Lortie Aviation and Honco Buildings have been business partners for several years. André Lortie, the president of the company, based in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, was happy to talk about his association with Honco.
A long history of collaboration
To start, Lortie reminded us that his collaboration with Honco Buildings is nothing new. In fact, it dates back to 2008 when he contacted the company for the construction of an aircraft parts storage building. Following that, he commissioned a second building with a surface area of more than 6,400 sq. ft. for his shop. “We needed more space. As a result, we decided to connect the two buildings together to facilitate our operations. Throughout the process, the proposals presented by Honco met our needs in terms of space, quick installation and, most importantly, budget,” asserted Lortie.
Over the years, the aviation company was awarded many contracts and the need for a fourth building became a necessity for operational growth. So in July 2018, Lortie decided to have a new airplane hangar built. “I hadn’t developed a specific plan. In general, I often have plans in my head but seldom on paper. I once again contacted Bernard Roy at Honco, who had been my advisor since the first project. This time, our request was to have a building with a surface area of approximately 16,000 square feet. Honco proposed a solution that met my needs and construction began in September 2018,” said Lortie.
For this hangar construction project, Lortie was assisted by two of his employees, who were involved throughout the project planning phase to maximize operations.
A NON-CONVENTIONAL HANGAR DOOR
However, without a doubt, what makes this hangar stand out is its door, which Lortie describes as “atomic”. A conventional hangar door doesn’t offer many possibilities. To work around these obstacles, they appealed to the company Cam-Concept to design a custom door for them. “We have a lot of flexibility in terms of height and width, which means that we can accommodate many types of aircraft. Moreover, the door can lift and swing,” he pointed out.
The president of Cam-Concept, Jean-Pierre Renaudineau, was pleased to provide more details about the design of the hangar door. “Conventional doors in the aviation sector are usually bifold. They have cables and pulleys requiring more maintenance than this one, because this is a hydraulic door consisting of a single panel for the opening. One of the advantages of this type of door is that it provides the maximum clear opening for the hangar entrance, as opposed to folding doors which require that the structure be taller to provide the required clear opening, and at the same time, involve additional expense.” He added that: “also, our doors are extremely weather-tight because they are fully welded to the frame.” As for the lifetime of the steel doors, Renaudineau claimed that it depends mostly on how they’re used. However, he estimated that they can easily be functional for 20 to 30 years. “Our doors were developed with Quebec winters in mind. The structures were designed to avoid all ice and snow-related issues. Inclement weather won’t negatively impact them.” It’s also worth mentioning that maintenance costs are limited to ensuring that the oil level is correct and releasing the hinges once a year. “There are no cables to inspect or pulleys or mechanical components,” ensured Renaudineau. In addition, since there are no mechanical components, the customer can add any cladding they want to the interior of the door. The dimensions of the hydraulic door are 42’6’’ x 18’8’’.
HONCO, A well-versed team
“If we were to remove our working space, we could have about thirty planes in our hangar. It’s really a nice hangar and meets our needs,” said Lortie, who also made a point of recognizing Honco’s ability to adapt. “I’m the type of guy who changes his mind on a daily basis. The project changed a bit along the way. Despite all this, the design team had no trouble making quick adjustments as the project moved forward.” Renaudineau was equally laudatory. “I had my new plant built by Honco three years ago. I have a really good relationship with the people at Honco. Incorporating the door was a smooth process with them and the synergy between us was great.”
