By Eric Niemi, Vice President of Engineering at Bailey Specialty Cranes & Aerials

In aerospace, precision doesn’t end with what flies. It starts with what’s on the ground. The floors in aircraft paint bays, cleanrooms, and assembly facilities are built with extremely tight load limits per square foot. They’re designed to protect the infrastructure and equipment that cost millions to install.

A few years ago, a major aerospace OEM came to us with a familiar but complex problem: standard mobile lifts were exceeding their floor load thresholds. Each wheel concentrated too much weight on too little surface area, creating the risk of cracking the floor or triggering costly downtime.

Their requirement sounded simple, a lift that could handle the weight without exceeding per-square-foot limits. But as with most engineering challenges, the simplicity was deceptive. They needed a high-capacity, explosion-proof lift that could safely operate in a clean, restricted environment.

The Engineering Challenge

My team began with a detailed load analysis of the facility’s floor system. We discovered that the problem wasn’t the total weight of the lift, it was the distribution of that weight. Standard lifts focus too much load on a small footprint.

To solve this, we engineered a ‘quad-axle configuration’ that spread the load across more wheels and a larger floor contact area. That one design change significantly reduced individual wheel loads and kept the overall floor pressure well below the facility’s safety limits.

But that was only part of the equation. The system also had to meet explosion-proof certification standards, operate reliably under variable duty cycles, and maintain precision control for personnel and material handling.

What We Built

The final unit incorporated:

• Quad-axle chassis design to minimize point loads and balance weight distribution.
• EE-rated explosion-proof systems to meet hazardous-location standards.
• AC electric and battery power options, eliminating combustion risks in sensitive zones.
• Custom wheels and tires engineered for cleanroom compatibility.
• High-capacity lift architecture for both personnel and material use.

Every component from the motors to the control enclosures was selected, tested, and certified to meet the aerospace OEM’s operational and compliance requirements.

The Result

By re-engineering how the lift interacted with the floor, we turned a limitation into a design parameter. The new configuration achieved:

• Noticeably lower wheel load maximums per square foot.
• Full operational reach and stability with zero trade-offs.
• Compliance with Class-rated, explosion-proof standards.

The OEM could now run operations across sensitive floors without concern for structural strain or compliance penalties.

The Broader Lesson

This project reinforced something I’ve learned throughout my career: in aerospace, you can’t engineer in isolation. Every component interacts with the environment around it. When you treat constraints like floor loading limits as design inputs instead of afterthoughts, you get safer, more reliable, and more efficient systems.

At Bailey Specialty Cranes & Aerials, we’ve solved many such one-off challenges from converting diesel systems to electric and battery power, to designing cleanroom-ready lifts, to integrating fall-arrest and personnel-protection systems. Our focus is the same every time: engineer for the environment, and compliance will follow naturally.

If your aerospace facility is dealing with floor load restrictions, explosion-proof requirements, or unique lifting needs that standard machines can’t meet, reach out. My team and I would be glad to explore how we can design a system that fits not just functionally, but operationally and safely.