Hangar Etiquette

So this isn't directly RV related but it kinda is since many of us are hangar bums especially on a nice weekend day. If you have not had a chance to read Lauran Paine's article titled "Hangar Etiquette" be sure to track it down in the new April issue of Sport Aviation. I'm sure many of you will relate to it. It certainly brought out some chuckles as I read it.

+1 for that!

I also really enjoyed this article. It's about time someone laid down the ground rules for newbies.

ppilotmike said:

I also really enjoyed this article. It's about time someone laid down the ground rules for newbies.

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Enjoyed that article but it missed one of my pet peeves, for newbies AND oldies:

Look but don't touch (unless your "help" is requested)! I don't grab your wife's hoohahs without your permission, do I?

Flying Scotsman said:

Enjoyed that article but it missed one of my pet peeves, for newbies AND oldies:

Look but don't touch (unless your "help" is requested)! I don't grab your wife's hoohahs without your permission, do I?

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You should probably get her permission instead. Could be a problem even if the guy says it's ok.

Flying Scotsman said:

Enjoyed that article but it missed one of my pet peeves, for newbies AND oldies:

Look but don't touch (unless your "help" is requested)! I don't grab your wife's hoohahs without your permission, do I?

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One thing I'm super protective of is my canopy, mainly because I thought that was the most annoying part of the entire build and I don't want to do it again.. but people always want to lean on it and peer in. Jacket zippers sliding around on it, finger prints, FACE prints, etc. Often other pilots too. They'll hop out of their plane at a fly in and walk over and smash their face on the bubble. Drives me nuts.

flyenforfun said:

One thing I'm super protective of is my canopy, mainly because I thought that was the most annoying part of the entire build and I don't want to do it again.. but people always want to lean on it and peer in. Jacket zippers sliding around on it, finger prints, FACE prints, etc. Often other pilots too. They'll hop out of their plane at a fly in and walk over and smash their face on the bubble. Drives me nuts.

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One of my peeves too. I still haven't found a crowd pleasing way to say: "Please keep your hands, face, jacket, and keep sway from the canopy."

I leave my canopy open at most fly-ins to help with this issue. Seems to help, but the canopy is apparently a great armrest.

I guess a canopy cover is a solution, but I like for people to be able to look inside my airplane...

At the first and last fly in I ever attended with my Midget Mustang, a parent actually layed her 2 year old spread eagle, face down on my canopy!

Like I said... First and last public-accessible fly in I'll ever attend.

RWoodard said:

At the first and last fly in I ever attended with my Midget Mustang, a parent actually layed her 2 year old spread eagle, face down on my canopy!

Like I said... First and last public-accessible fly in I'll ever attend.

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I used to regularly work airshow events with my local CAF wing, mostly just standing by the planes to talk to people about them. It never ceased to amaze me how some people felt very free to just climb all over aircraft that didn't belong to them. I was standing by our PT-26 at PDk Good Neighbor Day one time...I think maybe it was Greg Koontz flying, and I was watching him kind of intently...I turn around and there's a guy just straight up standing on the wing!

I don't get it...I would never touch another person's airplane without asking. Never.

Luckily, I have a good comeuppance story, also courtesy of the CAF wing. One of our Mustang pilots is a F-16 driver named John, and one day at a show, he strolls up to the P-51 and there's a man and his son who have climbed up on the wing. So John asks the man nicely to please get down off the wing. The guy gets mad.

"I paid to get in this show, I should be able to do whatever I want blah blah blah..."

"Get. Off. The. Wing. Please."

Still grumbling, the man complies and walks off with his son. John thinks it's over, but about half an hour later, he comes back from walking around a bit to find the same guy on the wing, and this time his kid is sitting in the cockpit! The kid is playing make-believe and talking into what he thinkg is the microphone.

Except it's not the microphone. It's the relief tube.

John: "Sir, you really should have your son stop doing that."

grumblegrumblepaidtogetinthisshowgrumblgrumble

"Sir, do you realize I pee into that thing he's putting up to his mouth?"

"AAAaAAUUUUUGH!!!!!!"

I don't think he found them on the wing any more after that.

I have an old friend, Nick Jones, who was walking into a hangar on a Sunday, and sees this little kid standing on a Piper Aztec's wing and said, "Little boy, get off that airplane, NOW!" His mother was nearby and didn't like the admonishment at all and said so.

Nick told the boy, "Son, if you don't get off that wing now, I'll personally give you your first-ever whippin'" He got off and they left.

Best,

pierre smith said:

I have an old friend, Nick Jones, who was walking into a hangar on a Sunday, and sees this little kid standing on a Piper Aztec's wing and said, "Little boy, get off that airplane, NOW!" His mother was nearby and didn't like the admonishment at all and said so.

Nick told the boy, "Son, if you don't get off that wing now, I'll personally give you your first-ever whippin'" He got off and they left.

Best,

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Well we are flying to Sun N Fun next week and now I am terrified. Excellent.

pierre smith said:

I have an old friend, Nick Jones, who was walking into a hangar on a Sunday, and sees this little kid standing on a Piper Aztec's wing and said, "Little boy, get off that airplane, NOW!" His mother was nearby and didn't like the admonishment at all and said so.

Nick told the boy, "Son, if you don't get off that wing now, I'll personally give you your first-ever whippin'" He got off and they left.

Best,

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I like your friend's style! I recently had a stranger and his young daughter (older daughter was at a CAP meeting on the field) enter my hangar to look at my plane. Besides talking for about 45 min/hour (one of my pet peeves when I'm trying to get work done. If I'm crawling around, dirty, holding tools, etc, please take a look, have a QUICK friendly exchange, and let me get back to work), his daughter kept leaning on my wingtip and pushing herself off with her hands. I kept waiting for him to tell her to stop, but no dice. I debated how to tell her, but it being a first meeting and them both being extremely nice folks, I 'showed them something' on the other side of the plane to get her off my wing tip. Looking back, I should have immediately asked her to stop. My choice is offending some strangers or dealing with a cracked wing tip - easy choice in hindsight....

Me, pushing the plane back in...unknown airport bum, chattering away: "you need some help?"

"No, I got it"

after which he proceeds to "help" anyway (pushing on the wing, watch and rings on his hands/wrists, etc., read to cause hangar rash or, in one case, by taking the leading edge and pushing back on it).

When I say "No, I got it", it means NO, I GOT IT.

How hard is that to understand for some people?

Just like going into some dude's garage and seeing is chromium plated fully illuminated Harley sitting there. You KNOW not to touch it.

I did and shared with good friends (hangar bums). Lot Of Laugh, believe me hangar etiquette is international

Lauran is an outstanding bum - writer

Hope to meet him too @ Oshkosh this year

Ciao

ps: IMHO Lauran is flying with a RV-8, so it's absolute related

I'm in the camp that now avoids public fly-ins and it is too bad. There are two events that stick in my mind from that last one I went to.

As soon as I shut down, and before I exited the airplane, a boy ran up and vaulted himself onto the horizontal stabilizer. I was surprised it seemed to survive OK.

Later that same day I returned with a friend to her RV-6A that had been left with the slider canopy open. There were several cheerleaders standing in the cockpit leaning against the front canopy rail having their pictures taken by their chaperone. I couldn't believe how polite the owner was about it.

I keep thinking about how I would be treated if I sat on stood on one of these esteemed personage's car.

My airplane was on display at a Fly-In at Key West a couple of years ago. A young man with his toddler son came up and asked me several questions about the airplane and we had a nice conversation. He then moved off and another person started talking to me about the airplane. After a few moments I looked around and noticed that the first man had set his toddler and two coke cans on the wing of my airplane and was leaning his b**t up against the leading edge while talking on his cell phone!!! I could not believe it. When I walked over and politely asked him to take his son, the coke cans, and his b**t off the airplane, he seemed pretty indignant. Sheesh!!

dmaib said:

My airplane was on display at a Fly-In at Key West a couple of years ago.

After a few moments I looked around and noticed that the first man had set his toddler and two coke cans on the wing of my airplane and was leaning his b**t up against the leading edge while talking on his cell phone!!! I could not believe it. When I walked over and politely asked him to take his son, the coke cans, and his b**t off the airplane, he seemed pretty indignant. Sheesh!!

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Must have been wal-mart shoppers...

On the other hand

Yesterday, we flew to a well known breakfast fly-in in Oklahoma. After we eat we usually stroll by the planes and go for a walk down the line. There were a couple of guys looking my plane over from a respectable distance and as we walked past I noticed a very pregnant mommy crouched down with a three year old. We were nearly past and 30 ft away and moving, but as the little guy suddenly moved towards the airplane with his arm outstretched I barely overheard mom say "no no honey, don't touch". I told the wife, I was going back.

I introduced myself as the owner, told the woman I really appreciated her gentle approach to teaching her child and her valid concern for the aircraft and that most parents don't understand the frail ness of aircraft vs. children.

I then asked her her son's name and then I asked "Quinn" if he wanted to sit in the cockpit. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me, Quinn, or mommy! After a short 3 yr old level briefing on what some of the controls and switches do there was an impromptu round of pics.

I told Qunn to come back in a couple of years and if mommy would give us permission, we' d go for a ride. I think we made some people very happy! Quinn may not become a pilot, but he may have a more favorable aviation attitude when he grows up.

Caveman......perfect!

Why does polished aluminum attract fingers? Does not matter how old the fingers or the skill level of their owners but there seems to be an overriding desire to touch a glistening piece of polished metal, maybe even drag the appendage a little....
Used to really tick me off. Now I am glad that my work is worthy of such attention. Never mind. I needed to give her a Spring polish anyway....like cleaning a blackboard.

pierre smith said:

I have an old friend, Nick Jones, who was walking into a hangar on a Sunday, and sees this little kid standing on a Piper Aztec's wing and said, "Little boy, get off that airplane, NOW!" His mother was nearby and didn't like the admonishment at all and said so.

Nick told the boy, "Son, if you don't get off that wing now, I'll personally give you your first-ever whippin'" He got off and they left.

Best,

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horror stories aside, I really miss the days before there were fences and gates around our airports. back when interested pedestrians, jogging around the airport on the trail perhaps, or just strolling around after having eaten brunch watching the airplanes take off and land, could walk up to you tinkering in your hangar and start chatting. I met some really nice and some really interesting people that way.

is it just me?

Skint said:

Why does polished aluminum attract fingers? Does not matter how old the fingers or the skill level of their owners but there seems to be an overriding desire to touch a glistening piece of polished metal, maybe even drag the appendage a little....
Used to really tick me off. Now I am glad that my work is worthy of such attention. Never mind. I needed to give her a Spring polish anyway....like cleaning a blackboard.

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Maybe a piece of scrap aluminum, all polished up to look pretty and deburred on the edges with perhaps a few rivets properly set, would satisfy the need for the visitor(s) to touch. When you see them moving in, just hand them the piece and tell them they can touch it instead of your airplane. That might also start a conversation about building your own airplane.

walkman said:

horror stories aside, I really miss the days before there were fences and gates around our airports. back when interested pedestrians, jogging around the airport on the trail perhaps, or just strolling around after having eaten brunch watching the airplanes take off and land, could walk up to you tinkering in your hangar and start chatting. I met some really nice and some really interesting people that way.

is it just me?

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Not just you at all. Watching the fence being put up at my home base now - sigh...

It's not all non-pilots you have to watch out for. Here's the result of a pilot turning his running airplane's tail toward an open hangar. If that pilot is still able to walk, Håkan is a better man than I.