Home-Built Traffic Control Tower

Home-Built Traffic Control Tower AG WORLD 27-5-24 Last May, Mark Friebel had an open house on his property on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. About 500 people live on the island, and 130 of them showed up to view a new airplane hangar and air traffic control tower that Friebel built in his back yard. The octagon-shaped tower looks just like the real thing. It's 30 ft. high and mounts on top of an old 10-ft. dia. above-ground fuel tank. The tower has a flat roof and eight walls that lean out at seven degrees. There's a spiral staircase inside and a large 4 by 4 1/2-ft. window on each side. Inside the tower you'll find a bar with six stools and a TV for entertaining friends. An adjacent enclosure connects the tower to a new house that Friebel built. Both the tank and the enclosure are covered with slabs of native limestone. The hangar is located about 50 ft. away and measures 32 by 40 ft. There's a 10 by 40-ft. home-built, hydraulic-operated one-piece door on one side of the building. To help put up the buildings, Friebel converted an old 1963 IH 303 combine into a multiple purpose rig that he can use either as a forklift, man lift, or crane. The crane has a reach of 33 ft., just enough to reach the top of the tower with building materials and supplies. It was used to lift an octagon-shaped steel ring on top of the tank, which serves as a base for the the tower room. The crane was also used to lift the hangar's trusses in place. The man lift can be raised up to 20 ft. high and was used to weld the steel base to the tank. "It took three years to build everything, but my wife and I love it now that it's done," says Friebel. "We had to haul all of the building materials we used from the mainland on boats. The view from the top of the tower is amazing. On a clear day you can see up to 17 miles away including several other islands in Lake Erie as well as the mainland. You can even see the world's tallest rollercoaster - 420 ft. high - located at Cedar Point near Sandusky, Ohio." Friebel says he decided to tackle the project after his family sold their truck farming business in Ohio. "During the winter we often go ice fishing on the lake and the only way to get there is to fly. We built the house first, and after we were done building it I told my wife that I wanted to build a hangar for our airplane and our boat. I was able to get an easement that lets me land the plane right in my back yard." He bought the limestone in big slabs up to 2 ft. thick by 5 ft. long and made a machine to break the rocks into pieces. It took 17 tons of rock and 13 tons of mortar to complete the project. "I laid some of the stone myself but also got a lot of help from nephews, friends, and relatives." Friebel pre-constructed the base for the tower using coil steel that he got at work. He cut the steel to a width of 17 in., then bent a 2-in. lip on both sides to end up with 13-in. channel iron. A rented truck-mounted crane was used to lift the base onto six 1 1/2-in. dia., 4-ft. long anchor bolts at the top of the tank, and it was then welded in place. The "forkbine-crane" was used to lift the tower's ceiling joists and windows into place. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Friebel, 4149 Wareham Rd., Shelby, Ohio 44875 (ph 419 347-6464).

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