Wichita, KS: Top Things to Know About Storage
Events and Traffic
Wichita is a relatively mellow city, but its residents do know how to have some fun. The Wichita River Festival is a weeklong festival that takes place in the beginning of June and is held in downtown. The festival entails musical entertainment, cultural and historical activities, sporting events, plays, traveling exhibits, interactive children’s events, river events, a flea market, a parade, block parties, and fireworks. Over 370,000 people attend the event, meaning the area can get really crowded during the week of the festival. There are major street closures in downtown in the days leading up to the festival, as well as during the event itself.
Besides traffic caused by this and any other festivals in the area, traffic in Wichita isn’t too bad when compared to other cities. Rush hour lasts from 6AM to 9:30AM and 5PM to 7PM. Although those are both very long periods of time, the traffic is bearable, making the commute easier than it could be.
If you’re planning to make a trip to your storage unit, be wary of high traffic times so a trip that should take half an hour doesn’t turn into an hour and a half. Be especially careful when there are festivals going on in downtown. In order to avoid traffic altogether, we recommend finding a storage facility that allows for 24-hour access to your unit. This may not seem necessary, but it can be surprisingly convenient.
Rough Weather
Wichita’s weather can be a little difficult to deal with at times. The summers are hot and humid and the winters are cold and dry because the city is located far from any mountains or large bodies of water. Frequent thunderstorms, hail, lightning, and tornadoes start during the spring and go late into the summer, making it difficult to be outdoors on certain days during the seasons.
We have two recommendations for you for your storage needs. First, be sure to store in a unit with climate control. The humidity can cause a lot of damage to your belongings, like rusting your metals and molding your woods, so don’t let your belongings be a victim of the weather. Second, opt for a facility that has covered loading and unloading zones. The unpredictable showers and storms that take place during the warmer months can make a trip to your unit very inconvenient, and at times you might have to cancel it altogether. Covered loading and unloading areas will make it easier for you to get your things without getting drenched.
Open Skies
Wichita is home to a lot of aviation companies that are also top employers in the city. Cessna Aircraft Co., Spirit AeroSystems, Hawker Beechcraft, and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems are the big dogs in the area. In order to accommodate popular demand, storage companies have upped their game by providing storage for airplanes and their parts. Storage can be found for individuals as well as aviation companies, and commercial tenants generally have contracts with storage companies.
Aircrafts require special storage. One of the best aircraft storage companies in the area is Aviation Dyanmix, LLC. This facility provides services to keep aircrafts ready to fly. They have packages that include servicing of tires and nitrogen/oxygen systems, starting and running engines, and flight tests on a monthly basis. Whether you have your personal airplane or a commercial aircraft, these are actually just the basics for aircraft storage; it can get a lot more complicated so we recommend storing your aircraft with professionals so you don’t have to worry about anything going wrong.
When putting your aircraft in storage, you have to realize that you can’t put it away for good if you want it to work long term. It’s recommended to fly your plane at least once a week for 30 minutes to an hour to prevent problems with the engine. If you don’t fly your plane for several weeks, there’s a high likelihood for rust. Even if you do fly your plane frequently but the engine isn’t on long enough, there’s still a high chance for rust. Ground running of aircrafts does not get the engine hot enough and can cause uneven heating, so it’s actually worse to ground run the engine than to leave it alone. However, the most common cause for rust is improper storage. You can prevent this by putting fresh preservative oils made with corrosion inhibitors that protect metals into the engine.
Taking care of the insides of a plane is not the only thing you can do avoid rust. In areas with high humidity, corrosion can be found on cylinder walls of new engines if they have been inactive for as little as two days. Controlling temperature is key to avoiding rust and corrosion, and you also need to protect your plane from humidity. Also, try to store your aircraft away from any oceans, lakes or rivers. If you don’t have a choice, moisture and other corrosive agents can to be kept away from metal surfaces by putting a protective coating on the metal. For extra safety, cover the vehicle if you’re storing it outdoors. In order to truly protect your vehicle, we recommend finding an indoor unit with climate control to protect it from the elements. Although this can get a bit pricey and is a little difficult to find, the extra money and hassle are definitely worth it!
Insects and animals are another potential hazard that are much worse than rust. Wasps and birds are likely to create nests in the exhaust and exhaust valves. If these nests aren’t found and the engine is turned on, the nests can damage the engine and make it risky to fly, not to mention kill any birds in the nest.
Lastly, when you’re storing your aircraft, make sure you regularly install a preservative, operate the plane until normal temperatures are obtained for the oil, spray the interior of cylinders with preservative oil mixture, and use dehydrator plugs instead of spark plugs. If you take all of these precautions, your aircraft should remain in good condition while in storage.
