In a tiedown, an airplane corrodes, avionics absorb moisture and heat and so on. But quantifying increased maintenance requirements from being in a tiedown instead of in a hangar-like finding $1 avgas-is all but impossible.

This is one way of measuring cost against value.

Thats about $290 a month, so by his math, the cost-value just wasnt appealing. Just to put numbers on that, $3500 a year for four years would buy a mid-priced paint job and a new interior for a single. In his calculus, by banking the difference between hangar and tiedown costs, he could easily afford fresh paint and interior work every four years or so. When we were considering sharing a large hangar with another owner a few years ago, he told us his calculations favored remaining in a tiedown instead. Sometimes this makes sense, sometimes it doesnt. At some airports, you can build your own hangar or buy one, then lease the land long-term from the airport. Rural airports tend to be more hangar-rich environments. In general, on the coasts and in the big cities, youll pay a lot more for a hangar than you will in the sticks, if you can find one at all. Our research reveals theres no one-size-fits-all answer for any of this. Should you just rent one? Should you buy or build one and pay the airport for the leasehold? Or pay for a group hangar and risk hangar rash while someone else worries about maintaining the big metal box? This leads to these obvious questions: Whats the best way to pay for a hangar? Its simple supply and demand versus not-so-simple cost versus value. But when the list grows short and its time put up or shut up, some owners balk at paying the $200 or $500 or whatever a month for sheltered storage. Alongside what really happened to Amelia Earhart and whether shock cooling is mythical or not, the third great aviation mystery is this: If every airport has a hangar waiting list, why are there still so many airplanes roasting in tiedowns or buried under snow drifts?Ĭlearly, given the choice, any aircraft owner wants a hangar-its just a better way to do business.

Detroit city airport hangar