A beautiful new Varco Pruden corporate jet hangar, built by Ordell Construction for Lanz Cabinets of Eugene, OR, features a 76-foot wide by 23-1/2-foot tall hydraulic door from Schweiss Doors. The 9,288-square-foot hangar houses several offices, a kitchen, a meeting room and a fireplace lounge.

“We actually built this hangar for this airplane,” says Lanz Cabinets chief pilot Scott Adamo, who flies the corporate Bombardier Challenger 300 business jet. “We had a different airplane before in a smaller hangar that would not fit the Challenger.

“The main reason we went with a Schweiss hydraulic door was because we needed as much clearance as possible at the door opening. There are height restrictions on this side of the airfield because the control tower needs a line of sight from the tower to the East runway. This door was the solution, enabling us to build the hangar in our preferred location. With a bifold door, we would have had to build the hangar six feet taller to allow for the additional roof required by the clamshell type of door.”

Adamo also likes that the door provides some shelter outside the hangar and opens quickly. “If it is raining, we can open the door via remote control and pull underneath the open door,” he says. “Passengers can exit the aircraft and not have to step out into the rain. The door looks cool and people are definitely impressed when they see it.”

Project manager Erik Stolle from Ordell Construction LLC of Eugene, says his company is an independent authorized Varco Pruden builder. The Lanz hangar was selected as a  winner in the Transportation category in the 2019 Varco Pruden Hall of Fame presentation.

Varco Pruden supplied its Rigid Frame system for the skeleton of the hangar, along with roof and wall panels. The walls are clad with the Panel Rib profile in Cool Egyptian White and the roof is topped by the SSR profile, formed from Galvalume-coated steel. Varco Pruden’s PrisMAX SL skylights bring light into the building. Ordell also installed the hydraulic door.

“The installation went actually well,” Stolle says. “It was kind of daunting at first, but we just laid it out and pieced it together. Like anything, we put our minds together and came up with a good game plan and it went really smooth. The Schweiss installation manual was easy to follow. We didn’t run into any hang-ups. The door works great and opens and closes really smoothly.”

Stolle says the people at Schweiss Doors were good to deal with. He mentioned that when onsite supervisor Richard Smith had some installation questions, the support was available when it was needed.

Brent Lanz, owner/president of Lanz Cabinets, was very pleased with every part of the new hangar, including the hydraulic door.

“The door is absolutely wonderful,” Lanz says. “It operates well; it is a very fine piece of equipment. We have it on a remote garage door opener so as the plane is pulling in, we just push a button and it starts opening. We lined the inside of it with panels that make it look super nice as well. It’s quiet, nice and it’s a home run for sure.”

Lanz also loves the skylights and the architectural feature of the exposed metal frames. “Every part of the building is beautiful and I couldn’t be happier with how it came out and the incredible job done by Ordell Construction,” he says.