New aircraft shelters coming to Vance AFB Published Jan. 19, 2007 By Lt Col Dan Smith 71st Flying Training Wing Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- The flight line at Vance Air Force Base will look very different in the near future. Construction will soon begin on aircraft protective weather shelters designed to cover 104 of the T-37, T-38 and T-1 aircraft stationed here. In early fiscal 2003, Gen Don Cook, commander of Air Education and Training Command, directed AETC bases to investigate the possibility of constructing aircraft shelters to provide weather protection to the aging AETC aircraft fleet and to new aircraft such as the T-6. The cumulative affects of years of snow, ice, hail, sun and heat have had a negative impact on the condition of the aircraft. With the new shelters, 80 percent of the sun's rays are blocked and the temperature under the shelter cover is 20 degrees cooler. The shelters are designed to withstand 2-inch hail, 2 feet of snow and up to 120-mile per hour winds. The construction process is scheduled to begin Oct. 11 with the arrival of construction materials. Actual construction will begin on the north end of the flight line Oct. 18 and will proceed south two aircraft rows at a time. With good weather, all shelters should be erected by the holiday flying break. There will be little to no impact on the Vance AFB flying operations during the construction.