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#12904

Impressive design.  Gotta be expensive though…  looks like a multi-million-dollar resort or something at the Getty Museum.

Government grants might be available to help cover the cost, if someone can find a politically-correct funding angle to fit it into.  Maybe it could “help fight global warming”, promote forest management, fight covid, save the children, provide recreation for the university, promote “diversity”, etc.  Remember, hang-gliders and paragliders generate zero carbon emissions…

Looked to me like the roof blew away due to inadequate anchoring of the posts of the previous structure.  Usually you have taller steel straps that reach higher from the concrete up the post, with room for two (2) through-bolts instead of just one, so the second bolt is higher than any rotten area of wood.  Like a rotten hang strap held on with one rivet.  Had anyone noticed, steel strap extensions could have been added to the existing through-bolts, to reach up higher on the post and another through-bolt added at a higher point of attachment.  Then the roof would not have blown away.  Any structure should be built to withstand 100 mph+ winds.  Especially in a high-wind location like the LZ.

For a low-budget solution I’d say something similar to what was there could be rebuilt, and steel strap extensions bolted in (added) to the existing post bases to prevent the roof blowing away again.

Also, a type of structure using two (2) shipping containers spaced apart, with roof trusses spanning the gap between them, could be another affordable solution.

I would also note, as others have pointed out, some pilots have reported trouble landing due to turbulence generated by the shade structure, depending on wind direction.  Nice to have, but it does affect the wind blowing thru the LZ area.  Anything that makes landings less safe would not be consistent with the purpose of the LZ.