Searching for Hangar Space
I’ve started searching for a place to do final assembly. My two leading choices right now are at Nashua Airport and Fitchburg Airport. Both have larger “community” hangars. In my mind I pictured getting a private T-hangar, but I guess those are pretty rare, and even then, they are typically privately owned and I’d have to buy one. Going rate seems to be about $50-$70k, yikes!
At Nashua Airport, I met with Bob, the manager/owner of Nashua Jet Aviation. He showed me a hangar right underneath the Midfield Cafe that has plenty of space and recently hosted construction of 3 Zenith home-built planes. It would be heated, anytime access, conveniently located on the field, and reasonably priced at $350/mo.
At Fitchburg I met with Peter, the airport manager. He showed me several large hangars owned and operated by the airport which had space for me (but no heat). He also showed me the hangar owned by the Fitchburg Pilots Association, an EAA chapter. Their hangar is pretty nice, heated, and would be a good choice, given EAA’s charter to foster growth of experimental aviation. Two of the board members happen to be there, and they seemed to be pretty excited about hosting me. They will discuss the subject at their next board meeting.
I figure I’m about 9 months away from needing to move to a hangar, so I still have some time. I like both options, since they would be good places for performing the phase 1 flight tests. Nashua is probably a little more convenient to me, given it’s located between work and home. But, I got a good vibe from my trip to Fitchburg. They recently repaved the runway, they’re opening a brand new self-service fuel farm this week, and they have plans to build new T-hangars in the near future. They also completed a beautiful new main terminal about 2 years ago, so they’re definitely investing and improving the field. Nashua, on the other hand, has more services, like multiple precision approach procedures, a large 6000’ runway, and at least 3 full-service FBOs, as well as the delicious food at Midfield Cafe!