Airport Field Equipment ShelterCase Study

"I Need a Fiberglass Building I Can Crush"

Airports have some very stringent requirements for their field equipment protection needs, and one of our clients, John Myers at BAE Systems, made such a request for a project he was working on. In order to house part of a radar system in a California airfield, he needed a “frangible” building. A frangible building is one that is easily broken apart. Experts feel that this requirement increases the overall safety of the airfield, because if an airplane crashed into it, it is better to have the building crush instead of the aircraft. Materials such as concrete or metal are therefore deemed as unacceptable. While wood construction would work, the maintenance costs are significantly higher than a fiberglass shelter.

Myers needed a sturdy, secure building that could repeatedly withstand the forces of a jet wash that would still crumble (or disintegrate) in the event of an aircraft impact. Shelter Works was able to build a fiberglass shelter to meet the exact needs for this particular application.

In addition, the exterior of the building has to be coated in an orange-and-white checkerboard pattern in accordance with the airfield requirements. With Shelter Works’ gel-coated corrosion-resistant fiberglass building for their field equipment protection, they practically eliminate their maintenance costs while still providing long-lasting protection for their field equipment.