Leasehold hangars and content restrictions

At my home airport, we have a new airport manager
who seems to be on a mission to eradicate anything
but aircraft from leasehold hangars. He claims to have
discovered FAA support for this position during his
"on the job" training -- he is not a pilot, and has no prior
aviation experience -- but he cannot come up with
anything written. We pilots are, naturally, rather
skeptical that the FAA has expressed an opinion
one way or another.

Hangars are all owner-financed (no FAA money), typically
originally with a 30 year lease. It's a municipal airport,
exclusively civilian use, and has in the past been the recipient
of FAA grant money and will no doubt receive additional
FAA funds in the future. There are roughly 100 "private"
hangars (not commercial) at the airport. We're not a pt
139 airport -- some pt 135 sightseeing flights & that's all.

Does anyone have any experience with airport managers,
and/or rules and regulations that restrict what one can
store in one's hangar? Our pilot community is concerned that
our lifestyle is under threat -- historically, people have stored
cars, RVs, boats, tables, chairs, sofas and all manner of toys
and comfort items along with aircraft.

Perhaps there is even someone out there who has a definitive
ruling from the local FSDO...

It should have been in the lease agreement. If not, you should be able
to modify the lease with certain terms. You'll need to review the
original lease and perhaps speak with a property attorney.

-Robert


Tony Cox wrote:
At my home airport, we have a new airport manager
who seems to be on a mission to eradicate anything
but aircraft from leasehold hangars. He claims to have
discovered FAA support for this position during his
"on the job" training -- he is not a pilot, and has no prior
aviation experience -- but he cannot come up with
anything written. We pilots are, naturally, rather
skeptical that the FAA has expressed an opinion
one way or another.

Hangars are all owner-financed (no FAA money), typically
originally with a 30 year lease. It's a municipal airport,
exclusively civilian use, and has in the past been the recipient
of FAA grant money and will no doubt receive additional
FAA funds in the future. There are roughly 100 "private"
hangars (not commercial) at the airport. We're not a pt
139 airport -- some pt 135 sightseeing flights & that's all.

Does anyone have any experience with airport managers,
and/or rules and regulations that restrict what one can
store in one's hangar? Our pilot community is concerned that
our lifestyle is under threat -- historically, people have stored
cars, RVs, boats, tables, chairs, sofas and all manner of toys
and comfort items along with aircraft.

Perhaps there is even someone out there who has a definitive
ruling from the local FSDO...

There's a 20 year waiting list at our airport. These are county-built
hangars. Guys on the list with working airplanes seem happy to have
the airport manager evict people who use their hangars for storage
lockers.

Don

On 15 Nov 2006 13:21:30 -0800, "Tony Cox" wrote:

At my home airport, we have a new airport manager
who seems to be on a mission to eradicate anything
but aircraft from leasehold hangars. He claims to have
discovered FAA support for this position during his
"on the job" training -- he is not a pilot, and has no prior
aviation experience -- but he cannot come up with
anything written. We pilots are, naturally, rather
skeptical that the FAA has expressed an opinion
one way or another.

Hangars are all owner-financed (no FAA money), typically
originally with a 30 year lease. It's a municipal airport,
exclusively civilian use, and has in the past been the recipient
of FAA grant money and will no doubt receive additional
FAA funds in the future. There are roughly 100 "private"
hangars (not commercial) at the airport. We're not a pt
139 airport -- some pt 135 sightseeing flights & that's all.

Does anyone have any experience with airport managers,
and/or rules and regulations that restrict what one can
store in one's hangar? Our pilot community is concerned that
our lifestyle is under threat -- historically, people have stored
cars, RVs, boats, tables, chairs, sofas and all manner of toys
and comfort items along with aircraft.

Perhaps there is even someone out there who has a definitive
ruling from the local FSDO...

My airport has gone through that phase. It was pretty rough. They even
banned people parking in the hangar when they go away. We couldn't drive
out to the hangar also. Winter trips thinned out because nobody wanted
to drag their suitcased through the mud'n slush. Then return to a plowed
in or plow damaged or vandalized car. Of course those who curried favour
with the owners were allowed to drive in and park. But the whole time
those who could drive up to their hangars and had garage doors on the
hangar just parked in anyway.

They even banned having a tin of wd40 in the hangar.



Tony Cox wrote:
At my home airport, we have a new airport manager
who seems to be on a mission to eradicate anything
but aircraft from leasehold hangars. He claims to have
discovered FAA support for this position during his
"on the job" training -- he is not a pilot, and has no prior
aviation experience -- but he cannot come up with
anything written. We pilots are, naturally, rather
skeptical that the FAA has expressed an opinion
one way or another.

Hangars are all owner-financed (no FAA money), typically
originally with a 30 year lease. It's a municipal airport,
exclusively civilian use, and has in the past been the recipient
of FAA grant money and will no doubt receive additional
FAA funds in the future. There are roughly 100 "private"
hangars (not commercial) at the airport. We're not a pt
139 airport -- some pt 135 sightseeing flights & that's all.

Does anyone have any experience with airport managers,
and/or rules and regulations that restrict what one can
store in one's hangar? Our pilot community is concerned that
our lifestyle is under threat -- historically, people have stored
cars, RVs, boats, tables, chairs, sofas and all manner of toys
and comfort items along with aircraft.

Perhaps there is even someone out there who has a definitive
ruling from the local FSDO...

Robert M. Gary wrote:
It should have been in the lease agreement. If not, you should be able
to modify the lease with certain terms. You'll need to review the
original lease and perhaps speak with a property attorney.


Well, our situation is rather complex. Leases are governed
by eight different agreements (depending on when the hangars
were constructed), some of which have blanket clauses that
incorporate the general airport rules and regs, others that
don't. That's why I didn't want to get into the specifics of the
our leases and just (hopefully) trawl for what people at other
airports have experienced. We have obtained legal advice, and
the opinion, FWIW, is that the lease rules are most probably
unenforceable due to the airport's neglect over the last several
years.

Right now, the supposed FAA edict banning anything but
aircraft is more of a procedural problem for us airport tenants
attempting to regularize the various leases than a threat to
our lifestyle -- no one in the City is prepared to consider any
concrete proposal because they confidently expect the FAA
to "rule" definitively on the issue. Those of us with more experience
with the FAA think that getting anyone in the local FSDO to
commit is likely to be as frustrating as waiting for Godot.

That's why I'd like to hear from anyone who *has* managed
to get a ruling. Failing that, "points on the graph" at FAA-funded
airports would be very helpful.

Jules wrote:

They even banned having a tin of wd40 in the hangar.


You've got to be kidding me? What sort of maniac would
try to enforce that?? Did they make you drain your tanks
of 100LL before putting the plane to bed at night too??

Tony Cox wrote:


Right now, the supposed FAA edict banning anything but
aircraft


No such rule. The FAA would never get into this area.

"Newps" wrote in message
...


Tony Cox wrote:


Right now, the supposed FAA edict banning anything but
aircraft


No such rule. The FAA would never get into this area.

That's what we think. But how do you prove it to a skeptical
City Council, especially when Blakely announces at Oshkosh
that the FAA is going to "crack down on hangar misuse" ??

I'm not exactly sure the FAA _doesn't_ have an interest here.
Airport funds are poorly spent if hangar owners (in the extreme
case) just use them for general storage because its cheaper than
the local lock-up. Not that its anything remotely like our case, but
we seem to be in danger of being swept up with the latest
"imaginary hobgoblin".

Tony Cox wrote:



No such rule. The FAA would never get into this area.


That's what we think. But how do you prove it to a skeptical
City Council, especially when Blakely announces at Oshkosh
that the FAA is going to "crack down on hangar misuse" ??

No way she said that or she was taken out of context.



I'm not exactly sure the FAA _doesn't_ have an interest here.
Airport funds are poorly spent if hangar owners (in the extreme
case) just use them for general storage because its cheaper than
the local lock-up. Not that its anything remotely like our case, but
we seem to be in danger of being swept up with the latest
"imaginary hobgoblin".


Airports often have rules about what can be stored in hangars. There's
no problem with reasonable rules.

Tony Cox wrote:
"Newps" wrote in message
...
No such rule. The FAA would never get into this area.

That's what we think. But how do you prove it to a skeptical
City Council, especially when Blakely announces at Oshkosh
that the FAA is going to "crack down on hangar misuse" ??

They have. Every airport in my area has had to extract the non-airplane
users of hangers as part of the federal grants. However, I believe you
said the airport hasn't taken federal money. Further, if you did, the
feds would require you to kick them out so you'd need to have a lease
agreement that allowed for that. I hope your leases at least expire.
In every case here, the leases dating back to 1940 required the hanger
to be used for aircraft.

That's about the limit of what you want to feds to do. Imagine the
farmer who built a barn for his J-3 and now wants to keep hay in it as
well. You don't want the feds bothering that poor guy. Its not able
airports, its about accepting federal grant money.
-Robert