The famous aviator comradery is a complete myth! Before i bought my tug i had the same idea. Nobody in my hangar wanted to share their tug, there’s 5 Schleppmaxxe 1.0 in my hangar.
In my eyes the 2.0 version is only necessary when it’s uphill, or for Twins/TBM etc
My feeling is that pilots here are very happy to share tugs, but they are also happy to damage each others’ planes during moving them around, and nobody will admit to it
Hey, now that’s one problem i don’t have: Rotating hangar for 8 planes. :-)
Hey, now that’s one problem i don’t have: Rotating hangar for 8 planes. :-)
Did Jesenwang copy Landshut, vice versa, or are the turntable hangars common on Germany? I thought it was an expensive but ingenious concept, not having seen one before.
I don’t think it would be a happy scene if somebody else damaged my aircraft. I keep two planes in my hangar and gymnastics are required to get them in and out. I dinged a wingtip myself once and I was not pleased with myself, but I’ve avoided repeat performances.
Turntable hangers are common in Germany, most newly built hangars use that principle. Hangars are paid for by rent and the more aircraft, the more rent. Financially, they make sense and are much more convenient than the classical large hangar halls where you first have to move out 5 airplanes to get to yours and while doing so damage 3 of them.
In the last 20 years, no T hangars were built in Germany from what I was told.
Thanks for the info!
Yes, it is very strange that are not used in other countries.
American guests who visit me get completely crazy about our revolving hangars … next shock after they have have learned that we do have tap water, toilets and electricity in Germany ;-)
If i could buy a piece of land at some airport near Munich, I’d build such a hangar. Prices are between 300 and 400 EUR for one place in such a hangar that has room or 8 airplanes and you can build it for less than a small apartment … I think that’s a good business.
I can’t help wondering if the turntable is worth its cost – in installation AND in maintenance. Plus, the day the mechanism or the power supply fails, only one pilot is going to fly. IMHO the better way to get as many planes as possible in a given hangar area is to have a round hangar with nothing but doors on the outside. The most beautiful example of this concept is at EBGB Grimbergen, where the doors are suspended from the concrete roof so that there is not a single doorpost, but the cost of the concrete roof and its support must be excessive. A simpler implementation can be seen at EBMO Moorsele.
@Alexis: is the 300-400 euro a yearly rate? If so, that is quite affordable!
Jan, The EUR 300 – 400 is rental cost per month.
More modern turntable hangars do not have a column in the middle of the turntable so getting a plane out if the mechanism is not working is not an issue. One simply has to move some planes like in a “normal” hangar. Even in a hangar with a column this can usually be done but requires a lot more and very careful moving of planes.
My plane has been in hangars with turntables for the past seven years and I would not want to get back to a standard hangar for fear of hangar rash. The mechanism of the turntables is very simple. I doubt there is much maintenance required. So far I only heard of one turntable being broken at my home field for a few days and the reason for that was an electrician doing some other installation in the hangar disconnecting the turntable electrics and rewiring it incorrectly.