Leg 306, Lafayette, Lousiana to Austin, Texas, USA
DAY06_23.PLN (8.8 KB)
Houston and Austin have great PG Areas. The weather cooperated as well today, great flight.
06-23 Lafayette Regl KLFT 7:06 AM
06-23 Tee Brad’s 13LS 7:15 AM
06-23 Little Pecan Island 3LA4 7:28 AM
06-23 Nunez LA12 7:32 AM
06-23 Cameron Airstrip 1LS5 7:43 AM
06-23 Texas Menhaden Strip XS76 7:56 AM
06-23 Seafood Warehouse Park XS77 8:13 AM Galveston PG Area 29°19’4"N 94°47’10"W
06-23 Scholes Intl At Galveston KGLS 8:32 AM
06-23 Austinia TS50 8:40 AM Johnson Space Center 29°33’7"N 95°5’52"W
06-23 Ellington KEFD 8:51 AM
06-23 William P Hobby KHOU 8:56 AM Houston PG Area 29°45’29"N 95°21’12"W
06-23 George R Brown Convention Center 29°45’08.9"N 95°21’27.3"W 9:31 AM San Jacinto Monument 29°45’0"N 95°4’51"W
06-23 George Bush Intercontinental KIAH 10:01 AM The Woodlands PG Area 30°9’25"N 95°27’31"W
06-23 Baytown KHPY 10:18 AM
06-23 Ferris 25TA 10:22 AM
06-23 Rogers 9TA3 10:25 AM
06-23 Roeder 49TA 10:27 AM Mind the power lines
06-23 Dunham Field 1XS1 10:31 AM Kingwood PG Area 30°2’32" 95°13’12"W
06-23 Lake Bonanza 33TA 10:53 AM
06-23 Easterwood Field KCLL 11:14 AM
06-23 Texas A And M Flight Test Station 83TX 11:18 AM
06-23 Coffield Regl KRCK 11:28 AM
06-23 Bird’s Nest KEDC 11:39 AM Austin PG Area 30°15’36"N 97°45’0"W
06-23 Austin-Bergstrom Intl KAUS 12:21 PM
Flight time 5:15 23 stops
Lafayette Regional Airport, ready for take off
The sun is up, Lafayette just doesn’t know it yet
Over Lafayette Parish
Tee Brad’s Airport in Vermilion Parish
White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area
Grand Lake
Little Pecan Island in Cameron Parish
Little Pecan Island Airport
Cameron
Cameron Airstrip, yep still more lightning
Odd dotted rectangular ponds near Smith Oaks Sanctuary in Texas
Smith Oaks Sanctuary
Galveston on the Galveston Channel, an island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas
Pier 10
1892 Bishop’s Palace and Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier
Texas International Terminal
First time I see a ship with that hatches all open, maybe you can land a small helicopter inside
Scholes Intl At Galveston
Port of Texas City
Johnson Space Center where NASA Mission Control Center is located
No PG data here, so a closer look at the good old shuttle
What mission control is looking at
Houston, a large metropolis in Texas, home to just over 7 million people
University of Houston
TDECU Stadium, home of the Houston Cougars, almost finished here
Texas Dow Employees Credit Union Stadium opened on August 29th 2014 replacing the old Robertson Stadium which served the university since 1946, demolished end 2012.
University of Houston-Campus Recreation & Wellness Center
Toyota Center, home to the Houston Rockets, Space Jam!
Hilcorp Energy Company (construction started 2014) - Park First of Texas, LLC (demolished June 2017)
Another look in the past at Lamar and Travis
Downtown Aquarium and Sam Houston Park
Another run through downtown along Lamar St, here at 5th St
Lamar St at Caroline St
Curious why did Houston rename all it’s downtown avenues to streets. Houston Avenue is apparently still used locally although it doesn’t exist anymore (Houston st) and signage still use the old names as well
Not that they dislike Avenues, Dowling street (Confederate officer) was renamed Emancipation Avenue so you have Dowling Street Bar & Lounge, Emancipation Avenue, Houston, TX. And in that area you have Avenues crossing other avenues. I always considered the US naming system very practical, avenues one way, streets perpendicular, North-South / East-West divided from the center lines. Houston messes it all up!
Landed on George R Brown Convention Center, bit bumpy, but do-able
Minute Maid Park, Astros’ home ballpark
Court of Appeals First District, probably once one of the biggest buildings in Houston
Houston Zoo and Pioneer Memorial Obelisk (lower right)
1936 granite obelisk commemorating Houston’s founding men & women & city centennial
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital
NRG Stadium formerly Reliant Stadium (opened 2002), home of the Houston Texans and first NFL facility with a retractable roof on the left
And Houston Astrodome, the world’s first multi-purpos domed sports stadium (opened 1965) and originator of the term astro-turf. It also featured the “Astrolite”, which was the first animated scoreboard
Westside district along I 10
Gerald D Hines Waterwall Park
King Ranch Texas Kitchen steak house below my plane
Memorial Park, 1500 acres with golf course, running trails and arboretum
Spotts Park at the junction of Waugh Dr and Memorial Dr
Finally landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Still more to see here, Lyondellbasell CVON
Womble Company, Inc
Super Mario Odyssey! I mean San Jacinto Museum of History
Greener pastures at Ferris
Hanson Aggregates at Dunham Airport, not a racetrack which I first thought it was
Kingwood nearby Lake Houston
https://i.imgur.com/Twstzxr.png
Austin Materials
https://i.imgur.com/BSXNyAi.png
Around West Fork San Jacinto River
https://i.imgur.com/LGMuFM5.png
Lake Conroe Dam
https://i.imgur.com/0cScXSE.png
Grimes County
https://i.imgur.com/at3JhN2.png
Texas World Speedway at College Station
https://i.imgur.com/t1Um1nx.png
Another one lost to progress (1967-2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyOP2B2kEXo
Cedar Creek winding through Burleson County
https://i.imgur.com/vii8xzO.png
H H Coffield Regional Airport-RCK, better than in the middle of the runway
https://i.imgur.com/STR7uwC.png
Manor Downs. Texas’s oldest pari-mutuel (betting system) horse racetrack, closed 2017
Grateful Dead 9-13-83 at Manor Downs Austin TX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbuDu3OnMr4
Manor Downs today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJxmqKa_44
University of Texas in Austin
https://i.imgur.com/53C5Uu9.png
Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium, home to the Longhorns football team since 1924
https://i.imgur.com/S9DUBqt.png
All Saints’ Episcopal Church (bottom right) on campus
https://i.imgur.com/THLisd0.png
The bubble, @bwc1976 a bit more landable than the basketball stadium, still too short
https://i.imgur.com/40ZhHa1.png
Touch and go, no way to stop in time
https://i.imgur.com/bfses4v.png
Slowing down below 70 without ground effect results in the plane rolling over since SU3. It’s asier to hit a small target on water with the stabilizing effect. I would need a strong headwind to land on this.
Sid Richardson Hall and LBJ Presidential Library
https://i.imgur.com/Sy4ONfj.png
Texas Capitol, 1888 granite & marble structure with House & Senate chambers
https://i.imgur.com/IKxbrVc.png
A closer look to revive an old meme “This is Sparta”
https://i.imgur.com/0YaWXvL.png
It’s the underground Capitol Annex behind the Capitol building
Congress Avenue Bridge and Buford Tower on Lady Bird Lake
https://i.imgur.com/4i2UWOR.png
Originally built in 1930 as a drill tower for the Austin Fire Department
Auditorium Shores at Town Lake Metropolitan Park and 422 at the Lake (open plot, build in 2016)
https://i.imgur.com/ffrFMoS.png
Saying goodbye to Austin from “Greetings From Austin Mural” at W Annie St and S 1st St
https://i.imgur.com/B2lTiT6.png
Last stop today at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
https://i.imgur.com/MylPoKC.png
Next leg. more of Texas, on to San Antonio and beyond.