GA in Houston

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...

"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

"John Clonts" wrote in message ...
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.

Ah, come on... You've never been dysleptic on the runway numbers? Never? I
knew what I was talking about, my fingers just didn't... grin

Sorry if I offended you...

Awh hell, John... Ya' know it takes more than *that* to offend a Texan... It
would take something like someone saying that BBQ is pork and a mustard
based sauce instead of BEEF BRISKET...

"Grumman-581" wrote in message news:cw32e.112476$r55.64388@attbi_s52...
"John Clonts" wrote in message ...
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.

Ah, come on... You've never been dysleptic on the runway numbers? Never? I
knew what I was talking about, my fingers just didn't... grin


Yeah, but you gotta admit that the statement "Since the wind is rarely out of the north, 18 is rarely active"
is pretty funny! But really I did want to figure out whether the "hump" you were describing was where 17
crosses 12R, or where 17 crosses 4. Seems that the answer is the latter, which is why I had never noticed it--
since the wind is rarely out of the north, and 35 is rarely active


Sorry if I offended you...

Awh hell, John... Ya' know it takes more than *that* to offend a Texan... It
would take something like someone saying that BBQ is pork and a mustard
based sauce instead of BEEF BRISKET...



We can agree on that! COOPERS Rules!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ