Touching Bases: Midcoast finds permanent work for temporary hangar

While Midcoast Aviation was building yet another new hangar at its St. Louis Downtown Airport facility in Cahokia, Ill., a need for more hangar space spawned an elegant solution. Midcoast hired Mahaffey Fabric Structures to erect a portable hangar earlier this year so technicians could work on three Global 5000s, one Challenger 850 and nine Challenger 605s. Mahaffey crews built a 164-foot by 282-foot fabric-enclosed hangar with 13-foot eaves and a peak height of 40 feet. The hangar included a door at one end so airplanes could be moved in and out. During the winter, the interior was warmed by four three-million-BTU propane heaters. Midcoast is keeping the portable hangar and will use it for aircraft storage.