PROJECT OVERVIEW

Bering Air Airplane Hangar

Bering Air Airplane Hangar, Alaska Commercial Development Group

A Race Against Time in Nome, Alaska

In July 2021, when Bering Air announced they were building a new aircraft hangar in Nome, Alaska, winter was already on the forefront of everyone’s mind. Winter was the reason for the hangar, without it airplanes kept outside needed to undergo expensive and time-consuming de-icing before each flight. Winter winds and snow would dictate the building load requirements, and the arrival of winter would ultimately determine the project timeline. In cities like Nome, air-travel is critical in providing residents mail, medicine, and other essentials, but frozen planes too often result in a bottleneck of delays, making delivery before winter a must. Knowing the non-negotiable timeline, logistical challenges of delivering a project in a remote location off Alaska’s road system, and the high stakes involved, building contractor Alaska Commercial Development Group hired Allied, knowing we could get the job done.

What’s a project without a few engineering challenges?

Amongst other unique factors, the hangar’s design took into consideration Nome’s extreme speed winds, which called for a high performance door that maintained performance criteria. Also, to accommodate the maximum number of planes plus room for cargo processing, the hangar required a 220′ clear span, while still meeting Alaska’s 60-pound-per-square-foot load-bearing requirements for snow and wind. Steel was an obvious choice for the building material since it is the only material that could provide the desired span length while meeting the loading criteria.

Thanks to our vendor partner, Allied was referred to Alaska Commercial Development Group and the building was ordered in January. With less than 6 months to make a critical shipment date, we got to work on designing and engineering the hangar together.

An unexpected turn of events

Timing was just one of the complications that made this project unique, the other being the logistical challenges that came with delivering materials to a location off Alaska’s road system. To reach Nome, materials had to be freighted from Texas, then loaded onto a barge in Washington. With infrequent shipping schedules and long transit times, there was only one available barge departure in June, with enough space, that allowed Allied to ship all the materials on time for the promised delivery.

As the materials made their long journey from Texas to Washington, the unexpected happened and the truck broke down, costing us days that we didn’t have. Fortunately, once the truck was repaired, our freight partners at Kestrel flew a driver out to Denver to meet the truck and both drivers were able to team-drive to make it to Washington before the barge’s departure. In what could have been the worst-case scenario for many providers, Allied was able to honor its commitment, thanks to an invaluable partnership!

Going the extra mile to make a difference

The new Bering Air hangar at the Nome airport is now their largest and has allowed the airline to get planes up into the air faster with less mechanical delays. Passengers have benefitted from more comfortable indoor departures and the planes are better protected from the harsh elements, extending their longevity. Allied is proud to have been involved in a project that has had a positive impact on a community whose desire for safe reliable air travel is often at the mercy of many months of volatile weather. Once again, a happy referral and our commitment to deliver where many providers can’t or won’t, has afforded us an exceptional opportunity and a chance to prove ourselves against the odds.