The Latest
As another season begins we want to update you on developments at Fulfab over the past several months.
We now offer a standard line of clear span hangars to compliment our traditional T-Hangar products. These hangars can be built in rows or, as is commonly done, as an addition to a set of T- Hangars. In addition to being interior column-free, the clear span hangars are rectangular and provide approximately one-third more floor space than a T-Hangar. The Waterbury-Oxford job profiled on page two includes sixteen of these clear span units.
Our "Bifold Door Maintenance Manual", an updated and bound edition of maintenance and adjustment procedures, went to print last year. This booklet describes in detail the procedures reguarly listed on the back page of this newsletter, which are required to properly maintain you bifold doors. The manual also addresses safety concerns, trouble shooting tips and contains an enlarged maintenance checklist. Please contact us for copies for your hangars.
By now, our customers of bifold door hangars prior to 1993 should be aware of the dual-chain retro-fit kits available for their hangars. These kits enhance the safety of the lifting mechanism by adding a second drive chain thus preventing a door from falling as a result of single chain failure. To date over 800 of these kits have been installed which are made available to hangar owners at our cost. We encourage you to take advantage of this offer.
Many of you who have met and worked with Bill Shamblin, one of our field superintendents, will be glad to hear he is now Chief of Field Operations. Bill will not only over see our steel erection screws, but more importantly, be available to consult with our customers on-site for planning, construction, and maintenance issues on a continuing basis. Bill's new role will improve upon what we have been told is the best customer service in the industry.

Featured Project
Fulfab and sister company, T-Corp, recently completed a 48 unit hangar project at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport (OXC) in Connecticut.
The project, which was constructed for Keystone Aviation Services, consists of two 16 unit Model LK42 T-Hangar buildings, a six unit clear span Model CS42, and a ten unit clear span Model CS48.
These units are being sold a s part of a condominium arrangement to individual owners. Condominium ownership of hangars is becoming increasingly popular across the country with developers and users alike. Developers are able to free-up financing for other projects, while hangar users can realize significant savings by owning their unit rather than leasing.
These buildings comprise a total of 63,000 square feet of hangar space and feature our fully-integrated building and electric bifold door system with 42' x 12' and 48' x 14' clear door openings. T-Corp steel erection cres installed these building with 3" vinyl-backed roof and exterior wall insulation. The clear span hangars are constructed with single span roof joists versus the typical T-Hangar post and beam structure.
Pacesetter Construction Corp. of Branford, Connecticut was the General Contractor on this job and has constructed several hangar projects previously. Brian Buckhoff of Pacesetter has a satisfied customer stating "Keystone Aviation is pleased with the finished product and the workmanship of the manufacturer's steel erection crew. We hope to work on future projects with Fulfab".

Meet the Staff
Our manufacturing facility in Canton, Ohio has grown steadily in size from its humble 4000 square feet start in 1957 to approximately 30,000 square feet today. Two men who have seen most of these changes firsthand are Verl Harlan and Eugene Douglas, with 35 and 33 years of experience on the production floor, respectively. These men have in some way been involved with all but 500 of the 7,500 T-Hangar units produced here.
Verl began with Fulfab as a welder and today is our lead machine operator. A stickler for quality and details, Verl has committed most or our building components to memory and constantly challenges our engineering staff to make improvements ot our products.
Eugene has spent most of his career as head of the shipping department responsible for stocking and shipping 1,500 different building components to airports nationwide. More recently, he has used his substantial experience to lead machine operating teams.
Verl spends his free time outdoors working on one of his many projects at home or hunting deer in his native West Virginia. He and his wife Velda hav e three children and nine grandchildren.
Eugene is an avid sportsman, enjoying bowling, golf and coaching area youth baseball. He and his wife Nancy have three children and four grandchildren.

Partition Wall Heights
Prospective customers frequently ask how high we recommend interior partition walls should be. Our response is that from the tenant's viewpoint, partition walls that extend to the roof are highly desirable. The primary advantage to having full height partition walls is that birds entering the building through open doors are confned to one unit.
All openings are sealed and flashed and therefore birds are prevented from leaving their droppings on other tenants' aircraft. If full height partition walls are not desired, we recommend the partitions extend at least to the opening height of the doors. This means a height of 12' or 14' depending on T-Hangar Model. If partitions are as high as the door opening height, the tail of the plane cannot be seen from the adfacent units. This affords a degree of privacy that most hangar tenants treasure.
There is one practice that we strongly recommend against. Some manufacturers promote the use of what the call "Half Height" partitions, typically 8' high. In addition to the potential problems with birds, these short walls permit tenants to see the aircraft in adfacent units and thus be aware of their neighbors' comings and goings. Also if a door is left open, wind blowing over a short wall could cause enough pressure to "pop" open the door latch on the other side of the building.
Our experience over many years had taught us that pilots like to think of their hangared plane as being "out of sight - out of mind" and are willing to pay for this feature.

Open Bifold Doors
Many T-hangar tenants are in the habit of having their bifold door in the open position when spending any appreciable time in their unit. Some of the reasons for this may be to obtain additional light, air movement, or claustrophobia. Whatever the reason, this practice is fine as long as people do not stand directly beneath the bottom of the door or have the door open during windy conditions. Our operating instructions and caution decals, located near the door operating switch, warn against potentially unsafe practices. Everyone understands why you should never stand below a mechanical device. However not everyone is aware of the danger posed to an open bifold door by strong winds.
In the down and locked position our bifold doors are designed to withstand hurricane force winds. However, bifold doors in the open position are extremely vulnerable to wind damage. We hav e seen instances where winds have ripped an open door off its hinges and folded it back onto the roof. We recommend that bifold doors be closed and locked whenever the wind velocity reaches 40 MPH.

Maintenance Guide & Checklist

We recommend that you inspect and lubricate your Fulfab T-Hangars and bifold doors at regular six month intervals. Reproduced above is our maintenance checklist with procedures that should be performed on each bifold door hangar unit.

Each procedure is referenced on the checklist with a drawing number which will help you to locate the parts requiring your attention. We can provide copies of these drawings to you free of charge.

Any worn or damaged parts should be reported and replacement parts secured before the doors are used further. Fulfab maintains a complete stock of replacement parts.