Grant Harnish — Salt Air, Kerikeri

Grant Harnish has been flying out of the Bay of Islands since 1992, when he founded Salt Air and ran scenic flights from the Paihia waterfront.

Thirty years on, the business has grown into a fixed and rotary-wing operation. Part of the fleet includes a meticulously recommissioned Grumman Super Widgeon seaplane, the only aircraft of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, which had spent years tucked away in the back of another shed.

Grant needed a hangar that would protect his aircraft from the elements and corrosive bird droppings, while being built to the size his operation actually required.

Grant reached out to several companies, with more than one saying the size and complexity of the build was more than they could take on. Alpine was keen to make it work, and it was the team itself, Grant says, that made Alpine stand out from its competitors.

"I went to a couple of companies, and they were very quick to say, 'Nah, can't be done.' But honestly, as soon as I approached Alpine, they were back with an immediate answer, 'Yep, we can make that work.'"

"We weren't necessarily looking for the cheapest building but to be fair Alpine were the most cost effective in the end but it was the people at Alpine that made the difference for us."

Room to Move. The hangar needed to be big: 20 metres wide x 18m long, with an 18-metre-wide door opening. The large clearspan area gives room for Grant to spin the helicopter’s rotor blades inside and run a pre-flight check out of the weather.

"The design of it being clearspan, obviously when my helicopter was able to spin the rotor blades inside and do a pre-flight outside of the weather in the shed, that was really important to me. The doors here are big enough to take a fixed-wing aircraft as well, which again is futureproofing."

Pole Shed Design having Simple Foundation Requirements. The site had poor ground conditions, but Alpine's pole-shed design meant the fix was straightforward.

"The dirt here is pretty poor quality, and there's essentially a metre of crap to get to before you get to the good soil. But being a pole shed, we simply extended the poles by a metre and pushed them further into the ground, then poured the floor afterwards."

Bird-proof Rafter Design. Corrosive bird droppings cause expensive damage to assets.

"The swallows are persistent. They'll try and nest anywhere they can. But that's the beauty of this (Alpine) design; there really isn't anywhere that they can do so. It protects the aircraft too. After all the hard work getting the Super Widgeon back to how you see it now, the last thing I want is bird crap all over it."

Straightforward Construction Process. Every Alpine kitset is triple checked for quality control and to ensure every component is included and clearly labelled. Pre-welded J-cleats on the rafters, along with bolted and welded connections, make assembly straightforward and efficient.

"It's pretty impressive the way it arrived. Absolutely everything was there and accounted for, and it went up so fast. The builder we employed said he reckons Alpine Buildings are definitely the most straightforward structures he works on."

The hangar was finished in time for Salt Air's 30th birthday. Grant's fleet, including the prized Super Widgeon, is now under cover and protected from the weather and birds. The clearspan design gives him room to move aircraft in and out, service them, and store them without working around internal poles.

"It's going to be a good summer, I think. As long as we've got some great days ahead for flying, you can't go wrong."