Air Force One to Settle in Simi Valley

Presidential Jet Part of Expanded Reagan Library

The 31-year-old airplane will be the centerpiece of an expanded Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in southeastern Ventura County. To support the weight of the aircraft, crews working for general contractor Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. drilled 230 cast-in-place piles to a 35-ft. bedrock base. The $26 million project will be finished in April.

By Greg Aragon

Photo by Greg Aragon

Air Force One No. 27000 has landed in Simi Valley and represents the next major addition to the the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.

"Ronnie would be happy to know it's [here] for everyone to see," said former first lady Nancy Reagan at a September ceremony at the library.

Used extensively by President Reagan from 1981-88, the 31-year-old jet, which served seven presidents, will be the centerpiece a new $26 million hanger/museum.

At 173,000 sq. ft., the 100-acre, Mediterranean-styled Reagan Museum is the country's largest presidential library. It will be 259,000 sq. ft. when the addition is finished in April.

"It's a jewel box of a project," said Joe Irvine, senior project manager with Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co., the project's San Francisco-based general contractor.

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Hathaway Dinwiddie began constructing a three-story museum in May 2003 to accommodate the 140,000-lb. Boeing 707.

To support the weight of the aircraft, 230 cast-in-place piles were drilled to a 35-ft. bedrock base. Each pile averaged 24 to 72 in. in diameter.

"To facilitate the unknown invert elevations, the pile-reinforcing steel had to be prefabricated offsite to the design lengths and stockpiled on site," Irvine said. "Once the actual lengths were determined, the cages were adjusted commensurately. He added that soil on the site was primarily rocky fill material.

A total of 757 tons of structural steel was required on the project, Irvine said.

In October, the structure's roof-supported by 10 200-ft. clear- span trusses-was sufficiently complete to provide safe entry for the jet's fuselage and wings, which were disassembled before arriving at the library.

"We waited until most of the overhead work was complete to reduce the risk of damage to the aircraft and also for safety reasons for [crews working] underneath," said Robert H. David, consulting project manager for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the project owner.

To get the 153-ft.-long jet inside the hanger, crews constructed an 80- by 60-ft. bay door on its south wall. The plane was carefully towed into position, where its 7,000-lb. engines and 67-ft. wings were reattached by the Boeing Co., which donated its labor.

David said that the tedious reassembly process involved thousands of fasteners and hooks and took about two weeks to complete.

The 86,000-sq.-ft. hanger project, to be called "Air Force One Pavilion," was designed by Los Angeles-based Clinger Spina Associates. It will highlight the history of the aircraft that served as a flying White House for presidents Richard Nixon to George W. Bush.

Interior design features elevate the plane on reinforced concrete pedestals, so that visitors can view it from every angle. The plane's rear landing gear sits on two 7-ft.-tall columns on the second floor, and the nose landing gear, resting on a 13-ft.-tall pedestal, cantilevers over the first floor.

Circling the aircraft is a 400-ft.-long by 9-ft.-wide catwalk that will allow visitors to navigate around the exterior of the plane and, into the cockpit the aircraft's main cabin door, where they can inspect the interior of the plane.

Below the third floor, 8,800-sq.-ft. catwalk, the 26,643-sq.-ft. second floor will feature a variety of exhibits, including Reagan's 1982 presidential limousine, a Secret Service motorcade, flight simulator and replica of an Irish pub from Ireland that Reagan frequented.

The 41,780-sq.-ft. first floor will house a retired, 20-year-old Marine One helicopter, similar to the one used to transport the incumbent president from the White House to Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base.

The project also includes a 424-space parking lot, with five spaces for buses. Other features include a multipurpose room, lunchroom, gallery and a retired F-14 fighter jet that will be positioned outside on the lawn.

The pavilion's grandest feature may be a giant 200-ft.-wide by 80-ft.-tall glass curtain wall from which the nose of the jet peers through. Overlooking the nearby Santa Susana Mountains in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, the $2 million wall will give guests a memorable view of Simi Valley and the illusion of flight if they are looking out from the plane.

"The architect did a great job of simulating flight," said David, adding that the aircraft's nose is tilted up by 1 degree. "You will never feel that [incline] but with the glass window and the descending slope beyond that, all you see is the airplane and the mountains in the distance and it looks like the plane is flying off the hill."

Hathaway Dinwiddie's Irvine said the "semi-frameless" curtain wall is a 11,280-sq.-ft. expanse of glass made up of 15 12.5-ft.-long by 5-ft. tall, 625-lb. panes. Sixty-ft.-tall vertical-bow trusses with spider hardware and structural silicone at each intersection connect the panes to each other.

"It's a new installation for us," said Tom Lackey, senior project manager for the La Verne office of Walters & Wolf, the project's glass and glazing contractor. Wisconsin-based Mero Structures Inc., the bow truss supplier, assisted with the installation.