Dan 57
Well Known Member
A teacher of mine told me once, too many years ago, that the country I live in has the shape of a cowpat. Centered on the old continent, but not really part of Europe politically speaking. Overcrowed and overbuilt. Luckily the Alps are within 10’ RV flying time and still offer a refreshing, interesting, and challenging playground. Mountainous area flying rule #1, never loose respect…
We are lucky to still have quite a few nice GA fields, either grass or concrete, and I’m located on one of the busiest of them, Birrfeld LSZF, some 20km W of the biggest city in the country, Zurich.
Owning an aircraft is one thing over here, finding hangar space could be very difficult up to a couple of years ago. In view of the declining number of active pilots, some recession, and the youngest generation spending most of their time either in front of their cell phone or computer screen… pardon me, I digress
So, we started hanging ‘em RVs, and others. Latest hangars on the field were built with an elevated roof to permit the installation of hangers. Having one’s RV hanging offers several benefits such as no hangar rash, theft protection, and, depending if on a platform or not, an easy way to perform landing gear or other under belly maintenance. Servicing the tailwheel or replacing the brakes almost becomes a pleasure when able to alter the working height at will
The downside is having to keep that belly clean and shiny, lest being open to any critical remarks of your peers
The hoists provided at LSZF are either of the belt or chain driven type. One has then two options as to how to tie his beauty off the hanger, either “free hanging”, or by using a platform. Each has its pros and cons. One big plus is that all the hoist assies have the ability to slide on their rail and travel far enough out of the hangar to permit lowering one’s ship without having to move another one. Open the doors, push on the remote’s buttons, achieve the softest landing you’ll ever make, untie, stow the hoist, close the doors, go enjoy yourself.
Below some shots to illustrate the above. Looks cramped, but all works pretty good, and we are all very happy with our hangers
We are lucky to still have quite a few nice GA fields, either grass or concrete, and I’m located on one of the busiest of them, Birrfeld LSZF, some 20km W of the biggest city in the country, Zurich.
Owning an aircraft is one thing over here, finding hangar space could be very difficult up to a couple of years ago. In view of the declining number of active pilots, some recession, and the youngest generation spending most of their time either in front of their cell phone or computer screen… pardon me, I digress
So, we started hanging ‘em RVs, and others. Latest hangars on the field were built with an elevated roof to permit the installation of hangers. Having one’s RV hanging offers several benefits such as no hangar rash, theft protection, and, depending if on a platform or not, an easy way to perform landing gear or other under belly maintenance. Servicing the tailwheel or replacing the brakes almost becomes a pleasure when able to alter the working height at will
The downside is having to keep that belly clean and shiny, lest being open to any critical remarks of your peers
The hoists provided at LSZF are either of the belt or chain driven type. One has then two options as to how to tie his beauty off the hanger, either “free hanging”, or by using a platform. Each has its pros and cons. One big plus is that all the hoist assies have the ability to slide on their rail and travel far enough out of the hangar to permit lowering one’s ship without having to move another one. Open the doors, push on the remote’s buttons, achieve the softest landing you’ll ever make, untie, stow the hoist, close the doors, go enjoy yourself.
Below some shots to illustrate the above. Looks cramped, but all works pretty good, and we are all very happy with our hangers
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