1

AIRCRAFT HANGARS

DESCRIPTION • A single fire area not larger than 40,000 sq. ft. (3,716
sq. m) per hangar construction type as defined by NFPA
Aircraft hangars are typically provided with highly sophis- 409. (See table below).
ticated levels of fire protection, simply because of the sig-
nificant value of today’s aircraft. What some people might
Single Fire Area
not realize is that the practices described in this pam-
phlet are designed to protect the building, rather than the
Type of Equal or Greater ThanBut Not Larger Than
aircraft. However, the design of the fire protection sys- Construction Sq. Ft. (M2) Sq. Ft. (M2)
tems in accordance with this standard are such, that if by
nothing other than default, the aircraft will be protected. Type I (443)
Servicing, maintenance and painting can be hazardous and (332) 30001 (2787) 40000 (3716)
and as a result, the fire protection system must give a Type II (222) 20001 (1858) 40000 (3716)
high degree of control and extinguishment of any Class A Type II (111),
or B fire in the facility. Type III (211), and
Type IV (2HH) 15001 (1394) 40000 (3716)
Most fire protection systems for aircraft handling facilities Type II (000) 12001 (1115) 40000 (3716)
are designed in accordance with NFPA 409 Standard on Type III (200) 12001 (1115) 40000 (3716)
Aircraft Hangars, Military Handbook 1008 - Fire Protec- Type V (111) 8001 (743) 40000 (3716)
tion for Facilities Engineering Design and Construction or Type V (000) 5001 (465) 40000 (3716)
the U. S. Air Force ETL (Engineering Technical Letter)
Fire Protection Engineering Criteria for Aircraft Mainte-
nance, Servicing and Storage Facilities. Most commer- GROUP III AIRCRAFT HANGAR: A Group III hangar shall
cial aircraft hangars throughout the world are designed in have both of the following features:
accordance with NFPA 409. A review of this standard
shows that there are four basic aircraft hangar designs,
which can be classified as follows:
• An aircraft access door height of 28 ft. (8.5 m) or less.
• A single fire area that measures up to the maximum
GROUP I AIRCRAFT HANGAR: A hangar having at least square footage permitted for specific types of construc-
one of the following features and operating conditions: tion in accordance with NFPA 409. (See table below).

• An aircraft access door height over 28 ft. (8.5 m). Maximum

• A single fire area in excess of 40,000 sq. ft. (3,716 sq. Type of Single Fire Area
m). Construction Sq. Ft. (M2)
• Provision for housing an aircraft with a tail height over
28 ft. (8.5 m). Type I (443) and (332) 30000 (2787)
Type II (222) 20000 (1858)
• Provision for housing strategically important military
Type II (111), Type III
aircraft as determined by the Department of Defense.
(211) and Type IV (2HH) 15000 (1394)
Type II (000) 12000 (1115)
GROUP II AIRCRAFT HANGAR: A hangar having both Type III (200) 12000 (1115)
of the following features: Type V (111) 8000 (743)
Type V (000) 5000 (465)
• An aircraft access door height of 28 ft. (8.5 m) or less.
Building construction types are defined in NFPA 220, Stan-
dard on Types of Building Construction.
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GROUP IV AIRCRAFT HANGAR: A hangar constructed Y = A (360°)

of a membrane covered, rigid steel frame. (R) (π) (B)
FIRE PROTECTION OPTIONS Where Y = Maximum arc of oscillation in degrees.
R = Nozzle range in feet.
Once the aircraft hangar classification has been deter- p = 3.14159
mined, a suitable fire protection system can be estab- A = Nozzle flow rate in gpm.
lished. There are four types of foam fire protection sys- B = Application rate in gpm per sq. ft.
tems suitable for the protection of an aircraft hangar. These
systems may be used separately or they may be com- The following formula is used to find the sq. ft. area of
bined. coverage required for any monitor.

• Overhead Foam/Water Sprinkler System. Area of coverage = (π r2) (arc of oscillation)

• Deluge system. (Group I & II) 360o
• Closed head pre-action system. (Group II) Note:

• Standard wet pipe. This formula should be used as a guide only. The
limitation is that the formula cannot calculate for
If used with either Protein or Fluoroprotein type foam con- the area below and close to the monitor nozzle
centrate, the foam water sprinkler heads shall be the air- where the floor would not normally be covered,
aspirating type. When used with A.F.F.F., the sprinkler except for unintentional “drop-out” due to the ef-
heads can be the standard non air-aspirating type. fects of gravity and foam flow back toward the
nozzle, as a result of the slope of the floor. Con-
• Foam Monitor System. sult the Buckeye Engineering Department for ad-
ditional assistance.
Monitor Systems may be of the oscillating or fixed
nozzle type.
• Foam Hand Hose Line System.
Oscillating Monitor Systems consist of monitors that These systems are required as supplementary protec-
automatically oscillate from side to side when discharg- tion in Group I and II aircraft hangars.
ing foam onto the hangar floor. They are normally pre-
set to oscillate over a given arc to provide the correct • High Expansion Foam System.
application rate over a specific area. The unit is typi- These systems are designed to discharge an expanded
cally driven by a water turbine, which requires no ex- mass of foam bubbles over the protected area to a depth
ternal power source, other than a pressurized flowing of at least 3 ft. (0.9 metre) within 1 minute and flow for a
water supply. For special applications, electric pow- minimum of 12 minutes.
ered oscillating monitors are also available.
GROUP I HANGAR FIRE PROTECTION DESIGN
Fixed Monitor Systems have nozzles that are typically REQUIREMENTS
mounted on a manifold or as single units approximately
3 feet (0.9 metre) above the hangar floor. They are A Group I aircraft hangar can have an approved foam-
preset for angle of elevation and discharge pattern to water deluge system covering the aircraft service and stor-
achieve the best possible stream pattern and range age areas. It is to be installed in accordance with NFPA
while keeping the stream low enough to flow under 16, Standard on Deluge Foam-Water Sprinkler and Foam-
the wing of any aircraft. This type of monitor system is Water Spray Systems with an application rate of 0.16 gpm
often used where aircraft or maintenance equipment per sq. ft. (6.5-lpm/sq. m) when standard sprinkler heads
in the hangar could interfere in the normal operation are used. If air-aspirating type heads are used, the appli-
of an oscillating monitor. cation rate is to be 0.20 gpm per sq. ft. Sprinkler spacing
as projected on the floor shall be limited to 130 sq. ft. per
The following formula can be used as a guide to find head. (12.1 sq. m). The maximum distance between sprin-
the maximum arc of oscillation to give the necessary klers, either on branch lines or between branch lines shall
foam solution application rate when the nozzle inlet be 12 feet. (3.7 m). The maximum protected area for each
pressure and discharge range is known.
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individual deluge system is to be 15,000 sq. ft. (1,395 sq. water fire protection monitor system is to be installed.
m).
Foam-water hand hose systems shall be installed if the
Other fire protection options include: aircraft DO NOT have drained and purged fuel tanks. If
the aircraft HAS drained and purged fuel tanks, water only
1). A combination of automatic sprinkler protection in ac- hand hose lines may be installed.
cordance with NFPA 13 AND an automatic Low-Level Low
Expansion Foam System. WATER SUPPLY

2). A combination of automatic sprinkler protection in ac- For overhead deluge systems, sufficient water supply re-
cordance with NFPA 13 AND an automatic Low-Level High quirements are determined by assuming that a fire at any
Expansion Foam System. point will operate all the systems in every draft curtained
area that is wholly or partially within a 100 ft. (30.5 m)
Individual automatic sprinkler systems in Group I han- radius of that point measured horizontally.
gars, shall not exceed 52,000 sq. ft. (4,831 sq. M). The
application rate shall be 0.17-gpm/sq. ft. (6.9 lpm/sq. m) For design purposes, the water supply should operate for
over the hydraulically most remote 15,000 sq. ft. (1,394 a minimum of 60 minutes when all systems designed to
sq. m). operate simultaneously flow at their designed pressure
and flow rate. If the hangar has a supplementary foam
The quantity of foam concentrate required is to be suffi- protection system, the water supply shall be sufficient to
cient to operate the system for 10 minutes at the actual flow for a minimum duration of 45 minutes.
flow rate. No reduction in run-time is permitted if the sys-
tem overdischarges. High Expansion Foam System

The foam concentrate requirements should be calculated A High Expansion Foam System installed in an aircraft
to include a 15% overage for hydraulic balance. hangar is to be designed to cover the protected area to a
depth of 3 feet (0.9 metre) with a mass of foam bubbles
If the foam-water sprinkler system is also used for col- within 1 minute. High Expansion Systems must have suf-
umn fire protection within the hangar in lieu of the column ficient foam concentrate and water to operate at the de-
having a fire resistive rating of not less than 2 hours, al- sign application rate for a minimum of 12 minutes. When
lowances must be made for the additional foam concen- a high expansion system is installed inside a hangar, al-
trate required. lowances must be made for the possibility that the foam
could be affected by any discharging sprinkler system.
A reserve supply of foam concentrate must be directly Please refer to the section on High Expansion Foam Sys-
connected into the system and be readily available if re- tems in this Engineering Manual for further information.
quired.
The generators should only be mounted at the ceiling or
If the foam concentrate is injected into the water supply on exterior walls of the hangar where outside air only
by foam pumps, two pumps are to be installed. Either (required by NFPA 409) is used to generate the foam.
pump should be capable of supplying the foam concen-
trate at the maximum system demand flow rate. Note:
For the most part, high expansion foam generators do
A jockey pump should be installed where the foam con- not project a foam “stream” as would be experienced with
centrate piping from the foam pump(s) to the injection an oscillating monitor. The distance projected outward
point is below ground or if above ground 50 ft. (15.24 m) from the generator is relatively short and as such extreme
in length or greater. The jockey pump is to keep the foam caution should be exercised where high expansion foam
concentrate line pressurized at all times to ensure prompt generators are mounted on exterior walls. In some cases
injection of concentrate into the system when activated. it may not be possible to achieve the desired coverage
when the generators are mounted on the wall.
Where there is an aircraft with a wing area in excess of
3,000 sq. ft. (279 sq. m), that DOES NOT have drained It is recommended that the high expansion generators be
and purged fuel tanks, an approved supplementary foam- installed so that the flow of foam on the floor is directed to
areas beneath aircraft wings and center sections.
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GROUP II HANGAR FIRE PROTECTION 2). A High Expansion Foam System with an effec-
REQUIREMENTS tive application rate of 3 cu. ft. min, per sq. ft. (0.9
cu. m. per sq. m).
The fire protection requirements of a Group II hangar may
be one of the following. B). Where the hangar fire area is greater than 12,000 sq.
ft. (1,115 sq. m) and the aircraft are unfueled, the fire pro-
• In accordance with the requirements for a Group I han- tection shall be in accordance with one of the following:
gar.
1). A Low Expansion Low Level Foam System over
• A combination of automatic sprinkler protection in ac- the whole storage and servicing area at 0.1 gpm sq.
cordance with NFPA 13 AND an automatic Low-Level ft. (4.1 lpm sq. m).
Low Expansion Foam System. 2). A High Expansion Foam System with an effective
• A combination of automatic sprinkler protection in ac- application rate of 3 cu. ft. min, per sq. ft. (0.9 cu. m.
cordance with NFPA 13 AND an automatic Low-Level per sq. m).
High Expansion Foam System. 3). Automatic Sprinkler Protection that complies with
the following criteria:
* A Closed Head Foam/Water Sprinkler System.
Closed head water sprinkler system in accor-
dance with NFPA 13.
Individual automatic sprinkler systems in Group II han-
gars shall have an application rate of 0.17 gpm/sq.ft. (6.9 • Quick response sprinkler heads.
lpm/sq. m) over the hydraulically most remote 5,000 sq. • A design density of 0.17-gpm sq. ft. (6.9 lpm sq. m)
ft. (464.5 sq. m). over 5,000 sq. ft. (464.5 sq. m.).

The application rate for a closed head foam/water sprin-

Foam System Application Summary
kler system in a Group II hangar shall be 0.16-gpm/sq. ft.
(6.5 lpm/sq. m) over the entire aircraft storage and ser-
Overhead primary protection systems.
vicing floor area.

GROUP III HANGAR FIRE PROTECTION • Discharge duration - 10 min.

REQUIREMENTS • Application Rate:
• 0.16 gpm per sq. ft. / AFFF through standard sprinkler
• Fixed fire protection systems are not normally required.
heads.
• If any hazardous operations such as fuel transfer, weld- • 0.20 gpm per sq. ft. / Protein, Fluoroprotein or AFFF
ing, painting, torch cutting, etc. is performed in a Type
through air aspirating sprinkler heads.
III hangar, the hangar should be protected in accor-
dance with the requirements of a Type II aircraft han- • A reserve supply of foam concentrate should be di-
gar. rectly connected to the system and be readily avail-
able. Foam concentrate stored in 55-gallon drums next
GROUP IV HANGAR FIRE PROTECTION to the main foam concentrate storage tank does not
REQUIREMENTS meet the requirements of NFPA 409.
• If the foam concentrate is injected into the water sup-
The fire protection requirements of a Group IV hangar ply by a foam pump, there is to be two pumps (one
may be defined as follows: main, one reserve), either of which can supply the nec-
essary supply of foam concentrate at the design flow
A). Where the hangar fire area is greater than 12,000 sq. rate and operating pressure.
ft. (1,115 sq. m) and the aircraft are fuelled, the fire pro-
tection shall be in accordance with one of the following: • When using a 1% type of foam concentrate, multiply
the total foam solution required by 0.01 to obtain the
1). A Low Expansion Low Level Foam System over quantity of foam concentrate required. Multiply by 0.03
the whole storage and servicing area at 0.1 gpm when using a 3% type concentrate and by 0.06 when
sq. ft. (4.1 lpm sq. m). using 6%.
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SUPPLEMENTARY PROTECTION SYSTEMS Flooding characteristics:

Each Supplementary Fixed Foam Fire Protection System Cover 90% of the aircraft silhouette within 1 minute and
is to be designed to achieve control of the protected speci- the whole hangar floor area to a depth of 1 metre (3.28
fied floor area within 30 sec. of activation and to extin- ft.) within 4 minutes.
guish any fire within 60 sec. The specified floor area is
the area under the wing and the wing center section of Safety Factors:
the aircraft. The different configurations of aircraft and
their positioning within the hangar must be considered The following “approximate” safety factors are applied to
for effective fire protection when positioning the monitors. the design calculations. Shrinkage is the normal effect of
If more than one aircraft is located within any drainage the foam collapsing under its own weight. Sprinklers dis-
system, it is recommended that the supplementary foam charging water directly on to the foam bubbles will affect
monitor system be capable of effectively covering the the foam blanket. Leakage is as a result of open win-
complete floor beneath all aircraft. dows, doors or other non-closing openings.

Minimum flow rates through supplementary monitor sys- Shrinkage 1.15 (1.10)
tems for the area of coverage is to be 0.10 gpm per sq. ft. Effect of Sprinklers 1.19 (1.10)
(4.1 lpm/sq. m) when using AFFF and 0.16 gpm per sq. Leakage: 3.00 (1.15)
ft. (6.5 lpm/sq. m) when using Protein or Fluoroprotein
foam concentrates. Additional Requirements for all Types of aircraft hangars.

It is recommended that a control valve be installed at the Fire extinguishers must be distributed throughout the air-
base of each oscillating monitor or fixed nozzle system. craft hangar per NFPA 10 Standard for Portable Fire Ex-
tinguishers.
Foam Hand Line Protection System

Provisions are to be made in water flow calculations for

operating a minimum of two foam hand line systems. Each
system must flow a minimum of 60 gpm (227 lpm) at a
sufficient nozzle pressure with a discharge duration of
foam solution for 20 min.

Engineering Technical Letter

The ETL (Engineering Technical Letter) contains design

practices for aircraft hangars and is used by the U.S. Air
Force and some other branches of the armed services,
such as the Air National Guard. This document is updated
periodically and the current version as of this writing is
dated April 2001. The latest issue removed all types of
A.F.F.F. systems for the protection of U.S. Air Force han-
gars and substituted High Expansion Foam. The design
criteria used by the U.S. Air Force for High Expansion
Foam Systems is different to that found in N.F.P.A. 409 in
the following areas:

Note: The requirements for NFPA 409 are shown in pa-

renthesis.

Run Time: 15 minutes (12 minutes)

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AIRCRAFT HANGARS
MONITOR LOCATIONS

OSCILLATING
MONITOR

SHOP
AREA

FLOOR
DRAINS

OFFICE
AREA

AIRCRAFT HANGAR
WITH POSSIBLE LOCATIONS FOR
AUTOMATIC OSCILLATING MONITORS
 AIRCRAFT HANGARS
BALANCED PRESSURE TYPE WITH I.L.B.P. MODULES

TO CLOSED HEAD
SPRINKLER SYSTEM
TO MONITORS TO HOSE REELS

FLUSH OUTLET
CONNECTION

FOAM PRESSURE RELIEF

STORAGE VALVE
TANK DRAIN TANK
VALVE
IN-LINE BALANCED
PRESSURE UNIT

DELUGE
FLUSH INLET VALVE
CONNECTION
MAIN CONTROL
MAIN VALVE
FOAM PUMP
JOCKEY PUMP
RESERVE
FOAM PUMP WATER
SUPPLY

AIRCRAFT HANGAR
IN-LINE BALANCED PRESSURE SYSTEM with
JOCKEY, MAIN and RESERVE FOAM PUMPS