Building Types
80x120 Helicopter Hangar
- Width
- 80 ft
- Length
- 120 ft
- Floor area
- 9,600 sq ft
- Perimeter
- 400 ft
Use
How a 80×120 Helicopter Hangar May Be Used
Door span
The clear door opening, not the footprint, is usually the governing dimension.
Tail height
Required clearance is set by the aircraft, and it drives eave and door height.
Maintenance area
Working space around the aircraft is planned separately from the parking envelope.
Apron access
Approach and taxi access affect where the opening is placed.
Example
Example Configuration
Quick dimensions
At a Glance
Width
80 ft across the gable end.
Length
120 ft along the sidewall.
Floor area
9,600 sq ft of clear floor.
Eave height
22 ft at the sidewall on the stored profile.
Configuration
How This Building Is Configured
Configuration summary
| Building type | Helicopter Hangar |
|---|---|
| Footprint | 80 ft × 120 ft |
| Floor area | 9,600 sq ft |
| Eave height | 22 ft |
Planning
Footprint & Space Planning
Footprint
Width and length are chosen together: width is usually fixed by what has to fit side by side, length by how many bays are needed.
Height
Eave height is commonly the governing dimension here, because clearance for the tallest item sets the door and the wall.
Access
Where vehicles and people enter changes the whole interior layout, so access is settled before anything else.
Doors and openings
Opening width, height and position are specified with the supplier; they affect the frame and the wall bracing.
Site
Slope, drainage, access for delivery and erection, and the foundation are confirmed for the actual property.
Expansion
Extending along the length is usually simpler than changing the width later, which is worth deciding up front.
Access
Doors & Access Considerations
Opening width
Across a 80 ft gable end, the practical opening width is limited by the frame and confirmed with the supplier.
Opening height
A 22 ft eave sets the ceiling on door height before any frame change.
Drive-through
Matching openings at both ends avoid reversing, at the cost of usable wall.
Similar sizes
Other Sizes for a Helicopter Hangar
80′ × 100′
8,000 sq ft
80′ × 140′
11,200 sq ft
70′ × 120′
8,400 sq ft
Related
Related Building Types
Aircraft Hangar
Explore
Clear Span Building
Explore
Commercial Building
Explore
Industrial Building
Explore
Example configuration — for planning purposes only.
FAQ
Common Questions
80 ft × 120 ft is 9,600 square feet of floor area before any interior partitions.
Length is usually adjusted in bay increments, and width is a larger design change. Both are confirmed with the supplier for the final design.
Site preparation, foundation and erection are commonly quoted separately from the building package. Confirm the scope of any quote you receive.
Compare nearby sizes
Related footprints for this building type
Each page works through one footprint for one building type.
Overview
A 80x120 helicopter hangar planned as a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space
This page is ordered around the support and equipment zones, because ground equipment, parts and crew functions are the claims that erode a clear floor if the plan does not give them somewhere.
The footprint holds 12 functional zones — 3 across by 4 deep — and the remaining 6 feet is marginal: there is no room for an enclosed wing, so office and crew functions occupy part of the clear floor and the floor is no longer fully usable.
What distinguishes 80x120 is depth behaviour: 4 rows along 120 feet after 18 feet of circulation, with 6 feet unaccounted for at the end of the run. Utilities entering on the wrong elevation quietly rewrite the interior layout.
A 80 by 120 footprint is a clearly directional plan: 9,600 sq ft enclosed by 400 ft of wall, at a 1.5:1 length-to-width proportion. Along its 120 ft dimension it takes 5 runs of functional zones at 24 ft, leaving 0 ft over — the 0 ft is where the argument about this size actually happens. Taken purely as arithmetic, 80 by 120 gives 2 functional zones across the 80 ft dimension once 18 ft is reserved for movement, and 5 deep along the 120 ft dimension. Run as a a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space, 18 ft across is enough to be worth planning: an enclosed support wing — office, crew space, parts store — set along one wall so the clear floor stays undivided Lighting for inspection work is a different specification from lighting for storage, and retrofitting the first over the second is expensive.
This footprint is planned as a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space. Spent as a square 98 by 98 instead, the same 9,600 sq ft would stand 3 functional zones across rather than 2, and would trade this plan's length for parallel access. That is the width-against-depth decision this footprint has already made. Compared with a 80 by 90 of the same width, the extra depth here adds run rather than reach: it buys about 5 functional zones in line, and every position past the second is retrieved by moving what stands in front of it. A building of this size behaves like a small yard under a roof: zones need to be defined, signed and left alone, or they migrate. Several patterns run at once: aircraft movement, maintenance, parts handling and people arriving. Each wants its own route, and the enclosed wing exists partly to keep the people route off the aircraft floor entirely. The building will outlast the aircraft it was planned for, which is an argument for planning the perimeter generously rather than exactly.
Areas, perimeter, roof area, ridge height, slab volume and the functional zone counts on this page are computed from the stored 80x120 record and this platform's planning module for the helicopter hangar category.
Configurations
Configuring 12 functional zones at 80x120
Nominal bay division computes to 5 bays at about 24 feet, wider than the 22-foot module — so a position can sit inside a bay without a frame line splitting it. Depth is bought cheaply and width expensively, which is why this proportion tends to be argued about before anything else.
With 4 rows deep, the rear row is behind the front one. Without a route past it, those functional zones become storage positions rather than working ones — the real cost of depth at this width. Height is the dimension people regret; it cannot be added later without rebuilding the frame line.
The clear floor and the wing grow independently, which is the main argument for separating them in the first place. Reserving the extendable end of each is a decision that costs nothing at plan stage.
Configured as a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space, 80x120 is judged on whether the 12 functional zones it holds match the operation, and on whether the 14 feet of spare width leaves the route this mode depends on.
- Does the work need racking or work zones on both sides with a full vehicle lane down the middle, or does it need a second lane that this 80-foot span cannot give?
- Is the 120-foot length being bought for depth, or for the repeated bays — a long repeating bay sequence, so segment boundaries are set by bay lines rather than by walls?
- Are blades folded or spread when the aircraft passes the door?
- Does the handling path from the pad keep rotor clearance the whole way?
Bay division shown here is a planning module computed from the stored length. Actual bay spacing is set by the manufacturer's frame design for the building.
Allocation
Dividing the floor for a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space
The hangar pattern this footprint could equally be operated as is a compact shelter planned around one aircraft and little else: the margin is minimal, so ground equipment is moved outside whenever the aircraft is repositioned. Dividing the 9,600 sq ft by the 22 by 24 ft functional zone gives roughly 10 positions before circulation is deducted a second time for cross movement. Whether the plan keeps 10 or drops to 5 comes back to the question this footprint is really answering: how are storage, maintenance and support arranged in one building without the support functions eroding the clear floor?
There is no end zone at this footprint. 6 feet is circulation slack, not floor area with a purpose, and there is no room for an enclosed wing, so office and crew functions occupy part of the clear floor and the floor is no longer fully usable. Insulating later is possible; framing for insulation later is much harder.
Spare width is the more valuable of the two leftovers here: a continuous 14-foot strip beats the same area stranded at the end of the run, because it touches every position along the way. Long spans buy flexibility that is only worth paying for if the operation actually changes shape.
Spent as a square 98 by 98 instead, the same 9,600 sq ft would stand 3 functional zones across rather than 2, and would trade this plan's length for parallel access. That is the width-against-depth decision this footprint has already made. Compared with a 80 by 90 of the same width, the extra depth here adds run rather than reach: it buys about 5 functional zones in line, and every position past the second is retrieved by moving what stands in front of it. A building of this size behaves like a small yard under a roof: zones need to be defined, signed and left alone, or they migrate. Several patterns run at once: aircraft movement, maintenance, parts handling and people arriving. Each wants its own route, and the enclosed wing exists partly to keep the people route off the aircraft floor entirely. The building will outlast the aircraft it was planned for, which is an argument for planning the perimeter generously rather than exactly. That movement pattern, not the 9,600-square-foot total, is what decides whether the leftover 6 feet is useful here.
Openings
Openings for 3 functional zones across
The 80-foot gable can carry 3 openings, one per functional zone, with 14 feet of wall left for piers between and beside them — the arrangement that keeps each position independently reachable. Service routes are cheap to plan now and expensive to retrofit through a finished shell.
The 80 ft ends and the 120 ft sides offer very different opening budgets: 80 ft of end wall has room for one wide opening or two modest ones, while 120 ft of side wall can carry several without the openings competing. On this plan the deciding factor is whether rotorcraft facility planning or support wing layout should be the first thing reached from the door.
Framed-opening sizes, headers and the structure around them are engineered for the specific building. Confirm every opening with the door supplier and the building manufacturer before ordering.
Usable area
How the 9,600 square feet divides at 80x120
Computed functional zone fit for a 80x120 helicopter hangar
| Measure | Computed at this footprint |
|---|---|
| Functional zones across the 80-foot width | 3 at a 22-foot module |
| Leftover width | 14 ft (1,680 sq ft as a full-length strip) |
| Rows along the 120-foot length | 4 at a 24-foot module after 18 ft of circulation |
| Leftover depth | 6 ft (480 sq ft across the width) |
| Total functional zones | 12 |
| Share of floor committed | 66% |
Module footprint used here is 22 by 24 feet, this platform's planning module for a helicopter hangar. It is not a code minimum or an engineered clearance.
Example allocation of the 120-foot length — planning model, not survey data
| Zone | Length along the building | Computed area |
|---|---|---|
| Aircraft parking area | 84 ft | 6,720 sq ft |
| Maintenance and equipment space | 24 ft | 1,920 sq ft |
| Office, parts and utility | 12 ft | 960 sq ft |
Shares applied to the stored 120-foot length; areas computed against the 80-foot width.
Module footprints and allocation shares come from this platform's use typology and are published as example planning models. They are not recommendations and do not describe a majority of projects.
Height
Interior height for a 80x120 helicopter hangar
Span drives headroom at 80x120: 80 feet of width on a 4:12 pitch puts 35.3 feet over the middle and 22 feet at the walls, so where a tall item stands matters as much as how tall it is. A wider bay is a structural decision and a longer bay is a layout decision; the two are often confused.
One eave serves a tall clear floor and a low support wing, which is resolved by putting a ceiling over the wing and using the volume above it for storage. That is usually a better trade than varying the frame.
Clear height below purlins, bracing and lighting is lower than the eave height. The usable figure comes from the manufacturer's framing for the selected building.
Comparison
What changes at adjacent footprints
Computed comparison of nearby footprints for a helicopter hangar
| Footprint | Floor area | Functional zones |
|---|---|---|
| 50x80 | 4,000 sq ft | 9 (3 x 3) |
| 40x100 | 4,000 sq ft | 8 (2 x 4) |
| 60x80 | 4,800 sq ft | 9 (3 x 3) |
| 40x120 | 4,800 sq ft | 10 (2 x 5) |
| 50x100 | 5,000 sq ft | 12 (3 x 4) |
Areas computed from each stored size record; functional zone counts computed with the same 22 by 24 foot planning module.
- 50x80 moves the count from 12 to 9 functional zones (3 across by 3 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
- 40x100 moves the count from 12 to 8 functional zones (2 across by 4 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
- 60x80 moves the count from 12 to 9 functional zones (3 across by 3 deep), which is the reason to choose between them.
Nearby footprints read for a helicopter hangar: exact change in area and in planning functional zones
| Footprint | Area Δ | % Δ | Functional zones at that footprint | What changes for this use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100x100 | +400 sq ft | +4.2% | 12 (4 x 3) | Same functional zone count on this planning module; the difference is circulation and stored depth, not capacity. |
| 60x150 | −600 sq ft | −6.2% | 10 (2 x 5) | −2 functional zones on the same planning module. |
| 80x100 | −1,600 sq ft | −16.7% | 9 (3 x 3) | −3 functional zones on the same planning module. |
| 80x150 | +2,400 sq ft | +25% | 15 (3 x 5) | +3 functional zones on the same planning module. |
Areas are arithmetic on two stored size records; functional zone counts use this platform's 22 by 24 foot planning module and are not a capacity statement.
Because this footprint is planned as a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space, the useful next reads are different from the ones a differently shaped helicopter hangar suggests: rotorcraft facility planning, support wing layout, multi-function hangar zoning.
Visualization
Reading the 80x120 footprint as a helicopter hangar
FAQ
Questions about 80x120 helicopter hangar projects
Not enough for a planned room at this footprint: there is no room for an enclosed wing, so office and crew functions occupy part of the clear floor and the floor is no longer fully usable.
Reserving 18 ft across the 80 ft dimension for movement leaves 62 ft of working width, which takes 2 functional zones at 22 ft. Along 120 ft it takes 5 runs at 24 ft. That is 10 positions out of 9,600 sq ft, and the remainder is circulation, walls and the margin every plan needs. Whether that count is enough depends on how are storage, maintenance and support arranged in one building without the support functions eroding the clear floor. These are planning figures computed from the footprint, not a quoted layout.
It depends on rotor and tail clearance in every direction on the ground handling path, not just the aircraft's static height. The stored configuration computes to 35.3 feet at the ridge, but the eave is the number that governs anything standing near a wall.
The aircraft opening is sized for the aircraft; everything else is better served by its own opening. Sharing the main assembly for parts and people means operating it many times a day for small tasks.
The footprint holds 12 functional zones — 3 across by 4 deep — and the remaining 6 feet is marginal: there is no room for an enclosed wing, so office and crew functions occupy part of the clear floor and the floor is no longer fully usable. Those counts use a 22 by 24 foot planning module with 18 feet allowed for circulation, so a different module changes the answer.
Methodology
How this page was produced
Sources and methodology
Find Steel Buildings dimensional records
Find Steel Buildings · Primary platform dataset · Tier 1 — code authority, standards body, primary dataset or manufacturer engineering
Supports: Stored nominal width, length, eave height, roof pitch and slab thickness for this subject.
International Building Code and International Residential Code
International Code Council · Model code · Tier 1 — code authority, standards body, primary dataset or manufacturer engineering
Supports: The framework of adopted codes and local amendments that decides permitting, separation and opening requirements. Cited as the governing framework, never as a local requirement.
- Dimensional figures: Width, length, eave height, roof pitch and nominal slab thickness come from this platform's stored record for the subject. Floor area, perimeter, wall area, roof area, ridge height and slab volume are computed from those inputs rather than transcribed.
- Functional zone fit: Counts, leftover strips and per-module areas are computed from the stored 80x120 record against this platform's 22 by 24 foot planning module for the helicopter hangar category, with 18 feet allowed for circulation. The module is editorial planning typology, not a code minimum or an engineered clearance.
- Allocation model: Zone shares come from this platform's use typology for aircraft storage and maintenance and are applied arithmetically to the stored 120-foot length.
- Allocation and layout models: Layout splits are arithmetic on the stored footprint, published as example allocation models. They are not survey findings and do not describe what buyers most often choose.
- Clearance and opening guidance: Clearance and opening statements are planning guidance. Final dimensions depend on the selected door system, header detail and the manufacturer's engineering for the building.
Methodology notes
- Prices: No price figure appears on this page. Cost data is published on this platform only with a documented inclusion basis, a collection date and a named source.
Cost drivers
Quantities that move the estimate at 80x120
No price appears on this page. The quantities that scale an estimate at 80x120 are 9,600 square feet of slab, 177.8 cubic yards of nominal concrete, 8,800 square feet of wall cladding and 10,119 square feet of roof cladding. Every foot of width added multiplies through the roof and the frame; every foot of length mostly adds skin.
Proportion drives cost here as much as size does: 400 ft of wall around 9,600 sq ft is 0.042 ft of wall per enclosed square foot, and a squarer plan of the same area would carry less. What moves the figure further on a a multi-function rotorcraft facility combining storage, work and support space is the fit-out rotorcraft facility planning implies, along with framed openings and the height chosen for the 80 ft span.
- the clear opening width for the rotor arrangement
- the door system chosen and the end frame it requires
- height above the rotor head
- the pad and ground handling path outside
Drawn to scale
Plans and dimensions
Every drawing below is generated from the exact dimensions for this building, so proportions and areas are accurate.
Compare 80x120 helicopter hangar configurations
Review the allocation models for this footprint side by side, then estimate the configuration you intend to build.