Hangar collapse at the Jackson Jet Center beside the Boise Airport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On January 31, 2024 workers from Big D Builders were erecting the steel frame for a new hangar at the Jackson Jet Center, which is located beside the Boise Airport at 4049 West Wright Street. The hangar was to be 45 feet tall and cover an area of 39,000 square feet. It was about 310 feet wide by 126 feet deep. But around 5:00 PM it collapsed with the trusses changing to the shape of a capital letter M (as shown above in my image), killing three people and injuring another nine.

 

Some details are discussed in an article by Sally Krutzig in the Idaho Statesman on February 20, 2024 titled Rescue operations at Boise building collapse included 3 people stuck in aerial lifts:

 

“In his review, Boise Fire Department Training and Safety Capt. Steve Madigan wrote that ‘it appeared that the structure somehow failed at the ridge line and caused all the columns to pull inward.’ Initial reports indicated 16 people were at the scene when the building went down, and police and fire crews helped wounded victims who were able to walk leave the area, according to Madigan. The building’s columns ‘were leaning at 45 degrees (approx.) and the bolts securing them to the ground had either sheared off or tore the bottom flange of the steel as they fell,’ Madigan wrote.”

 

Another article by Alex Brizee at the Idaho Statesman on March 6, 2024 is titled ‘Did not look right’: Workers flagged concerns before deadly Boise hangar collapse. It includes an overhead drone shot of the collapsed hangar, which has fallen to one side. That suggests a directional load, perhaps due to wind gusts. The article began by stating:

 

“Several employees who worked at the site of a deadly building collapse on Boise Airport grounds told police they had noticed bending beams, snapped cables and overall structural issues, according to Boise Police Department investigative reports obtained by the Idaho Statesman. Some of these workers informed the site’s supervisor of the concerns the day before the hangar crumbled on Jan. 31, killing three people and injuring nine others. Interviews with employees of Boise-based Inland Crane, which provided equipment and operators for the construction of the Jackson Jet Center hangar, were documented in Boise Police Department reports that were released to the Statesman through a public records request.”

 

Still another article by Angela Palermo at the Idaho Statesman on February 2, 2024 titled Was it wind? How a bridge’s failure may shed light on fatal Boise Airport hangar collapse includes two images of the framing before the collapse.

 

OSHA is investigating the collapse and will issue a report within six months. How an investigation proceeds is discussed in yet another article by Kevin Goudarzi at Structure on

March 2023 titled The forensic engineering process for structural failures. On April 17, 2023 I blogged about A great video course on Epic Engineering Failures and the Lessons They Teach. In that post I discussed the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse, where a design detail change doubled the applied load – eliminating the intended factor of safety.   

UPDATE

There is an article by NIck Rosenberger at the Idaho Statesman on April 18, 2024 titled Wreckage of the Boise Airport hangar is still standing. Why, and what's coming.