Bifold Doors From Schweiss Save Planes And Hangars During Hurricane Harvey

Rockport, Texas was in the direct path of Hurricane Harvey. All the hangars still standing at the Aransas County Airport had Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors; those that didn't were destroyed.

The trucks visible in file along the taxiway are just a fraction of the actual number of trucks staged at the airport in the days and weeks after the storm. At one point, there were over four miles' worth of bucket and equipment trucks parked bumper to bumper.

The small seaside town of Rockport, Texas, located about 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, received considerable damage. Harvey was the first Category 4 hurricane in the U.S. in 13 years.

Airport Manager Mike Geer said he was most amazed at how the eight T-hangar doors came through the hurricane with just some minor cosmetic damage. They got hit hard for two hours before the eye of the hurricane came over and then for two hours more.

These three large box hangars with Schweiss 60' x 17' bifold liftstrap doors look like they were totally missed by Hurricane Harvey, but they weren’t.

Once this hangar's bifold door collapsed, the hangar fell down right on top of it. The top part of the bifold went flying quite a distance away.

Occasionally, customers suggest that Schweiss hydraulic and bifold doors may be more heavy duty than they need to be. You won’t hear that from pilots who house their airplanes in hangars at the Aransas County Airport in Rockport, Texas.

The small gulf town of Rockport is located 30 miles north of Corpus Christi. The neighboring city of Fulton bore the brunt of Category 4 Hurricane Harvey that wreaked havoc in Texas in late August 2017. Harvey hit the shores with sustained winds in excess of 145 mph for a period of 5 hours with wind gusts topping 160 mph. Nearby Rockport faced hurricane force winds for more than 13 hours.

Airport manager Mike Geer was so excited to report that hangars with Schweiss bifold doors were still standing, he called Schweiss Doors owner Mike Schweiss.

“Those doors, in large part, are why we have buildings here that are still standing,” Geer says. “We lost seven buildings all together for a total of about 90,000 square feet of hangar space. I believe the Schweiss doors are why the buildings that are still standing are still up. On everything else, we lost the doors and the buildings followed right after. When we rebuild, I guarantee you we will be putting Schweiss doors on these hangars.”

Two of the largest Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors on box hangars at Aransas County Airport are 60' x 17'. Eight bifold doors measuring 43' x 14'-10" were installed on the T-hangars. Liftstrap doors are wind-rated at 130 mph and include hurricane pins to further secure them to the hangars.

“We have eight bifold doors on T-hangars and they are all still standing with every hangar intact,” Geer says. “We have another identical hangar next to it that had one of Schweiss' competitor’s doors on it. That hangar was picked up and thrown to the ground because the doors failed. Our T-hangars that survived were the biggest deal to me. They took a full frontal and then a full force again after the eye crossed over. They got hammered. They have some cosmetic damage, but the amazing thing to me was the doors held. The hurricane pin bolts (windpins) were bent 25 degrees. They are an inch thick. That tells you how strong that wind was, but the Schweiss doors took it!”

Wind pins are strong steel bolts that lock the door to the building to resist negative wind loads similar to the bolt on a standard door lock. They can be placed into the floor at the bottom of the door or as “wall pins” in the side of the bifold or hydraulic doors.

The 7,000-square-foot hangars, with the doors measuring 60' x 35', are built large enough to handle at least a Beechcraft King Air 350.

On the large box hangars, Geer says one wing nut came off on a plexiglass window. The exterior cladding stayed intact. A total of 15 airplanes were destroyed and 22 more damaged. Geer said engineering students from several universities visited the airport to study the impact of the storm. He was told the Schweiss doors were the reason the T-hangars survived.

“I chose to ride out the hurricane in the airport terminal for several reasons,” Geer says. “One of which was that I knew it would be very difficult to get back into Rockport after the storm passed. I believed that the airport would be a natural staging ground for the relief and recovery efforts, so my thought process was to be ready to help with the first responders. Had I known Harvey was going intensify into a major hurricane, I would have evacuated.

“It was like having a 747 with parking brakes on at full throttle just outside the door. It was incredibly loud. We had hurricane force winds here for 13 hours. The Category 4 part sat on us for five hours. That’s never happened before. Most hurricanes move through in three to five hours. This hurricane sat on us for quite a while. It didn’t stall in speed, it stalled in forward momentum. The wind came directly out of the north for two hours and then directly out of the south for two hours; we were right in the middle of the hurricane. In fact, it took the eye over an hour to pass over. I have learned since that there were multiple F-5 tornadoes inside the eyewall.”

Hurricane Harvey was the first Category 4 storm in the U.S. since 2004 when Charley menaced Florida. Texas had not endured such a powerful hurricane since Carla in 1961. The Category 4 hurricane had a diameter of 280 miles. Two estimates report total losses as much as $75 billion. More than 2.3 million customers across Texas were without electricity as Harvey threatened to stall, setting up several days of rainfall that dropped up to 50 inches in some spots and about 15 inches in Rockport.

About Schweiss Doors

Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package. To learn more, visit www.bifold.com or www.schweisshydraulicdoors.com.

And to learn about Schweiss' new Build Your Own Door Kit, which gives customers the plans and essential components to build their own Schweiss Doors, visit  www.bifold.com/build-your-own-door.php.