AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2014 - 24

PILOT COUNSEL

Hangar storage

BY JOHN S. YODICE

What can you store in your hangar?
ONE OF THE MANY BENEFITS offered to participants in
the AOPA Legal Services Plan is a one-time annual
review and critique of certain aviation documents-in
this case, a hangar lease agreement that a LSP participant has been asked to execute. By now we have seen
many of them. These leases usually contain a provision
limiting what may be stored in the hangar. Often the
language is troubling because, read literally, it would
bar what hangar lessees normally expect to keep in
their hangar.
Airport and fixed-base operators who lease hangars usually are sympathetic to the concern, but they
feel that they are required by the FAA to impose such
a restriction based on the so-called Glendale case. A
few years ago, the FAA found the City of Glendale
in violation of an FAA grant agreement by allowing
non-aeronautical use of airport hangars for storing
nonaviation items. A follow-up letter by the FAA, in

Some wonder why the FAA is involved in what
seemingly is a housekeeping matter within the
control of the airport or fixed-base operator.

JOHN S. YODICE

provides legal
counsel for AOPA
members through
the Pilot Protection
Services plan.

an attempt to distinguish items between aeronautical
and nonaeronautical uses, became widely circulated
and interpreted to require the restrictions in the hangar lease agreements. The Glendale letter has now
been downplayed in rulemaking. The FAA now says,
"Insofar as that letter suggested that all non-aeronautical items stored in a hangar would constitute a
violation of the grant assurances, it applied to a specific
situation at a specific airport and does not represent
general agency policy."
A more permanent solution is in sight. In July 2014
the FAA issued a proposed rule titled Policy on the
Non-aeronautical Use of Airport Hangars. The policy,
if adopted as proposed (or improved as some comments to FAA suggest), should help in the negotiation
of more reasonable storage provisions.
Here is a selection of the terms of the proposed policy that should help in the negotiations. "Provided the
hangar is used primarily for aeronautical purposes, an
airport sponsor may permit limited, non-aeronautical
items to be stored in hangars provided the items are
incidental to aeronautical use of the hangar and occupy
an insignificant amount of hangar space (e.g., a small

24 | AOPA PILOT November 2014

refrigerator). Generally, items are considered incidental if they: do not interfere with the aeronautical use of
the hangar; do not displace the aeronautical contents
of the hangar; do not impede access to aircraft or other
aeronautical contents of the hangar; do not require a
larger hangar than would otherwise be necessary if such
items were not present; occupy an insignificant amount
of hangar space; [and] are owned by the hangar owner
or tenant." This is useful language. The proposed policy
also says that hangars must not be used as a residence,
but may be used as a typical pilot resting facility.
Short-term storage of nonoperational aircraft for
purposes of maintenance, repair, or refurbishment is
allowed as an aeronautical use, but to the chagrin of
homebuilders and EAA, not all stages of building an
aircraft are aeronautical-only the final assembly of
aircraft is considered an aeronautical use. Hopefully,
this will be fixed in the final policy (see "What's In
Your Hangar?" page 114).
Some wonder why the FAA is involved in what
seemingly is a housekeeping matter within the control
of the airport or fixed-base operator that leases hangars. Well, most airports have accepted federal airport
aid that carries with it a list of assurances that FAA
oversees. Grant Assurance 22 requires the sponsor to
make the airport available on reasonable terms without unjust discrimination for aeronautical activities,
including aviation services. Grant Assurance 19 prohibits an airport sponsor from causing or permitting
any activity that would interfere with use of airport
property for airport purposes. (These same restrictions apply to airports that were declared surplus by
the federal government and subsequently turned over
to a local government.) What precipitated the problem
is that in FAA and GAO airport inspections and audits,
it was found that some hangars intended for aircraft
storage were used to store non-aeronautical items such
as automobiles, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, and
large household items, sometimes not sharing space
with an aircraft, and all arguably in violation of these
assurances.
Now we should be able to look forward to a policy
as finally adopted that will lead to more reasonable
hangar storage provisions. At the very least, the pesky
Glendale precedent has been set aside.
AOPA
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2014