Steve Pierce
BENEFACTOR
Graham, TX
I guess I should start with a brief history of Pierce Aero. I moved to Graham, TX in 1997 from Breckenridge, TX which is some 30 miles away where I had been working at Ezell Aviation on Warbirds. Graham needed a mechanic and made me a pretty sweet deal to move and start up shop. I was given space in the city owned FBO hangar for free for the first year and they loaned me the money to buy jacks and some other equipment I didn't already have. That went pretty good for a while but politics and different personalities came into play and after the first year everything changed and I realized I needed my own hangar to continue my business in the direction I wanted it to go. There was a 80x65 hangar by itself on the east side of the airport that had a body shop in it. The powers that be wanted the body shop out and the place cleaned up. It took quite some time to acquire financing and convince the powers that be to give me an extended lease so that I could obtain a note on the building but I started my 3rd year in business in the 80x65 hangar. My brother moved into what we called the Box that was built in the upper corner of the hangar and I converted a 20x20 brick office out front into an apartment. Over time we built an office, a paint booth and a heated and air conditioned shop inside the hangar. It was all a work in progress.
The box up top, shop being framed up. Doors to the left are to the paint booth.
I had a friend/customer who bought a 60x45 hangar here who lived in Dallas. He kept two airplanes here and flew he third back and forth. Eventually he built on an airpark north of Dallas and I bought the 60x45 hangar from him. We called it the storage hangar because it housed mine and Cathy's airplanes when we had one and customer's airplanes either waiting for work or to be picked up. The hangar is across the runway and a good ways from my main hangar.
My big hangar is poorly insulated with blow in insulation that is continually falling off and has 4 sliding doors with huge gaps. After years of bundling up and using jet fuel powered torpedo heater in the winter I started discussions with John Mead (Flying Miss Daisy) on how to heat the hangar. On his recommendation 2 winters ago I installed two large radiant heater in the ceiling. They were a game changer and made it so much more comfortable to work. Come summer I stared wishing for an air conditioning conversion for those heaters knowing it was a joke. That started the idea of a small work hangar that would fit one airplane and be heated and air conditioned. My land lease is for a section of land 250' x 150' but is not very specific. I initially planned to build the new hangar east of my main hangar facing west where my work hangar faces south. As I started pricing what the hangar would cost I found that is doesn't cost a whole lot more to build a bigger hangar. Only problem is heating and cooling it. Conversations with John and decided that wasn't a big deal so I started thinking bigger.
One of two heaters Cathy and I hung over New Years.
Our airport is land locked at the moment until a lot of infrastructure is put in place which with the current economic situation won't happen for a while. There are also no hangars for rent or for sale. I got approached by a new pilot to buy my storage hangar for a considerable amount of money which would allow me to build a new hangar and configure it the way I want it to meet my needs on the maintenance side of my business. So I started thinking about things and decided I could build a 45x60 hangar which will hold 3 Cubs easy and use my big hangar for storing airplanes and all of my equipment, shears, brakes, roller, welders, press brake etc. etc.
The box up top, shop being framed up. Doors to the left are to the paint booth.
I had a friend/customer who bought a 60x45 hangar here who lived in Dallas. He kept two airplanes here and flew he third back and forth. Eventually he built on an airpark north of Dallas and I bought the 60x45 hangar from him. We called it the storage hangar because it housed mine and Cathy's airplanes when we had one and customer's airplanes either waiting for work or to be picked up. The hangar is across the runway and a good ways from my main hangar.
My big hangar is poorly insulated with blow in insulation that is continually falling off and has 4 sliding doors with huge gaps. After years of bundling up and using jet fuel powered torpedo heater in the winter I started discussions with John Mead (Flying Miss Daisy) on how to heat the hangar. On his recommendation 2 winters ago I installed two large radiant heater in the ceiling. They were a game changer and made it so much more comfortable to work. Come summer I stared wishing for an air conditioning conversion for those heaters knowing it was a joke. That started the idea of a small work hangar that would fit one airplane and be heated and air conditioned. My land lease is for a section of land 250' x 150' but is not very specific. I initially planned to build the new hangar east of my main hangar facing west where my work hangar faces south. As I started pricing what the hangar would cost I found that is doesn't cost a whole lot more to build a bigger hangar. Only problem is heating and cooling it. Conversations with John and decided that wasn't a big deal so I started thinking bigger.
One of two heaters Cathy and I hung over New Years.
Our airport is land locked at the moment until a lot of infrastructure is put in place which with the current economic situation won't happen for a while. There are also no hangars for rent or for sale. I got approached by a new pilot to buy my storage hangar for a considerable amount of money which would allow me to build a new hangar and configure it the way I want it to meet my needs on the maintenance side of my business. So I started thinking about things and decided I could build a 45x60 hangar which will hold 3 Cubs easy and use my big hangar for storing airplanes and all of my equipment, shears, brakes, roller, welders, press brake etc. etc.
