There's A Big Sack-O-Grande In Katy

[editor]

According to the FAA, there's an airport (designated 9X9) in Katy called "Sack-O-Grande." Two runways. Any aviation buffs have information on this one?

[The Great Hizzy!]

The only airport in the Katy area that I'm really familiar with is the airport to the south of FM 1093, which may get squeezed out by all the new home construction heading out to Fulshear. The website says this particular airport is located north of Katy. I'm wondering what road takes you out there?

[sevfiv]

Here's the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=29.912725,-9...c=addr&om=0

Aerial looks like a whole lotta nothing (and some cows)

[Gary]

I take this route on my way to Belleville, and the airport in question is impossible to find unless your lucky. In other words it's in the boonies. It mainly houses crop dusters with a few Cessnas, and helicopters.

[TJones]

It IS out there, it is where a few stunt pilots house their planes for competition. I have a friend who lives about a half mile from the place, his house and land actually back up to 9X9 and on weekends you can see and hear the planes doin' loop da loops and stalls, it is fun to watch. It has been about a year though since I've been out there. There are soccer fields across from his house just before that Katy-Hockley Cutoff rd., or just after, that one could park at and possibly catch a few tricks on a nice sunny Saturday.

[cwrm4]

Sack-o-grande is a private strip and is/was owned by Mafridge Enterprises (of Houston strip mall fame). It has a single east/west grass runway. There are two large hangars on the field (plus a double-wide trailer). One of the hangars also has an apartment in it.

It's popular with the aerobatic competition crowd because you take off and immediately fly competition sequences over the field while being judged/coached from someone observing from the ground. Most folks flew in on the weekends to practice there. There was also what is known as a "waivered box" at the field, which essentially means that there was a big square of airspace that you could legally fly aerobatics all the way down to the ground level (normally it is only down to 1500 ft).

Several years ago the FAA extended the Houston Class B (i.e. controlled) airspace down to 3000 ft over the field, which kinda cramped the fun factor. Also, David (the owner) gradually lost interest in flying aerobatics, and I understand that the property was recently sold to a real-estate developer.

Sad to see it close, as I flew competition aerobatics for a number of years and have a lot of good memories (and a few scary ones...) from that place.

Low pass down the runway at Sack:

Edited January 24, 2008 by cwrm4

[TJones]

Maybe I was lucky enough to have seen you cwrm4, and we both didn't know it. I certainly admire what you do, you friggin' adrenaline junkie you.

BTW, Gary, the house and land I am talking about is owned by a couple that our kids went to school with at M.L.C.

Edited January 24, 2008 by TJones

[Subdude]

It may not be large, but it is definitely the catchiest airport name I've ever heard.

[dalparadise]

Small private field. One short-medium East/West runway - two directions to it.

How did lowering the Class B to 3000 hurt the fun here? It's still just a couple of minutes to get out from under it. I fly out of an airport under a 2500' shelf with no problems. Down the road at Pearland, you can barely fly the pattern without nudging into the Bravo around Hobby, which extends down to the surface. They still have active ops there.

[cwrm4]

How did lowering the Class B to 3000 hurt the fun here?

As I mentioned, people flew out of Sack mainly so that they could practice competition and/or airshow sequences and have someone on the ground critique the flights. For aerobatic competition, the top of the imaginary "aerobatic box" which you must fly in is either 3500 ft or 1000 m above the ground, depending on the class you are competing in. It's all a trade-off of altitude vs. airspeed, so when the Feds dropped the Class B from 4 to 3, you lost the top 500 ft of your practice box, which kinda prevented truly simulating a competition. Furthermore, you usually dive into the box from above so that you can start off at a high speed.

Also, a lot of airshow guys will start out with flat spins or multiple downward snap rolls into "the box", and starting that stuff at 3000 instead of 4000 increases the pucker factor a bit (especially if you want someone on the ground to give you advice on a "new" manuver you are working on).

They may have eventually gotten a waivered area into the Class B, but by then I was pretty much out of the scene. It's not exactly the most responsible hobby in the world, especially if others depend on you.

[Gary]

Maybe I was lucky enough to have seen you cwrm4, and we both didn't know it. I certainly admire what you do, you friggin' adrenaline junkie you.

BTW, Gary, the house and land I am talking about is owned by a couple that our kids went to school with at M.L.C.

I've seen the stunt planes, but have also seen crop dusters coming in and out of the airport... A few weeks ago that a couple helicopters as well. Looked like they were being serviced, but what do i know.

Tj, I miss that school...

[Talbot]

I went to a small airplane show out there once. And sometimes they race RC Planes out there. It's a cool little airport.