Best airport for Houston

[201Steve]

I’m going to be in Houston in two weeks for a few days to attend an expo at the downtown convention center. 
 

What’s the piston preference out there? 
A hangar for parking would be a big plus if pricing is reasonable. 
Will need a rental car 

 

[hammdo]

KDWH (David Wayne Hooks) may have what you’re looking for. Houston Exec (KTME) is further west. KSGR (Sugarland) is southwest. Galveston is too far I think (KGLS) unless you’d like to be near the beach like I do ;o) drive time varies from there depending on traffic…

-Don

[cliffy]

Anywhere in HOU on the roads is a long drive in heavy traffic with toll roads  Just be ready for that

A Texas mile is considerably longer than Georgia mile :-)

Use your Google maps or whatever for driving directions

HOU drivers DRIVE fast if you're not used to it. 

I use DWH on the northside but my stuff is up there  Call ahead to Gill Aviation to reserve a hangar and car (It may be the closest to where you go) (hangar was reasonable for cost)

I have always been able to get one  They do a good job      If you go there try to remember you runup in the tiedown spot before taxi

They will pull you out of hangar for departure if you call ahead  

AND if you just want to "tie down" they have no tie down facilities at all Just chocks (no rings in the ramp either)

(For outside tie down you may have to go to IWS)

One of the runways is narrow but quite doable

Don't use Dan Jones you won't like it

I've used West HOU (IWS) a while back and it was OK buy pricey

Haven't been to Sugarland in decades but its a long way away from town.

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by cliffy
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[TheAv8r]

I'm hangared out at SGR and live about 10 minutes from the expo center you're describing, it's a 25 minute drive. SGR is towered, has approaches, an 8k runway and Global Select is pretty nice. It's also easy access drive-wise, you just get on 59 to 45. 

Don't go to DWH, that's 45mins+ to downtown. 

IWS will be about the same as SGR, it's I-10 to I-45 and will be 30ish minutes pending traffic. IWS has a shorter, rougher runway and they will hit you with fees, but the fees won't be all that much more than Global Select.

TME is by far the farthest, it's in Brookshire, which is a suburb on the far West side of Houston (downtown is in the Center). It'll be an hour to 1hr15min drive. Nice airport, long runways and towered. 

If you don't mind paying the fees and the headache for getting in, HOU - Hobby is actually the closest to downtown. You'd be about 15-20 minutes. But for 5-10 minutes longer you can just land at SGR and not mess with all of that . 

[The Other Red Baron]

I flew into HOU and used Signature and it was a surprisingly nice experience.  Rental car was ready to go and they waived some of the fees for taking fuel.  I was only there for two or three nights I think.  Tower did want me to maintain best forward speed and being lower time pilot at the time I figured 100mph was booking it.  Pretty sure I caused the 737 behind me to make a 360 but no one yelled at me.

[bcg]

HOU would be the closest and most convenient. Avoiding Houston traffic would be worth the extra expense of flying into the Charlie for me. DWH is an hour from downtown without traffic. I lived in Houston for almost 40 years, if I had to go back and was going to be staying downtown, I'd fly into HOU.

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[LANCECASPER]

On 9/21/2023 at 6:59 PM, bcg said:

HOU would be the closest and most convenient. Avoiding Houston traffic would be worth the extra expense of flying into the Charlie for me. DWH is an hour from downtown without traffic. I lived in Houston for almost 40 years, if I had to go back and was going to be staying downtown, I'd fly into HOU.

I agree 100%. HOU has always been easy to get in and out of for me and very convenient to where I've needed to go. Signature has treated me as if I was flying a Gulfstream instead of a Mooney.

Would I fill up my 130 gallon long range tanks there? Probably not. But putting in a little more than what they require to avoid a ramp fee is a deal with the services and the location.

[McMooney]

Answer is really KSGR or KHOU, due to traffic they can be about the same amount of time to downtown.

ksgr and khou, are basically on highways that lead you straight to the expo center.

i59/i-69 and I-45

don't bother with a rental, uber will be cheaper and easier.

 

KDWH, not even close, nice airport but if you get caught at the wrong time, it can easily take hours to go the 20ish miles.

KTME isn't really that bad, it's further than ksgr but it's straight down I10.

 

note i have a hanger at both ksgr and kdwh

 

[201Steve]

Thanks to all. Weather ended up being more than I was willing to deal with so I sadly flew commercial. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent any time in Houston. The traffic was something serious!

[Tx_Aggie]

If any airport will do, AXH is Houston’s best kept airport secret. Cheap fuel, reasonable to waived ramp fees, easy in easy out. Has instrument approaches if you need it and just on the edge of the bravo for convenience of departure sequencing. 

[Greg Ellis]

On 9/30/2023 at 12:08 PM, Tx_Aggie said:

If any airport will do, AXH is Houston’s best kept airport secret. Cheap fuel, reasonable to waived ramp fees, easy in easy out. Has instrument approaches if you need it and just on the edge of the bravo for convenience of departure sequencing. 

And, the runway is 9-27 so you get to practice your crosswind landings and takeoffs almost all the time....