GA in Houston

Maule Driver wrote:
I did an overnight at Hobby. The controllers were more than helpful
despite my best attempts at screwing up my VFR arrival one rainy,
messy
IFR evening.

I've got tons of flights into and out of HOU... There is a lot of GA
traffic there and even quite a bit of student traffic, so the
controllers will definitely work with you if you're not that
comfortable coming into a large Class-B airport... I always enjoyed it
when they put me right beside a 737 and I was racing him for the runway
with a 130 kt approach on short final... If you land first, HE has to
watch out for YOUR wingtip vortices, right? grin

Watch out for that intersection of Rwy 18 and Rwy 4 though... If you
land on 18 and still have a little speed when you cross 04, you might
just be back flying unexpectantly... There's about a foot difference
between the level of 18 and 04... Either land long (past the 18 / 04
intersection) or get slowed down way below stall speed before you cross
it... Since the wind is rarely out of the north, 18 is rarely active...

"Grumman-581" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maule Driver wrote:
I did an overnight at Hobby. The controllers were more than helpful
despite my best attempts at screwing up my VFR arrival one rainy,
messy
IFR evening.

I've got tons of flights into and out of HOU... There is a lot of GA
traffic there and even quite a bit of student traffic, so the
controllers will definitely work with you if you're not that
comfortable coming into a large Class-B airport... I always enjoyed it
when they put me right beside a 737 and I was racing him for the runway
with a 130 kt approach on short final... If you land first, HE has to
watch out for YOUR wingtip vortices, right? grin

Watch out for that intersection of Rwy 18 and Rwy 4 though... If you
land on 18 and still have a little speed when you cross 04, you might
just be back flying unexpectantly... There's about a foot difference
between the level of 18 and 04... Either land long (past the 18 / 04
intersection) or get slowed down way below stall speed before you cross
it... Since the wind is rarely out of the north, 18 is rarely active...


Are you talking about landing on 17 and crossing 12R? No, you must mean landing 35 and crossing 4? Or...
whatever ARE you talking about?

Tons of flights to HOU?

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

"John Clonts" wrote in message ...
Are you talking about landing on 17 and crossing 12R? No, you must mean
landing 35 and crossing 4? Or... whatever ARE you talking about?

Thanks for catching it John... Case of brainfart, I guess... Yeah, I'm
talking about landing on 35 and crossing 04... My brain knew what I wanted
to do, my fingers just didn't cooperate... grin

Tons of flights to HOU?

Don't like the units of measure? OK, how about replacing "tons" with "a
whole ****in' lot"? Will that do? I had my plane based out of HOU for a
few years... I was over at FletchAir, of course (with all the other
Grummans)...

"Grumman-581" wrote in message news:iK12e.115002$Ze3.63174@attbi_s51...
"John Clonts" wrote in message ...
Are you talking about landing on 17 and crossing 12R? No, you must mean
landing 35 and crossing 4? Or... whatever ARE you talking about?

Thanks for catching it John... Case of brainfart, I guess... Yeah, I'm
talking about landing on 35 and crossing 04... My brain knew what I wanted
to do, my fingers just didn't cooperate... grin

Tons of flights to HOU?

Don't like the units of measure? OK, how about replacing "tons" with "a
whole ****in' lot"? Will that do? I had my plane based out of HOU for a
few years... I was over at FletchAir, of course (with all the other
Grummans)...


No, I was referring to your having flown so much into HOU and yet made the "double mistake" of referring to
runway 35 as runway 18.

Did my primary training there in the early 80's and noted since then that they changed the runway numbers from
13 to 12. When I saw you referring to "18" I thought maybe they had adjusted that runway as well-- that's why
it caught my eye!

Sorry if I offended you...

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

I agree with the folks who recommend Hobby. I've used several airports
on my regular trips to Houston and found Hobby the most convenient. Be
sharp and brief on the radio--it's busy. Make sure you have the airport
diagram handy when you land.

Fletcher Aviation on the south side of the airport is a friendly FBO.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

Hobby is fine for what you are wanting to do. Raytheon and Million-Air
are the upper tier FBO's and mostly cater to the corporate crowd, but
Fletcher's isn't low class by ANY means. Most of my experience there is
with Raytheon (I used to work in the back of an Air Ambulance Lear based
there) and I can say they are a top notch, professional outfit. I cannot
vouch for prices.. but I know that I came in there on a dual XC
during my private pilot training (end of a round robin) just to say I'd
gone into a class B field before I got my ticket, and they didn't charge
us for pulling in, using the restroom, buying a coke, and heading back
out.. Call ahead for a car. Hobby has a GA parralel runway (13L/31R)
that they can bring you in to from the west, over the top of the field
and vector to a downwind all while the big iron is landing on 13R/31L.
They have it down to an art.

I am based out of EFD now, but the bird is under construction. Southwest
Services is the FBO there, and they are about 15 minutes further out
than Hobby. They are nice, and they get the job done, but the Military
fuels contract is their bread and butter and they know it... call ahead
for a car too.. Be down to 1000 ft when getting close to EFD and the
traffic pattern is 600 for lil guys. Be VERY alert for military and NASA
guys doing overhead breaks at 1000 ft.. and for FAST movers entering the
area at 1500 ft. Yea.. theres a tower.. but still.

Sugarland and West Houston are BOTH excellent GA/Corporate fields, but
the fact of the matter is both are more distant from your destination
that even Ellington, and Hobby beats all of them.. Hertz has a rental
center AT SGR.

I've been into IAH once (again, to do it) and as a general rule all the
big iron lands east or west, and departs on 15/33 pair. The exception is
STRONG crosswind days. If you absolutely want to do IAH, its doable, and
fairly easy, but set yourself up to approach to the NW corner of the
surface area, and be on the money with your speed and altitude. When the
push is on, they need you to be a good stick.

Hooks is nice, but from a practical standpoint its a longer drive to the
convention center/downtown than ANY of the other choices. Hooks has a
rental car or two I think.. its been a while.

Before I was a pilot (and in my current occupation as a nurse) I worked
as a paramedic, and drove over practically every square mile of Houston
and surrounding counties in 10 years in various ambulances. From a
drive/simplicity standpoint, HOU or EFD are the best bets, hands down.
Construction will be crippling the corridors from SGR or IWS to downtown
for the next few YEARS.

Dave


wrote:

I'm planning a trip to Houston in April to pick up some friends. They
will be taking part in an event at the convention center earlier in the
day, so I'm looking for an airport close to downtown. I've taken a look
at Hobby. Any feedback/suggestions?

Thanks everyone for your replies. Some of the other parties in the
group will be driving west after the event and my friends can catch a
ride to the airport with them. I'm leaning now to either West Houston
or Weiser.

you'll probably like west houston better. weiser is a nice little
guranteed crosswind (9-27) narrow asphalt strip(taxi back in the grass)
that many people love but makes some people kinda nervous.

it does become a time-of-day issue tho. west houston is off I-10 which,
as was mentioned, is under permanent construction and the already
stagnant rush hour (read:daylight...or dark...ok anything other than
1-3am, most days) is made worse, whereas weiser is off 290 (northwest
freeway houston/austinish) which is usually a little better.

enjoy your stay.

dan

"houstondan" wrote in message
oups.com...
you'll probably like west houston better. weiser is a nice little
guranteed crosswind (9-27) narrow asphalt strip(taxi back in the grass)
that many people love but makes some people kinda nervous.

it does become a time-of-day issue tho. west houston is off I-10 which,
as was mentioned, is under permanent construction and the already
stagnant rush hour (read:daylight...or dark...ok anything other than
1-3am, most days) is made worse, whereas weiser is off 290 (northwest
freeway houston/austinish) which is usually a little better.

enjoy your stay.

dan


IWS is my home airport. I agree with Dan, IWS is better than EYQ and
Houston traffic sucks! Couple of tips, use the HOV lane on I-10 if your
passengers have 3 or more in the care and get on the freeway before 4:00.
Its not good then but it is better than at 5:00.

For IWS, take the Barker-Cypress exit off I-10 and turn right on
Barker-Cypress road. Go about two miles to Groeske Rd. Turn right. Go about
1/2 mile, turn left into the airport. Big, nice two story terminal with an
observation deck, nice lounge and a used book store, no food though. Check
the Notams, the NDB has been OTS for months.

For EYQ, follow 290 towards Austin. take the Huffmeister exit off 290.
Stay on the frontage road past Huffmeister and turn right at the Airport
signs. The airport is right beside the freeway. Follow the road past the
third set of T-hangers and turn left. Windsock Aviation is at the end of
the T-hangers.

Good luck and welcome to Houston,

Eddie

For EYQ, don't forget Carl's BBQ at the airport... One of those airport
restaurants that even attracts people who don't have an interest in
aviation... Not the *best* BBQ around, but pretty good and definitely
the best food at any of the Houston area airports...