with the tow bar by myself is easy with a small amount of momentum. Pushing it in not bad either if I allow at least 6-8 feet of "run up" to get some momentum.


My preferred solution: The very willing rampers from the FBO.

There's two of them that frequently help me and each earns just a bit more toward a nice Christmas reward every time they finish fueling* and cheerfully offer to help push it into the hangar.


(*nice perk belonging to the club I'm in. As a long term hangar tenant, we are afforded a decent FS fuel discount that makes stopping at the SS pumps not worth the time and restart of the engine for the short run back to the hangar.)
 
A piece of aluminum ramp shoe (made for raised access floors) works great if your lip is + - 1"...

rampshoe.jpg


It comes in 6' lengths, cut it into three 2' pieces.


https://www.accessfloorsystems.com/index.php/products/raised-floor-panels/ramp-shoe.html
 
This :D
 

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A piece of exterior plywood about half the thickness of the lip and about a foot wide makes it two lips, each at half the height.
 
http://www.aquaphalt.com/index.php

This is NOT the cold patch most people are used to - this stuff actually sets up. Place, tamp, wet, and you're done.

About $35/bucket. Use the rest to patch your driveway or give it to your friends - it will draw moisture from the air and set up in the bucket. They say it lasts a year or more if sealed, but in my experience getting the bucket to seal properly can be tricky.
 
Norman said:
A winch, and drag it in by the main gear not the tail tiedown.
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Ok........ I give up.... A tail tie down is designed for pretty severe loads put on it. If it takes a couple of hundred LBS of pull force against it while pulling the plane in the hangar what damage can happen ..:dunno::dunno::dunno::confused:
 
N801BH said:
Ok........ I give up.... A tail tie down is designed for pretty severe loads put on it. If it takes a couple of hundred LBS of pull force against it while pulling the plane in the hangar what damage can happen ..:dunno::dunno::dunno::confused:
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Do a 'net search and you'll find hundreds of forum postings arguing for and against. Almost as controversial as whether Marvel Mystery Oil does anything or whether the wing should be above or below the fuselage.
 
N801BH said:
Ok........ I give up.... A tail tie down is designed for pretty severe loads put on it. If it takes a couple of hundred LBS of pull force against it while pulling the plane in the hangar what damage can happen ..:dunno::dunno::dunno::confused:
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Likely depends how it is mounted, a piper with it riveted on likely wouldn't care, a Cessna with it screwed in wont like the force being applied 90 degrees from the screw
 
Skylane81E said:
Likely depends how it is mounted, a piper with it riveted on likely wouldn't care, a Cessna with it screwed in wont like the force being applied 90 degrees from the screw
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You might be right, altho most Cessna tail rings are ground down to nothing.;)
 
Oh I'll play and add the usual comment...

On some Cessnas there is a factory glider tow hook option, mounted to the tail tie down. That'll put worse loads than a hanger winch.

Assuming... You're not an idiot and chocked the airplane before you started cranking. LOL. And yes, that has happened.
 
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