Dulles Hangar Collapse

[YoungTurk]

trade weekly had gory details this morning...

The severe winter weather that paralyzed the East Coast beginning Feb. 5 took a heavy toll on the Dulles Jet Center (DJC) at Washington Dulles International Airport, with three of four of the DJC hangars – each filled with high-end business jets – crumpling under the weight of nearly two feet of snow. As a result, all three hangars were destroyed, and up to 14 aircraft experienced varying levels of damage. The fourth hangar, which apparently housed four aircraft in the General Dynamics fleet, was damaged slightly, but survived the storm.
The aircraft inside the fourth hangar (Hangar D) were not damaged.

The 14 aircraft in Hangars A, B and C were mostly large business jets and included Gulfstreams, Bombardier Globals and Dassault Falcons, among others.

 

[berkshire]

Yes there have been a bunch of pictures circulating on the Internet, showing some very expensive aircraft with their noses in the air and their tails squashed flat.
B.E.

 

[YoungTurk]

I have seen those and don't know whether to laugh or cry. Being unsure of the source, didn't want to make them available here.

I am curious how the insurance companies will slice this one up. I think at the end of the day, I would rather be one of the aircraft owners than the hangar construction company or the hangar space leasing company.

There are some other gory details here:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gene...=Heavy Iron Hit in Washington Dulles Collapse

I did not see pictures of this but the report says:
"When steel beams failed, they fell and cut through the aircraft, which are described as unsalvageable."

 

[MintJulep]

It's just another part of the stimulus program.

In the short term the jet's owners are flying commercial or renting other jets with insurance dollars.

The lawyers for the insurance companies and the hanger's owners, builders and designers all collect big fees for battling out who's to blame.

Eventually someone builds some new hangers and everyone involved gets to claim that they created jobs.

Eventually someone's insurance coughs up for a bunch of new jets, files for bankruptcy and gets bailed out.

Several new jet orders are placed.

 

[thruthefence]

I wonder if one of those Gulfstreams is on Al Gore's lease?

What irony! Carbon spewing "private jet" destroyed by Gaia, in her "climate change" agony!

 

[WKTaylor]

Guys...

Other hangars and buildings survived: I'll bet that all of the failed hangars were designed and built by the same companies.

These identical failures [except for the 4th... almost?] indicate classic under design and/or consistent poor Assy and/or deficient materials... for an obvious 50-year snow load scenario. I wonder how many CE licenses are going in the toilet for this debacle??

The leaking jet fuel was an added factor for an explosive catastrophe scenario that was somehow averted... probably by the deep cold and high humdity... and everyone having the good sense not to enter the building.

Regards, Wil Taylor

 

[debodine]

To build on what Wil Taylor said, I suspect that IF the builder was the same for the buildings that failed, that the building crew "deviated" from the engineering drawings and specified materials because "we always do that and it works fine".

Just my uninformed and probably outlier opinion.

 

[KirbyWan]

If you want to build a hangar to house several multi-million dollar airplanes it doesn't make sence to skimp on the cost of the hangar. It may be that the skimping came from the builder and not the purchaser. I agree with Wil, for a structure that is only two years old (so you can't argue it was poor maintenance) I expect some heads to roll. I wonder what snow loading the hangar was designed to withstand. BTW I was thinking that Jet Fuel (aka kerosene) is not that volitile so while dangerous, it didn't have the explosive potential of say gasoline.

-Kirby

Kirby Wilkerson

Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.