Preventing Hangar Rash

[bill98]

What techniques/rigs does everyone use to try and prevent hangar rash?

I spray painted some lines from where my MLG was sitting in the hangar out the door. They weren't that straight so entry when putting the AC up might eventually cause some damage down the road.

Anyone have chalks permanently in place in their hangar or a rope down? Maybe tennis balls hanging from the ceiling or mirrors at the sidewalls ? 

[hypertech]

There are marks on the ground outside the door from the last owner that I might make darker.  A good tug can also be insurance here.  Now that I have the sidewinder and I'm not having to push so hard, it is easier to be watching the wing tips and to go slow.

[Aerodon]

1) Lines for the main wheels well outside the hangar.  If its straight going in, and the doors are fully open......

2) Guidmark on ceiling or rear wall for centreline.

3) Good power-tow or similar.

4) Good chocks - I like triangular wood screwed onto thin aluminum.  Weight on aluminum prevents checks from moving, and prevents tires from peeling paint on floor.

5) If its real tight, bolt some 2x5's to the floor to absolutely prevent mis alignment.

6) Bigger hangar

 

Aerodon

 

[jaylw314]

19 minutes ago, bill98 said:

What techniques/rigs does everyone use to try and prevent hangar rash?

I spray painted some lines from where my MLG was sitting in the hangar out the door. They weren't that straight so entry when putting the AC up might eventually cause some damage down the road.

Anyone have chalks permanently in place in their hangar or a rope down? Maybe tennis balls hanging from the ceiling or mirrors at the sidewalls ? 

There are wooden blocks for the main gear permanently installed in my hangar, but I leave my nose chock in place anyway as an additional cue to line up.  There are also wheel guide lines painted outside the hangar, and a neon paint stripe on the back wall to line the tail up with. 

The main problem is that, like most T- hangars from a taxiway, I have to turn the plane into the hangar instead of backing straight in.  This makes most of the lines and guides not entirely helpful. 

My technique is to watch the left wingtip as I turn the plane in, and pin it just inside the door by turning the nosegear all the way to he left.  I can see the wingtip even with my head down.  Once the tail is in the back section, then I look up and watch the tail to line it up with the neon stripe.  With a new hangar, though, the first time I do this I ensure that I do this slowly, stopping a couple times to look at the clearance between the right elevator and the inside wall corner, which is where it can go bad.  I'm assuming, that's where your elevator hit.

[Oldguy]

My previous hangar at KPLR had a 2 x 4 bolted to the floor to prevent backing it in too far and bending the tail. It also had lines extending about 20' from the front of the hangar for all 3 wheels. My current hangar is 45' wide, so I can be a little off-kilter in putting the plane into it and not have any problems. There is also an EZ-Tow I use because of the uphill slope in front of it for rainwater drainage. I have a hangar at KLAL that is about 1' from each wingtip, and I am getting a small tug so I do not have to bend down to get the plane over the bottom door rails. Losing sight of the wingtips as I push it across the rails and having it bump the doors is my biggest fear.

The other thing is making sure the doors are all the way open. One of the doors in Lakeland is so well lubed, if you push it too hard it will go all the way out and bounce back about a foot.

[MARZ]

My hangar apron is a little wider than the mains - I have to pull perpendicular  to the apron and then turn when backing - my guide then is the right edge of the apron and I line up the left main to get it going in the right direction - second reference is the extended nose gear line on the apron - the final reference is the center line on the back wall of the T hangar.  As long as the tail is on the wall mark and the nose is on the centerline I'm perfect every time.  I have a perpendicular "do not pass"  hash on the nose gear centerline.  Second I  just put the chock off the side enough to clear when extracting the plane from the hangar - that way its there when I pull it back in to be nudged in place.

[Mooneymite]

My first official act upon completion of my new hangar was to push my Mooney's leading edge into a steel up-right with about 6 people watching, guiding, helping.  

After 20 happy years of owning my own hangar with anywhere from zero to four airplanes inside, the only technique that seems to work 100% is moving very, very slowly inside your hangar.

[Yetti]

painted lines outside the hangar.  wheel chocks,  Power tug.  Space in front of the hangar where I can turn the plane parallel to backing in.  Just have jig over a little.

 

[jaylw314]

7 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

My first official act upon completion of my new hangar was to push my Mooney's leading edge into a steel up-right with about 6 people watching, guiding, helping.  

Doh!

[steingar]

I got one line painted outside the hangar which is about all I can use.  I can't see over the nose while pushing it in, but I can see if the nose wheel is on the line.  Its dicey though, since I have maybe a foot of clearance for the wings.  I'm not on a taxiway and can back straight in and I still suck at it.  No power tow for me though, I need the exercise to minimize my maximization.  That, and hangar rash isn't as bad if you're pushing yourself.  I think I'm going uphill a bit too, sure feels like it.

[DonMuncy]

Are you saying your hangar is uphill pulling it out and uphill pushing it in  

[gsxrpilot]

I have a 40' wide hangar. My 252 has a wingspan of 36'1". So I've got a smidge less than 2 feet off either wingtip. For me, that's just too tight to judge from my position just off the spinner when pushing the plane in. So I use a couple of lines marked for the mains. As long as neither main wheel is over the line, I know the wingtip can't reach anything solid.

I also have a crossing line for the nose wheel. As long as I don't let the nose wheel go back past the line on the floor, the tail won't reach the back wall.

I'd really hate to mess up my Aveo wingtips!

[rbridges]

there is a power conduit running down the center of the ceiling.  Line up spinner/antenna/tail with it when pushing it into the hangar.

[gsxrpilot]

I've got a beam running down the center of my hangar ceiling and it's easy to use that. Except that I'm never exactly on the centerline. And so I'm always worried I might be just a bit too far off the line and hit something.

By putting down two lines, wide enough to stay between with the mains with a foot to spare on either side, I know that as long as I'm between the two lines, there's no way I can hit anything.

[steingar]

1 hour ago, DonMuncy said:

Are you saying your hangar is uphill pulling it out and uphill pushing it in  

My hangar doesn't like my Mooney and tries to keep it out by being a bit uphill of it.  Makes sense, wouldn't want water running from the taxiway into the hangar, I want it going the other way.  Makes it that much more difficult to push though.  Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have the rough proportions of a Leprechaun.  No red hair, magic or pot of gold for me though.  I don't even have any Lucky Charms.

[kortopates]

In addition to red tape on the hangar floor for the mains, which is extended with ~6' of white paint on the asphalt, I have a vertical line of red tape centered vertically on hangar back wall. Latter allows me to keep the tail lined up with the vertical tape as I continue to push the aircraft back into the hangar straight. It really helps in tight fitting hangar.

I've seen some hang tennis balls from ceiling for the same effect, but one well places vertical tape on the back wall does the job easily once you know you have the main gear tires in position.  

[Hank]

I used to put the nose wheel on the concrete seam outside the hangar, and keep the tail on the overhead fluorescent light (48" aligned along the fuselage). When centered, there was 18" clearance on each wingtip. Back up until nose wheel hit the chock, slide the other one in front. Nothing nailed down, existing floor stripes from previous occupant's plane didn't align with mine. 

[bill98]

I managed to score a battery operated PowerTow for $50.00. Don't ask me the things I had to do to get it for so cheap! 

[RLCarter]

Facing the hangar the Mooney goes in at 45° angle to the left hand rear corner, next the C-172 goes in the same manner but in the right rear corner. Both planes start out centered as I go in, got to watch the prop on the Mooney that it doesn't get smacked be the horizontal stab on the Cessna. It's fairly flat so going slow is no problem, the hangar has good lighting (6, 8ft double fluorescent fixtures) for night ops and I generally always have a spotter. A tug would make it nice, SOP is move the Cessna, get the Mooney out, put the Cessna back and go fly, then get the Cessna out, put the Mooney up and then the Cessna, hot S.TX days are fun......