Houston William P. Hobby Airport Spotting Guide

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Houston William P. Hobby Airport Spotting Guide

Published by Craig at December 31, 2018 - last modified on November 16, 2021

Houston William P. Hobby Airport (HOU/KHOU) is the 2nd biggest/busiest airport in Houston, which is the biggest city in Texas. HOU airport handled almost 13,5 million passengers back in 2017, thus being among the 30 busiest airports in the US.

The first aircraft, back then they were small propeller aircraft, landed and started here in 1927, when the airfield was still a private flight area. The first commercial airlines to serve this airfield were Braniff and Eastern Air Lines and back in 1937 the airfield was acquired by the city of Houston. From this point on, the airfield was extended partly and became Houston’s main airport in the early after-war times. In 1950, Pan Am launched the first international flight with its service to Mexico city and the passenger numbers were exploding. Due to the rapid growth a new terminal was opened in 1954 and the airport became Houston International Airport . A few years later, KLM introduced the first intercontinental service to Amsterdam. The airport was renamed after the former Texan governor William P. Hobby in 1967, whose name it still has today, but Hobby’s maximum capacity was reached.
That’s why there was build another big airport for Houston, which was opened in 1969. All scheduled flights were transferred to Houston Intercontinental Airport (later George Bush Intercontinental Airport = IAH/KIAH) then, but Hobby airport was reopened for scheduled flights again in 1971 as an addition to Houston’s new airport, which was already too busy again itself. Since this time, Houston uses these two airports, but the traffic was seperated regarding to special aspects – IAH is being used by all intercontinal flights today and operates as United hub as well and HOU is “just” being used by domestic airlines (mainly Southwest with its hub) and a few services to the Caribbean islands.

Houston Hobby is the home of Southwest Airlines in southeastern Texas and its Houston-hub. The airport is being served by a lot of Southwest Airlines flights as well as some JetBlue, Delta (including feeder airlines) and American Airlines (including feeder airlines) services. Apart from this, there is a lot of business traffic here and sometimes you’ll also see some military activitiy at HOU, but this is quite rare.

Written by Severin Hackenberger and Bas Velders in cooperation with Craig Sieminski (local spotter). Last Visit: October 2018

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Airport Information
Runways
04/22	2317m x 46m Asphalt
13R/31L	2317m x 46m Creton
13L/31R	1569m x 30m Asphalt
17/35	1829m x 46m Creton
Terminals
Central concourse	~30 gates for domestic flights
International concourse	hand full gates for intl. flights
Spotting Information
Ladder	Can be helpful sometimes along the fence, but the USAGE of ladders IS NOT RECOMMENDED in the US anyway. Use them at your own risk, you might be sent away then!
Car/Public Transport	Car is recommend as public transport are limited. Uber or Lyft are usually decent options.
Restrooms	Around the airport there are just a few restaurants, shops and similar, where restrooms can be found. Apart from this, those can be found inside the terminal.
Drinks/Food	Around the airport are just a few hotels, restaurants, shops and similar, where food and drinks can be found. But apart from this, this can be found inside the terminal of course.
Hotels	Around the airport there are a few hotels/motels. Apart from this you’ll find a lot inside the nearby city area.
Season	The best times to visit Houston are spring (Feb-Apr) and fall (Sep-Nov). In these times you’ll mostly have nice temperatures and on average sunny weather with just a few rainy days – no extremely hot temperatures, which just cause tons of heat haze, disturbed by very strong thunderstorms on the one hand like in summer or mostly grey weather with a lot of rain on the other hand like in winter.
Runway Usage
04/22	Mainly used for arrivals, doesn’t matters from which direction.
13R/31L	Mainly used by smaller business jets and sport aircraft.
13L/31R	Used in both directions for both actions (arrivals and departures).
17/35	Mostly used for smaller business jet departures and arrivals.

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	Spot #1 – NW Viewing area “Lockheed Avenue”
WHERE	This spot is located at HOU’s northwestern end by the roadside of “Lockheed Avenue”. There you’ll find a parking area, which was built to watch airplanes during arrival and departure from here. You can easily park your car there and search your favourite position around the parking then. For a better angle, you might leave the parking and go away some meters from the arrivalpath into southwestern direction – it’s up to you…

WHAT	Arrivals onto runway 13R, 13L and 17 and (with a ladder or a thin lens) you can also take pictures of Line-Ups onto runway 13R as well as runway 17.

TIME	Runway 13R/L: From early midday till sunset Runway 17: From late midday till sunset.

MISC.	Ladder needed for groundshots only, if your lenses aren’t thin enough to fit through the fenceholes – No ladder needed for normal arrivalshots. Enough parking possibilities around the spot and everything nearby like restrooms and stores.

FOCAL LENGTH	50-300mm

	Spot #2 – Travelair Street
WHERE	This spot is no exact position, rarther the area infront of the “1940 Air Terminal museum” and on the nearby parkingarea. Your exact position depends on the angle and moment you wanna catch on your pictures as well as on the disturbing light-/electricpoles and the electricconduits around here. You can park your car easily infront the above mentioned museum or in the parking on the opposite street side.

WHAT	Departures on runway 31L.

TIME	From early midday till sunset.

MISC.	No ladder absolutely needed here, but useful, if you want to get shots with at least a bit background. There are enough parking possibilities around the spot, but nothing nearby like restrooms and stores (maybe you can find restrooms inside the museum, which is located on the other roadside). The time to take your shots is very limited due to some distrubing powerlines and houses.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm B738 departing 31L = 200mm / A320 departing 31L = 230mm

	Spot #3 – Telephone Road footpath
WHERE	This spot is located by the roadisde of “Telephone road” on its western side (at the junction with “Brisbane street”) or at its eastern side (at the junction with “Brisbane drive”). Once you arrived at the destinationare you have to two options to choose of: Eastern side – Junction with Brisbane drive: You’ll have a better view on this side (as there are no vehicles passing thru your focusrange here) and you can also stop with your car much easier here. But the owner of the nearby GA hangar and apron doesn’t like it to see us spotter hanging around there next to the fence and sometimes sends away people from there. -> private B757 taken from here (from a car top) Western side – Junction with Brisbane street: You won’t have any problems with apron or property owners here, but therefore your view will be disturbed more often/sometimes as a busy street runs between the photoposition and the aircraft. Apart from this, it’s quite difficult to park your car here as there are almost only companies around, whose parkingareas and properties are fenced – unuseable for parking – and you won’t be able to park by the roadside well either. -> SWA B737 taken from here

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 04 (and some apron actions as well from the eastern side/1st option).

TIME	From (late) afternoon till sunset.

MISC.	No ladder needed for arrival shots, only for apron shots from the eastern side, if your lens doesn’t fit through the fenceholes. Ladder or car top can also be useful to get arrivalshots with a bit background from the Eastern side (like the B757 example shot). There aren’t so many parking possibilities around the spot as well as almost no possibilities to find restrooms or food at – just some gas stations are a bit closer. DURING RUSHHOURS YOUR VIEW MIGHT BE DISTURBED BY ALL THE VEHICLES PASSING INFRONT THE SPOT AT THE WESTERN SIDE/2ND OPTION! Be aware of their heat destortions as well!

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm B737-700 = 145mm

	Spot #4 – Bulge
WHERE	This spot is located by the roadside of “Braniff”, which runs south of Hobby airport and can be entered easily from “Telephone road”, which runs west of this street and then up north along the airport area. You can park your car by the roadside in the neighborhood easily (for example in “Braniff” or “Old Telephone road”). Then search your favourite position in the spotarea, which may vary due to all those electricconduits and poles.

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 04; most 22 departures are too high already. You might also catch arrivals onto runway 35 from here.

TIME	04/22: From sunrise till early afternoon. 17/35: From late midday till sunset.

MISC.	No ladder needed. A gas station is just a few meters away, for more facilities a car is needed. Heat haze might be a problem on hot days.

FOCAL LENGTH	150 – 350mm B737-700 = 210mm / Beech 200 = ~300mm / Gulfstream 5 = 240mm

	Spot #5 – Roadside
WHERE	This spot is no exact position, either along “Braniff street”, which runs south of Hobby airport and can be entered easily from the busier “Telephone road”, or at the junction of “Braniff street” and “Old Telephone road”. After you reached the destinationarea, you can choose between two positions: Along “Braniff street” right by the fence -> here you can take pictures by the roadside thru one fence, but therefore you need tighter lenses. You can’t park your car by the roadside here. Along “Old Telephone road” by the roadside -> here you can park your car, but you need to use an object here, where you can stand on to get over the two fences infront. Lenswide doesn’t matter here of course, but you need a cartop or similar and this can be parked here well.

WHAT	Aircrafts lining up onto runway 35 via the last taxiways as well as very late vacators from runway 17 after landing.

TIME	Depending on the exact angle the aircraft are taxiing and being shooted in, but best time is around midday – of course, you can also take shots during other daytimes, but then it’s required, that the aircraft is turning into an exact position and so on…

MISC.	Ladder definetely needed or at least a car top to get over the two fences here! So you need an object where you can stand on to take your pictures (we used a 1,80m high car top for our example shot below). If you go a few meters to the right, the second fence should be gone, so you could spot the aircraft easier, but then there is no possibility to park your car by the roadside at. Spotting right by the fence with a high ladder is not recommended. If you use the car top, KEEP A LOW PROFILE – only climb it, when the aircraft are coming! Heat haze can be a problem here on hot days. A gas station is just a few meters away, for more facilities a car is needed.

FOCAL LENGTH	150-350mm PC12 = ~310mm / Hawker 800XP = ~280mm

	Spot #6 – A Avenue
WHERE	This spot is located inside “A Avenue”, which springs out of the end of “Randolph street”, which is coming from the south. The spot can reached easily with a car, but parking this one for a long time is difficult here, but you’ll mostly just stop here anway as there isn’t that much action here for spotting for hours. Anyway, once you reached the destinationarea, you can vary the photoposition along the roadside/fence. OCT 2018: Here are some ongoing construction works for a new Southwesthangar; the future of this psot is unknown.

WHAT	Aircrafts on the apron infront – parked and taxiing aircraft.

TIME	Depending on the exact angle, but mostly better around midday.

MISC.	Ladder (or at least a cartop) needed to get over the fence well, but you can also take pictures kinda thru the fencewholes. No facilities nearby. Some construction services might pass and ask what you’re doing here, as there is a big construction for a Southwesthangar just next to you.

FOCAL LENGTH	18-150 ERJ175 = 30mm

	Spot #7 – SE Viewing area
WHERE	This spot is located at HOU’s southeastern end by the roadside of an unnamed street, which connects “Cub lane” and “Monroe blvd”. Along this unnamed street you’ll find a parking area, which was built to watch airplanes during arrival and departure from here. You can easily park your car there and search your favourite position around the parking then. For a better angle, you might leave the parking area and go away some meters from the arrivalpath into northwestern direction (towards “Cub lane”) – it’s up to you then…

WHAT	Arrivals onto runway 31L (and 31R).

TIME	From early midday till sunset.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Enough parking posibilities here in the parking, but the facilities for food/drinks are a bit farer away – a car is useful for them.

FOCAL LENGTH	We didn’t test the spot ourselfs yet, but you should need a 70-300mm lens (regarding to Jetphotos.net) /// B737-700 (from the parking area directly) = 90mm

Most example shots were taken from the parking area, so for a better angle you might go some meters away from the arrivalpath.

	Spot #8 – Randolph street
WHERE	This spot is located at the end of “Ransolph street” and can only be entered from the southern direction; from “Braniff street”. After you entered the first mentioned “Randolph street” it will lead you to the Wilson Air Center at the street’s northern end. The street is a dead end road and ends at the mentioned Air Center. After you have reached the street’s end, you have a choice as parking is very difficult here and may cause problems however you do it – here are two options: If your lens is thin enough to get to the fence or you are able to spot from the streetbarrier at the street’s end, you can try to park your car inside the parking of Wilson Air Center inconspicuously (they don’t really like to see foreign people parking their cars on their property), go back right to the fence and spot from there or from the barrier. If your lens is too big for the fenceholes or you don’t want to risk spotting through the fence, you can try to park your car by the roadside at the street’s end and spot from the car’s top. But always keep a low profile, so don’t stand on the top all time, rather only climb it for big highlights and come down after them again. Apart from this, you’ll stand on the street then and this isn’t really liked, so you may have trouble with security services or Air Center staffmembers (faster) due to your parking position – do it on your own risk, some spotters were sent away and some had no problems!

WHAT	All activities on runway 31L/13R, the nearby taxiways as well as parts of GA aprons around the spot.

TIME	Apron northwest of this spot might be better in the morning or around early midday, but the runways (both of the 13/31) and taxiways infront will be good from late morning till sunset.

MISC.	Ladder or car top needed (to stand on) for groundshots, if your lenses aren’t thin enough to fit through the fenceholes. At the end of the street there are also streetbarriers where you might stand on to spot from, but this option is not that secured. Heat haze can be a problem on hot days. Sometimes you’ll also see a security guard or a Air Center staffmember passing by cause of the nearby GA hangar or your car parked on the street, if you do so. Some of them are cool and chilled, but some are also rude and aggressive. Mostly they’ll just ask you, what you’re doing here or to remove your car from where you have parked it. Always be nice7polite and have your ID with you when spotting here for sure.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm B727 = 130mm

Example shots were taken from a car top right next to the fence:

Spot itsself looks like THIS.

	Spot #9 – Red parking garage
WHERE	This spot is located on the top floor of the red parking garage, which is located north of the normal passenger terminalcomplex. You can easily enter the garage from the main “Hobby Airport Loop”, which runs along the terminal on the departure level – you should also be able to park your car inside this garage. Enter the parking garage and go up to the fourth floor, where you can search your favourite position along the frontrailing of the parking garage then. Update 2018: Due to a newly constructed terminalpart, your view might be disturbed a bit towards the western side nowadays. We didn’t check the spot after this new construction yet, so we can’t provide the most actual data for this problem. You visited this spot and can help (and say) us, if the view is disturbed? Please don’t hesitate to contact us!

WHAT	From here you’ll have a nice overview of some parts of the HOU apron as well as also of some runway parts and actions from here like 04 departures/22 arrivals or 31L/R departures. But some actions are too far away or some departures too high already.

TIME	This totally depends on the object you wanna spot. But best time will be in early morning or late evening, when one of the two sides (eastern or western view) has good light for sure. Spot is rather good in summer as the sun doesn’t come around that well in winter.

MISC.	No ladder needed. Enough parking posibilities in the area here and all needed facilities for food/drinks are close by in the terminal. Heat haze can be a problem on hot days. Sometimes you’ll also see a security guard passing by, but this normally doesn’t cause problems. Most of them are cool and chilled and some of them just ask you, what you’re doing here. Always be nice, but have your ID with you when spotting here for sure.

FOCAL LENGTH	200-400mm B737 on taxiway = 205mm