GA in Houston

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?

wrote in message
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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?


Have you looked at West Houston?

Check AirNav.com and get a list for the Houston area.

If proximity is the only consideration, KHOU is the logical choice.
They have significant GA traffic there. It's a big busy airport with a
lot of commercial and corporate traffic but it is the closest to
downtown. Be prepared to wait for clearance and taxi and taxiing a long
way. I haven't fueled there recently but I seem to remember the fuel
being a little pricey too.

IAH is very unfriendly to GA. I'd rule it out off the bat. If you are
willing to add 10-15 minutes to the commute, you have a few more
options. SGR is a towered airport with radar on the SW side and DWH is
a towered airport w/radar NW of the city. DWH usually has cheaper
self-serve fuel but SGR is more convenient and they are both about a 45
min drive from downtown. IWS is due West of downtown just off I-10 and
easy to get to and about a 25 minute drive. Its an untowered field but
they have a *really* nice terminal and decent fuel prices.

I almost forgot about EFD Ellington. The former AFB is used by NASA and
literally next door to the Johnson Space Center. Don't know much
about the FBO there. Its just a little further down I-45 than Hobby and
it may be the best bet. Its towered and I think they share Houston
approach radar.


Eddie

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?

Cheapest fuel in the area tends to be over at Chambers County
airport... I usually fly out of Houston-SW... Weekend fuel prices are
not too bad, not sure about the week days though...

IAH is very unfriendly to GA. I'd rule it out off the bat.

That is TOTALLY not true. I find IAH very easy to deal with.

Garett Aviation is very friendly to light airplanes, and the
controllers are very easy to deal with. You simply need to be able to
ask for what you want, and comply. Always ask for 15R/33L. It keeps
you out of the way of the big boys, and Garrett is just off the
parallel taxiway (WC).

Michael

Michael wrote:
IAH is very unfriendly to GA. I'd rule it out off the bat.


That is TOTALLY not true. I find IAH very easy to deal with.


Ok fair enough, just unfriendly to me then. Been there 3 times and
without exception, had difficulties with the controllers everytime.
First their attitude was like I was wasting their time. Secondly "keep
your speed up" means something entirely different to me than to them.
To me it means don't slow down until you absolutely have to, to them it
means hurry up and get out of the way. Lastly, when they figured out
that they can't get rid of me they vectored me all over the country side
and back.

I remember crossing the numbers at 110 kias and simultaneously hearing
tower call please expedite. The only way the warrior gets any faster is
straight down. Thank goodness for the 10K' rwys. A lot depends upon
the active rwy and how busy the controllers are.

Just my 2 cents.

Eddie

HOU is a lot friendlier to GA than IAH... You'll be flying the pattern
with 737s, but you'll be probably landing on the shorter parallel
runway (12L instead of 12R)... Depending upon where you're coming from,
you can a lot of times just call up HOU tower instead of Approach
Control and not get routed all over everywhere... Houston has a lot of
smaller airports, so finding one fairly close to where you want to go
should not be that difficult... Houston does have a serious rush hour
traffic problem, so you might want to consider that depending upon the
time of day...

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 think it was Raytheon but it could have been Fletcher
(at the south end of one of the runways)... they didn't have tiedowns so
they volunteered to put me in the hangar for the night so my taildragger
didn't get blown off the ramp. They pulled me in and pushed me out - no
fuel. Whatever the overnight fee was it was more than reasonable -
location and services!

Editorial - Secondary airports at big cities and primary airports at
secondary cites generally provide great service to light GA - the
controllers are just working to the standard they have to work to and
while the FBOs vary - they serve just fine. I get free service as often
as charge service - smiles help. I rarely consider the charges out of
line - they have the facility and the location and I have the need.

I've been intimidated and even publicly humiliated by controllers - but
I wasn't operating to standard. If you know what you are doing and can
talk on the radio it all goes well. If you don't, expect to get pushed
around a bit but they will do their best to make it work and you should
do better next time.

My experiences include Westchester, Charlotte, Cleveland, Ft Lauderdale,
Tampa, BWI, Dallas Love, Meigs, Richmond. YMMV but just go for it.



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?

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...

On 28 Mar 2005 10:43:44 -0800, "Michael"
wrote:

IAH is very unfriendly to GA. I'd rule it out off the bat.

That is TOTALLY not true. I find IAH very easy to deal with.

I have to agree. I have found that even getting into IAH is very
easy. It takes very little vectoring and the controllers have always
been pleasant. I remember the first time I ever flew into there in a
172, I thought that it was going to be a pain, but it was quite the
opposite. I have been in there 20+ times since and have never had any
issues. Unlike HOBBY where on departure, you almost have to fly way
out of your way if you are going to the north west. They have almost
always taken me just shy of Galveston before they would let me proceed
on course. But I do like Hooby as well. I always used Raytheon as my
FBO of choice. Now Ellington I have never been in. There has never
been a reason to go in there for me. Just as a side note, the FSDO is
there on the field at Ellington.

Scott D

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