September/October 2023 - 16

SPECI AL FOCUS
The aircraft size and
maintenance activities
that will be performed
help decide the size
of hangar bays.
WEST STAR AVIATION
efficiently accommodate the aircraft and eliminate
wasted floor space or building volume, " said Jansen.
Jansen said they keep a close eye on the airframe
manufacturers and global fleet compositions to
make sure they provide adequate dimensions for
the largest aircraft variants that are anticipated
both in the current fleet and in the future.
" By providing stacking plans on the hangar
Projects,
especially a
large project
like a hangar,
always take
much longer
than you think.
Start planning
and talking
to the airport
early.
-Mark C. Jansen
floor, we show the flexibility of one widebody and
several narrowbodies that can fit in one position.
Some additional things we can do are provide extra
clearance around the largest aircraft, keep interior
columns away from the aircraft altogether, provide
tail doors, and design nose bays to provide room
for longer aircraft that may evolve in the future, "
he continued.
Anticipating future support equipment in the
structural design of a facility should also be kept
in mind. For example, at their recently opened East
Alton facility, Zada said they built the hangar with
eventual solar implementation in mind.
" We're thinking ahead about how can we electrify
the building in a different way, and we've designed
the building to take on additional roof load so that
it can support solar panels, and we're building the
infrastructure into the building so that once we're
ready, we can pull the trigger and go ahead and install
solar along the roof of the facility there, " he said.
They're also thinking about what it would
mean for electric cars or electric tugs, how do
they install charging ports, and how do they run
conduit underground.
Jansen added that the site selection and layout
criteria should incorporate provisions to add future
shops, parking, warehousing as an MRO provider's
mission evolves over the years.
16 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
" As electrification becomes mainstream, we provide
extra ductbanks around the site, work with the
utility provider to upsize transformer yards, and
construct extra conduits within the hangars for
future electric GSE, " he said.
Equipped for Day One
Making sure the hangar has what it needs for its
first day of operations is of even greater importance
than planning for the future, and Zada said it's a
process that starts as soon as possible.
" As part of our initial evaluation phase, where
we're sizing the cost of the project, where we're sizing
the potential benefit of the project, we're factoring
all of that into what we believe we're going to
need, " he said.
Thanks to the growth West Star has experienced
over the last couple years, Zada said they've developed
a good understanding of what the tooling
needs to look like to start up the hangar, what sort
of additional capital they're going to have to invest
in to make sure they've got the right GSE, etc.
" Once we open up the hangar, equipment's there,
tools are there. We're able to stock it, we're able to get
it set up as we need, and that way we're operational
within days as opposed to opening the door and
then waiting another couple of weeks for material
to continue arriving or for tools to continue arriving.
So that way we're a little more just in time with
how that material shows up, " he said.
So that the building structure and utility support
systems can be designed properly, decisions
for pieces of equipment like fixtures, major tools
and lifts, cranes, and GSE need to be made early
in the design process, well before construction,
added Jansen.
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
September/October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2023
