I am based at Ellington now... and having been based out of the Houston
area for all of my flying "career", I can honestly say that what the
others said about STARS is a good idea.


Have the plates out for 17R/35L (4/22 is likely to still be undergoing
rehab/rebuild in Sept..) and have the STARS out for the area. You WILL
be vectored around.. no if..ands.. or buts... probably to the east and
below the arrivals to IAH. With 3 parralel E-W runways operating at
Bush, all the playbooks appear to have EFD traffic either way OVER or
way UNDER the IAH traffic... Once upon a time, before the third runway
was opened, VFR's could request routing through the Class B at 4500 feet
, but that appears to be no longer the case.

If you actually end up needing fuel, the cheapest around is in Baytown
at Humphrey Field or at Anahuac (T00).

Be alert for small fast movers. EFD's FBO caters to the military
transient crowd and its not uncommon for lots of Navy or AF jet traffic
to be mixing it up with the spam cans. NASA's T38's are hard to spot as
well, but if you are IFR then separation is a little more certain.

If the weather is good, and you find yourself getting vectored way the
hell out into the next county, just cancel and go VFR direct, contacting
EFD direct. Approach wont care either way.. they will practically vector
you AROUND/Below the class B rather than through.


Good Luck and hope you enjoy your trip
Dave


Whit wrote:
Hello,

I'm a fairly low time instrument pilot, and I plan to fly my
family from Omaha to Houston's Ellington Field in early September. I
have never flown in the Houston area. What routing can I expect in a
Piper Arrow for the trip, assuming good weather. I'll have an
overnight stop in Palestine, Texas before making the last leg into
Houston, so fuel shouldn't be an issue. I'd like to file what is
likely to get approved to minimize delays, so if there are any
recommendations from experienced Houston area pilots, I'd be glad to
hear them.

Thanks,

Martin