David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport is a public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located near the city of Tomball in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Harris County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It is northwest of the central business district of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. It is the busiest

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport in Texas and one of the busiest general aviation airports in the United States. The airport is privately owned by Jag Gill. The airport is notable because it is one of only a few privately owned airports with a

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

; the airport is owned by Jag Gill and managed by Roger Schmidt. On June 27, 2007, The Texas State Legislature approved Tomball's request to annex Hooks Airport even though the airport does not border the Tomball city limits. Since the airport is in the city of Houston's

extraterritorial jurisdiction Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries. Any authority can claim ETJ over any external territory they wish. However, for the claim to be effective in the externa ...

, the city of Tomball must get permission from Houston to annex the airport. As of summer of 2010, the annex still has not been finalized.

Facilities and aircraft

David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport covers an area of which contains two

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paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

s: 17R/35L measuring 7,009 x 100 ft (2,136 x 30 m). and 17L/35R measuring 3,500 x 35 ft (1,067 x 11 m). It also has a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

landing area designated as runway 17W/35W which is 2,530 x 100 ft (771 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 152,198 aircraft operations, an average of 417 per day: 97%

, 2%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, <1% commercial, and <1% military. There were 136 aircraft based at this airport: 117 single-engine, 14 multi-engine, and 5 jet. Facilities include: *The main Gill Aviation terminal *The Aviator Grill is a locally owned and operated restaurant connected to the Gill Aviation terminal which has views of the main ramps and runway 17R. *Tomball Jet Center *Helicopter Services Inc. *Memorial Hermann Life Flight operates its North Base on Tower Road. They maintain an EC-145 and aircrew quarters from which they provide both VFR and IFR helicopter air ambulance services 24/7. *Sunrise Helicopter, Inc. The airport also includes a number of flight schools, including American Flyers, Texas Flight and United Flight Systems. The airport was also previously a local favorite for its diverse mix of aircraft and openness. However, as of March 2012, citing safety concerns from pilots, barbed wire fencing went up around the airport, sealing off the previously popular observation areas and leaving only the inside of Aviator's Grill as the sole observation area for the public. The small circular lake at the north end of the airport is 'Lake Transit' and the island in the lake center is 'Pinnacle Island'.

History

The Airport started when Charles Hooks built a runway for his own personal use. His hobby eventually became a business, and he subsequently built a runway and a main terminal building. It was first opened for public use in the 1960s. Shortly after its opening, Hooks' son, David, was killed in the crash of a small plane that he was piloting under the supervision of a flight instructor. All four people on the plane were killed. David was 15 years old at the time of his death. The airport's name was changed from Houston Northwest Airport to David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport in his memory. Until the 1980s, the airport was run and maintained by Hooks, and his wife Irma. Upon the death of Mrs. Hooks, her daughter stepped in and helped with its operation. In 1989, Charles Hooks retired and sold the airport to the Gill Family. In 2009 a fire occurred at the airport. A man was burned, and several aircraft were destroyed. On June 26, 2010, another fire occurred at the airport, destroying another large hangar. One helicopter and several aircraft components were destroyed. In early 2010, Hooks Airport received a notable resident when the B-17G Flying Fortress '

Texas Raiders ''Texas Raiders'' was an American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-17G-95-DL built by Douglas-Long Beach. In 1967, it was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force’s Gulf Coast Wing "Texas Raiders" group, which maintained and flew the aircra ...

' was permanently moved from William P. Hobby Airport to a spacious hangar in the Tomball Jet Center as a cost-saving measure. 'Texas Raiders' used Hooks Airport as her base of operations for the 2010 air show season and several years afterward. The heavy bomber relocated again in March 2017 to General Aviation Services at Conroe North Houston Regional Airport in Conroe, Texas. The B-17 has a Wikipedia page of its own if you desire more in-depth information.Refurbished B-17 headed for Hooks Airport
" '' Ultimate Tomball''

References

External links

David Wayne Hooks Airport
official web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooks, David Wayne Memorial Airport Airports in Harris County, Texas