Independent valuation and advisory for aviation businesses, aircraft hangars, and airport real estate. Seven service lines, built on doctoral research and the reference textbook, delivered nationwide.
Every engagement pairs doctoral real estate research with aviation-specific expertise. Dr. Clay W. Carter, founder of Valuation Takes Flight LLC, wrote the reference textbook on aircraft hangar valuation and serves as Assistant Professor at an aeronautical university in Daytona Beach, Florida. The work is built for the people who underwrite, litigate, and invest in aviation businesses and real estate: lenders, airport sponsors, private equity funds, attorneys, and owners.
The seven service lines below share a common foundation. The GA Hangar Rent Index and a published directory of every operational public-use airport in the country support each analysis. Aviation-specific fundamentals, from ground lease reversion to FAA use restrictions, are treated explicitly rather than borrowed from generic commercial practice.
Start with the service that matches your situation. If the fit is not obvious, send a short note about your asset or matter and we will point you to the right engagement.
Independent appraisal of aircraft hangars and airport improvements, grounded in doctoral research and the reference textbook on the subject. Hangars look like industrial warehouses but trade on different fundamentals: aircraft capacity, airport ground leases, FAA grant assurances, and the years remaining before improvements revert to the airport. Engagements support financing, purchase and sale, estate filings, and litigation for lenders, owners, buyers, and airport authorities.
County assessors routinely value hangars from generic commercial cost tables, ignoring ground lease term, reversion, functional obsolescence, and airport use restrictions. We prepare the independent appraisal that anchors an appeal, rebut the assessor's methodology, and provide testimony and expert support if the matter escalates. The service covers hangar homes at residential airparks and privately owned hangars on leased airport land, nationwide.
hangar property tax appealsFair market rent studies for airport hangars and ground leases. We set supportable rental rates using comparable lease evidence and a rate of return on underlying land value, the analysis airport sponsors and tenants rely on for rent resets, lease renewals, through the fence agreements, and FAA rate and rental structure compliance. Studies serve sponsors, tenants, FBOs, and the attorneys handling lease disputes.
airport hangar rent studiesIndependent review of the whole rate schedule, not the hangar line alone: aeronautical land and ground leases, hangars by type, tiedowns and ramp, FBO and SASO fees, fuel flowage, terminal and office space, non-aeronautical parcels, and through-the-fence access. Built for federally obligated sponsors who need to show how each rate was derived, under the Grant Assurance 24 self-sustainability obligation and the FAA fair and reasonable standard. Delivered as a written report a board can adopt and a tenant can be shown.
airport rates and charges studiesBusiness valuations for privately held aviation companies: FBO, MRO, charter, parts, and flight training operators. Each engagement is built around the value drivers specific to aviation operators, from airport leasehold terms to fleet residuals to FAA certificate standing. For fixed-base operators, the analysis separates the business enterprise from the underlying real property, pricing fuel volumes and margins, hangar and ramp revenue, and the operating agreement with the airport sponsor. Opinions of value support buy-sell agreements, partner and key employee buy-ins, ownership transfers, financing, and succession planning.
Opinions of value for employee stock ownership plans at aviation companies, including the annual updates an ESOP trustee requires. Aviation operators carry value drivers a generalist appraiser rarely prices, and an ESOP valuation must hold up to Department of Labor scrutiny of adequate consideration. We value shares for new ESOPs, annual administration, and transactions among partners, family members, and management.
Retained expert testimony and consulting for aircraft hangar and aviation valuation disputes: condemnation and eminent domain, lease termination, property tax litigation, insurance coverage, and ownership disputes. Reports and testimony are prepared to the standard courts and boards expect from independent valuation evidence, backed by doctoral research, the reference textbook, and the firm's own rent index. We serve attorneys on both sides of the docket, nationwide.
hangar valuation expert witnessAlso available: concession and airport asset diligence, an independent buy-side investment memo on a specific airport concession, secondary-airport stake, FBO, or MRO target, and performance verification and GIPS advisory, an independent review of a hangar fund’s reported returns for limited partners, general partners and pension funds.
Send a short note about your asset or matter and we will point you to the right engagement.