San Antonio vs Austin aviation community

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austinglasair

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Uncle Sam told me it's time to move back to the USA, specifically Killeen, TX. Pretty excited about leaving this land for the motherland.

I've immersed myself in any form of local G/A community anywhere I could in the last 12 years. I was wondering if anyone could give me any guidance or information on "what's good" in the Austin area (.9 hr drive), and perhaps San Antonio area(2.5 hr drive). I could continue staring at the plethora of information in my face from the internet about both places, or I could ask my community :) Also, a family member of mine (also a pilot) told me to definitely give attention to Georgetown airport (KGTU). Any more on that would be greatly appreciated.

I'm assuming either would offer some part 91 turbine operations. I'd dare to say I'd get back into flight instructing for fun but I think I've retired the days of steep turns, then again everytime I say that I take on two more students. Addicted I guess. Any input from the community would be fantastic! Thanks!
 
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Georgetown is definitely thriving; my "go-to" field for Austin is Austin Executive (KEDC), though. It's new-ish in its current form, being a huge expansion of what was known as "Bird's Nest" (the facilities of which remain).

Obviously, many, many great destinations a quick flight from Austin.
 
I just moved to Killeen a few weeks ago myself from Kansas. Haven't found too much local flying here unless you go to Temple or Georgetown. I know there's one local school here in Killeen and one in Temple that are decent but with the normal older fleet. Haven't seen much even in Georgetown or Austin with a current fleet. I need to fly while I'm here but I'm headed overseas myself in less than two months. So much to that idea....
 
I fly out of Temple at Central Texas Flight Training, they have a Warrior, 172, 152, an Arrow and recently acquired a twin commanche.
 
GTU is the most active and flight-instruction friendly airport in the area. I'm based not far from there in Taylor T74 and we see a steady influx of planes from GTU. ATP is the most obvious as they have their name painted on their planes. When I stopped by GTU a few days ago, I saw plans on the wall to add more hangars. The plans were dated 2012 though, so who knows if they're really going to be built?

I've often wondered why Austin doesn't have more of an aviation presence. If you go North toward Dallas, there seems to be a lot more airports that are always improving. Very few airports in the Austin area seem to be growing or even improving existing facilities. I think that limits the activity we see. At Taylor, we're finally getting the funding to resurface the runway, build 12 new hangars, fence around the perimeter, and eventually a new terminal. Unfortunately as the plan exists, we'll build 12 new hangars, then tear down 10 existing ones to make room for the new ramp. Doesn't do much for the 70+ people on the waiting list.
 
I agree, KGTU is the most active training airport, T74 is the "old timey" nice GA airport, KEDC is a nice expensive jetport and that pretty much sums it up for Austin.
I wonder whether the whole aviation thing is not growing in Austin due to the enormous influx of Californians who complain about nearly everything they encounter here and get it shut down often promptly.

So while there isn't much aviation-related stuff to do in Austin itself, we usually venture out to GA friendly areas, we fly for $100 hamburgers to T82, 11R, T35 etc. Taylor hosts air races from time to time, Burnet also has some kind of an aviation event once a year. Llano offers the fun STOL competition once a year. Other airports within 1 hour of Austin host fun events too (too many to list or even remember).

And of course let's forget the food trailer in Killeen, I hear the burgers are good. (haven't had a chance to try one yet)
 
Burger trailer at Temple is really good.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Unfortunately as the plan exists, we'll build 12 new hangars, then tear down 10 existing ones to make room for the new ramp. Doesn't do much for the 70+ people on the waiting list.
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So, what are the realistic hangar options for the local owners? Anything under $300/mo at all? I pay $230/mo currently in Albuquerque, NM.

P.S. Are there any airparks near Austin? The Lakeway (3R9) looks intriguing on the sectional.
 
zaitcev said:
So, what are the realistic hangar options for the local owners? Anything under $300/mo at all? I pay $230/mo currently in Albuquerque, NM.

P.S. Are there any airparks near Austin? The Lakeway (3R9) looks intriguing on the sectional.
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300? In Austin area? I don't think so. Maybe some of the GTU crowd on here can expand on that.
 
Hah! $300? Not anymore! Not unless you are willing to drive 2 hours out of this hellhole to get to your airplane and then fly 30 minutes the rest of the way.
However, yes, there are a few airparks around here, some with a house or two for sale. Do not expect to be able to afford any swelling there unless you are a lawyer or brain surgeon.
Our Nuevo Kalyfornya has doubled (even tripled) housing prices in the last decade and residents are being pushed out to live an hour (10 miles) away.

If you have a hangar (especially for $230/mo), stay where you are. You won't be happy here. :(
 
If you're going to Ft Hood, SAT area is a no go. I was stationed there from '10-'13 and GTU or TPL is where the activity is with GTU way, way more active.

SAT area is where I retired to (stop at Ft Carson from 13-16). 5C1 (Boerne Stage), Stinson field and Bulverde are where it's at here.
 
zaitcev said:
So, what are the realistic hangar options for the local owners? Anything under $300/mo at all? I pay $230/mo currently in Albuquerque, NM.
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I pay $292 at Taylor (T74), but there's a long list. There are also cheaper hangars there that aren't as nice as mine, but they also have a waiting list. For $200, Cameron has nice new hangars, a small, but nice terminal. It's a good drive from Austin, but might be worth it if you need a place temporarily or if you don't fly that often. I considered it because I like the airport better than mine, but a 7 minute drive vs. 50 minutes, and as much as I'm at the airport that makes no sense!
 
Austin itself is the pits in terms of GA.

GTU is far better, and HYI was OK. San Antonio is a pretty fur piece from Killeen - save the miles... and you'd really want to be at one of the smaller airports as both SAT and SSF were more on the quiet side.

You might see if there are any fly-in communities up near Killeen; Kestrel Airpark (north of San Antonio) was always intriguing but a long ride to my office (which is why I didn't live there).
 
wsuffa said:
Austin itself is the pits in terms of GA.

GTU is far better, and HYI was OK.
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I like San Marcos because it's active and has the CAF Museum. I wish I lived closer to it. I don't think they have a long waiting list and sometimes there are large hangars that aren't that expensive. One hangar I liked would hold 3 planes for around $550/month. Too far for me though.
 
Lowflynjack said:
I like San Marcos because it's active and has the CAF Museum. I wish I lived closer to it. I don't think they have a long waiting list and sometimes there are large hangars that aren't that expensive. One hangar I liked would hold 3 planes for around $550/month. Too far for me though.
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I liked HYI because it had a full ILS and multiple runways. The aviation community is good there, too. I was based at SSF & regularly flew into HYI. It's probably improved even more these days.
 
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