By the way.. Kirby and 59 is more to the South Central/ Near Southwest
part of town, not so much the North or East side.

The fields you were asking about are West and Northwest about 20 miles
from center of town.

And, Dylan is absolutely right about what he said - the food and the
hang-out factor are big plusses for Weiser. I based my comments favoring
the other fields based on what appeared to be service offerings and
convenience to a specific location (relatives).

Dave S wrote:

Hmm... West Houston takes the cake for quality with regards to the
service and facilities end of things (for uncontrolled fields). Plenty
of room, nice FBO lobby (something you would expect at a major airport),
plenty of tiedown room. I've only been in there once (never had a reason
to go, nothing to eat there and its across town from me) but it strikes
me as a first class place. I would pick this as #1 based on what I THINK
you are looking for (No ATC, good services)

Weiser, while a great lunch spot, has a narrow asphalt runway, perpetual
crosswind, short final over fenced in school buses and essentially all
parking is on grass, not to mention you back taxi on the grass
IMMEDIATELY adjacent to the runway if its busy. Rent a cars dont appear
to be readily available at Weiser but I'm sure they can be arranged with
advanced notice. The folks at Windsock aviation ARE friendly, and they
DO a great job, but they are limited in what they can offer facility wise.

Sugarland is also an option. Its towered, but has a long runway. Its
operated by the city. They have tiedowns and hangar space from what I've
seen. Prompt service, but you do pay for it. Sugarland is trying to
market itself as the next best thing for a corporate hub, so they have
cars available and good service. I would rate this at least as good as
West Houston.

Unfortunately, ALL of these options are at least 20 miles from where you
are wanting to go. I can appreciate not wanting to deal with the Class B
for whatever reason you choose, but if you want to get in CLOSE, Hobby
is only like 7 air miles from where you are wanting to be. I have flown
into, out of and around the Hobby airspace for the majority of my 400
hours and will say that they have a low pressure way of dealing with
little guys. There are training operations out of Hobby so they deal
with students all the time. As a general rule they will pull you in from
the due north direction and dogleg you onto the smaller parallel (13L
-31R) or they will bring you in from the west, overhead, and cross over
and enter a downwind for the parallel rwy. There are at LEAST 4 FBO's
the Millionair and Raytheon are a little pricey but you get what you
pay for. Fletchers is more GA/Small Guy oriented and there is another
one in the SW corner of the field south of Millionair that I cant
remember the name to at the moment.

Good luck and have a nice trip.
Dave

Shawn wrote:

I'll be flying into Houston from Denver (APA) for about a week stay.
I'd rather not deal with the Class B at Hobby so am looking for a spot
to park the 206 on the north or east side of town. Relatives live
around Kirby and Hwy 59.

I'd appreciate some recommendations/preferences in terms of quality of
service, ease of pattern/landing, fuel/tie-down $, friendliness, drive
time, etc.

TIA