Taxiing into a hangar

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Mtns2Skies

Final Approach
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Mtns2Skies
While I've certainly heard of taxiing into/out of a hangar, I'd never seen anyone do it until recently. And of course like anything, you see it once, and you see it everywhere. Over the last few months I went from never seeing it, to knowing half a dozen people that taxi into or out of their hangars. What are your thoughts on it? Reckless? or nothingburger?
 
I’ve only ever seen one airplane cut in half that way.

edit…it was a Mooney.:stirpot:
 
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A couple of our airpark neighbors do it, one for 25+ years, without issue. I will never do it and think it’s a bad idea. All it takes is one loose object or a slip of the toes to FOD out a prop and maybe get an engine teardown as well. They use tugs to push their planes out, why not just go vice versa and remove the chance of having a wreck inside the building? If it’s predictable, it’s preventable.
 
I would suspect it depends on the hangar and how much **** is going to get blown around by the prop blast.

FWIW department - One of the old man's airplane partners decided to taxi the Navion out of the hangar because there was a ridge of snow in front of the door. One thing about the Navion was, when you put a little power to the engine, the nose strut would compress a few inches. And, when the nose goes down a little, the tail goes up a lot. Enough that the rotating beacon did not clear the door opening.
 
I’ve backed into a hangar a couple times with turbine powered taildraggers. Utilizing the tailwheel lock was an essential step not to be overlooked.

Operated a jet twice from a taxi through hangar.

It’s like anything. If planed it’s most likely ok. If spontaneous it’s probably a phone call to the insurance company .
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I’ve backed into a hangar a couple times with turbine powered taildraggers. Utilizing the tailwheel lock was an essential step not to be overlooked.

Operated a jet twice from a taxi through hangar.

It’s like anything. If planed it’s most likely ok. If spontaneous it’s probably a phone call to the insurance company .
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A friend who was an Ag pilot would back in his Air Tractor turbine with reverse thrust. He was always grinning ear to ear the first dozen or so times he did it after moving out of a radial powered plane.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
While I've certainly heard of taxiing into/out of a hangar, I'd never seen anyone do it until recently. And of course like anything, you see it once, and you see it everywhere. Over the last few months I went from never seeing it, to knowing half a dozen people that taxi into or out of their hangars. What are your thoughts on it? Reckless? or nothingburger?
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I thought that is how you do it?
When I first rented my hangar I had to go get the managar and show him my plane didn't fit!
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Just missed by about 4" from getting the door closed...
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What a rip off! Just kidding about getting the manager involved. One night when no one was around I pulled it in to see if it would fit just for kicks. It didn't.
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This reminds me of my racing days, in 10 years never did I start the dragster in the shop because the zoomie exhaust pipes would have destroyed the shop. Matter of fact I have only started it 3 times in 10 years of racing out in front of the shop.
I rebuilt the motor, clutch and every 6 runs the transmission after every race and always waited until we got to the track to start it. Because it was a lot of work to start it at the shop. Always kept the fuel system drained of methanol so not to corroade the fuel system. Kept the push rods out to save the springs, had to put it on jacks to start it and I needed 2 crew members plus me in the seat to start it. Then it attracted folks from the neighborhood who would flock to our parking lot when they heard the surpercharged hemi running. Kind of like starting your jet powered kenworth that Ken Warby used to keep nearby. When he started it it sounded like a 747 and we came to watch myself included and I lived 3 miles away and could hear it easy.

I always pull the plane out and park perpendicular to the hangars so not to blow stuff against the neighbors hangar doors.
He is still the fastest man on water.
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I don't want that much wind in my hangar, especially since one of the planes is a Cub. :)
 
To be fair, it depends. I did it all the time. But my prop is in the back and I knew there wasn't anything to get sucked into the prop. And I only taxied in far enough to get the mains onto the concrete floor.

Now doing it with the prop on the front? Nope.
 
with the limited info provided, to me it falls under IDGAF what other people do. but if it's the kind of thing that could impact surrounding hangars, then it could suck. like I don't know how this would happen with T hangars, but I have seen a guy with an rv basically pull up to the front of his hangar and swing the thing around on a dime so his tail was just inside the hangar. pretty neat to watch him do it, but if it's blowing dirt around up over walls into other hangars, and especially if one was mine, I'd be ****ed.
 
eman1200 said:
with the limited info provided, to me it falls under IDGAF what other people do. but if it's the kind of thing that could impact surrounding hangars, then it could suck. like I don't know how this would happen with T hangars, but I have seen a guy with an rv basically pull up to the front of his hangar and swing the thing around on a dime so his tail was just inside the hangar. pretty neat to watch him do it, but if it's blowing dirt around up over walls into other hangars, and especially if one was mine, I'd be ****ed.
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It’s all about energy management…be shut down and coast into the hangar and/or swing around.
 
I would think it's generally fine, but it obviously has some pretty expensive risks associated with messing up. I would probably avoid it because I'd undoubtedly leave some papers/boxes/dust/debris loose in the hangar and it would be a yard sale after the prop wash got a hold of it. You'd also want to have a good bit of margin between wing tips and the hangar door/walls to avoid bending metal because the nosewheel wasn't perfectly on the line.
 
Did it when when I was the maintenance manager at my last job. Pilots wanted to just taxi the CL300 into the hangar in inclement weather.
Video I recorded one night when they got back from a trip.

 
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Just thinking; I used to fly helos (with wheels) and looked at that short 50' distance and was very tempted.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
While I've certainly heard of taxiing into/out of a hangar, I'd never seen anyone do it until recently. And of course like anything, you see it once, and you see it everywhere. Over the last few months I went from never seeing it, to knowing half a dozen people that taxi into or out of their hangars. What are your thoughts on it? Reckless? or nothingburger?
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If it is your airplane and your hangar, then go ahead and indulge. Unless the pilot is being chased by armed bandits, I see no reason for this stunt. Its like driving your car into your garage at 60mph and hoping your brakes engage in time to stop.
 
Had a young gent a couple of years ago that, since he didn't have a shovel to clear the snow berm off from in front of his hangar, he'd just hop in, fire his 182 up and power it out. He did. Powered it right into the hangar across the taxiway. 2 aircraft totaled: $250K+. 1 hangar door replaced: $10K+. Lesson in the realities of physics and hangar etiquette: priceless!
 
edessa said:
Did it when when I was the maintenance manager at my last job. Pilots wanted to just taxi the CL300 into the hangar in inclement weather.
Video I recorded one night when they got back from a trip.

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I did it a lot in jets when it was raining. Had to be careful because most hangars have floors that are slippery when wet. FBO's do not seem to let you do it anymore.
 
In a hanger near mine, in the middle of the back wall, there is a panel caved in. The guy in the hanger behind him, to be a gentleman, and impress his hottie passenger, taxied into the hanger so she wouldn't have to get out of the plane in the cold rain. He was going too fast, the brakes locked, the plane skid on his fancy polished floor. It's a "T" hanger. He ended up with the only folding wing 182 anyone had ever seen. I'm told it happened 8 or so years ago. The county still hasn't repaired the wall.
 
Shepherd said:
In a hanger near mine, in the middle of the back wall, there is a panel caved in. The guy in the hanger behind him, to be a gentleman, and impress his hottie passenger, taxied into the hanger so she wouldn't have to get out of the plane in the cold rain. He was going too fast, the brakes locked, the plane skid on his fancy polished floor. It's a "T" hanger. He ended up with the only folding wing 182 anyone had ever seen. I'm told it happened 8 or so years ago. The county still hasn't repaired the wall.
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Was the guy aware that it was a C182 he was flying, and that it had built-in umbrellas over each door?
 
There's a house I particularly like that I pass by from time to time... Not a big house or anything overly special, I just like the architectural style. It has a nice detached garage connected with a covered walkway, and what looks to be a finished room over the garage. It's all just beautifully done and I admire it when I drive past. The other day they had the garage doors open & I noticed that it was a drive through garage. I made a mental note to add that to my mental list of features for if I ever custom build a house. It would be great for storing boats and motor homes..... great for letting light in and breeze through when using as a workshop.....and this thread makes me think it would be great for a hangar too!
 
SoonerAviator said:
Was the guy aware that it was a C182 he was flying, and that it had built-in umbrellas over each door?
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Probably, but the hottie next to him probably wasn’t, and so would have been eternally grateful to not get her ‘do damp.
 
Brad W said:
There's a house I particularly like that I pass by from time to time... Not a big house or anything overly special, I just like the architectural style. It has a nice detached garage connected with a covered walkway, and what looks to be a finished room over the garage. It's all just beautifully done and I admire it when I drive past. The other day they had the garage doors open & I noticed that it was a drive through garage. I made a mental note to add that to my mental list of features for if I ever custom build a house. It would be great for storing boats and motor homes..... great for letting light in and breeze through when using as a workshop.....and this thread makes me think it would be great for a hangar too!
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Yup. Allows you to do this:
w=9999
 
Our organization did this for the 22 years that I was with them (and probably 10 years before/after me), without incident - Bonanza, C-425, C-525.
The hangars were bare of fod, the CJ had a 1/8" steel plate screwed to the entire back wall where it started up so the insulation wouldn't catch fire; we knew the circumstances, and dimensions, and limitations. No neighbors. Zero problems.
Many other situations I would not consider it.
So, the answer depends.
 
Maxnr said:
Just thinking; I used to fly helos (with wheels) and looked at that short 50' distance and was very tempted.
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Childs play. :D I was up at NAF Lakehurst to do some EA-6B tailhook testing many years ago and the Army was using one of the giant dirigible hangars for testing and we watched an Apache hovering at about 20' inside the hangar while they sprayed liquid into the intake using a long boom.
 
I used to do it out of a narrow redneck t-hanger until one day one wheel hit just enough of a bump to send the hor stab into a pole. I quit doing it after that.
 
Random half-related question. When I grew up, nobody I knew of had anti-lock brakes on anything. You learned how to threshold brake, or pump the brakes, or at least let up once in a while, or I guess you wrecked. There is now a generation of people walking around that maybe have never driven a car that didn't have anti-lock brakes. Is this causing accidents, in training or otherwise, from people that really don't know what to do when things start to slide?
 
There are people who have never started a car with a manual choke. Is this causing problems for people who don't how to start a car with a manual choke?
 
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