JetBlue Live TV Hangar

Owner: JetBlue Airways, New York
Location: Orlando
Cost: $15 million
Contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Orlando
Architect: Carter-Burgess, Fort Worth, Texas

Eleven months after breaking ground in May 2004, Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and Carter & Burgess, both of Orlando, completed the JetBlue Airways LiveTV Hangar at Orlando International Airport.

JetBlue will use the structure for aircraft maintenance and installation of its LiveTV in-flight satellite television system.

The 300-ft.-wide by 225-ft.-deep, structural-steel hangar, with insulated metal wall panels, is big enough to easily accommodate three Airbus 320s, a stipulation of the owner.

The original design did not have a backflow valve to enable the water main to enter the property. Locating the backflow valve by the entrance would reduce the water flow for the high-expansion fire-protection system, and the design team would then have to build a water tower or pump station to solve the problem.

Hensel Phelps and Carter-Burgess proposed locating the backflow preventers within the building, eliminating the need for a water tower. The city of Orlando approved the proposal, thus creating the first building in Orange County without a backflow valve by the road.

The high-expansion foam system had never been used in Orange County. The system, which includes a water pump and a foam generator installed in the hangar ceiling, can fill the hangar with 3 ft. of foam in one minute.

The hurricanes of 2004 also created a construction hurdle for the team because structural steel was knocked down and twisted from one of the storms. The structural engineer devised a solution to keep the steel contractor from having to deconstruct all of the structural steel.

The construction team was able to use a come-along pulley at key locations to twist the building back into position.