Double dock nearing completion

by Airman 1st Class Sean D. Smith
Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

2/13/2015 - MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The phase dock under construction has been a Minot Air Force Base landmark for over two years. Construction began in October 2012 - now the dock is approaching completion. With a projected finish date in early spring, it won't be long before the doors open and it starts to see use.

"Right now we only have a few docks that can fit a full plane," said 5th Civil Engineer Squadron lead programmer, Katie Merkin. "This structure is unique because it can fit two planes, fully enclosed."
At more than 80,000 square feet, it's not a small building - and it's come at a cost of 38.5 million dollars.

"That space has to be column-free to fit around the planes. It has to span the whole distance - so the trusses have to be really deep and that's part of the reason that it's so tall," Merkin said.

The dock is supported by over 900 piers, averaging 12 feet deep, which are embedded in the ground to support the building, and a mechanical room on the second floor takes up a significant portion of the second level to house the dock's heating system.

"The double dock was designed and constructed to receive a Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating, so it is energy efficient," Merkin said. "It's all ground source heat as well, except for radiant heat in the hangar bay."

A perk of the double dock design is construction efficiency, one advantage the new dock has over its older counterparts is that with two planes in a single hangar, maintainers can potentially share equipment.

"The dock has full wash capabilities for two planes," said Bruce Johnson, Army Corps of Engineers project engineer. "There's over an acre of hangar floor with full fire suppression."

It's not just the tremendous size of the structure that's demanded over two years of construction time. The phase dock is almost 200 feet high, but that's only what's visible aboveground.

"The foundation is the same depth as the runway, since it's used by the planes," Merkin explained. "All the docks are the same way, but it's not what most people think about as something needed for a dock."
Another noticeable feature is the interior observation deck.

"You can see the whole hangar," Merkin said. "And when the doors are open, the entire apron. It's really quite impressive to look out and see all that."

"The weather at Minot AFB can be a challenge. This new, state of the art facility provides 5th Bomb Wing maintenance crews an increased capacity for keeping our B-52s operational throughout the year," said Lt. Col. Bryan Opperman, 5th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. "The 5th CES is proud to enable that mission."