Weiser Airpark Explained

Weiser Airpark
Icao:KEYQ
Faa:EYQ
Type:Public
Owner:Cecil and Robert Weiser
Closed:November 3, 2019
City-Served:Houston, Texas
Location:Harris County, Texas
Elevation-F:137
Elevation-M:42
Coordinates:29.9353°N -95.6397°W
Website:www.WeiserAirpark.com
R1-Number:9/27
R1-Length-F:3,455
R1-Length-M:1,053
R1-Surface:Asphalt
R2-Number:16/34
R2-Length-F:2,000
R2-Length-M:610
R2-Surface:Turf
Stat-Year:2006
Stat1-Header:Aircraft operations
Stat1-Data:38,020
Stat2-Header:Based aircraft
Stat2-Data:75
Footnotes:Source: FAA[1] and airport website[2]

Weiser Airpark (spelled Weiser Air Park in some sources) was a privately owned, public-use airport located on the Northwest Freeway (U.S. Highway 290) in Cypress, an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, United States. The airport was northwest of the central business district of Houston. The airport closed permanently in 2019.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Weiser Airpark was assigned EYQ by the FAA but had no designation from the IATA.[3]

Facilities and aircraft

Weiser Airpark covered an area of 102acres at an elevation of above mean sea level. It had two runways: 9/27 was with asphalt pavement, and 16/34 was with a turf surface.

For the 12-month period ending March 3, 2006, the airport had 38,020 aircraft operations, an average of 104 per day: 99.9% general aviation and 0.1% air taxi. At that time there were 75 aircraft based at this airport: 93% single-engine and 7% multi-engine.

History

The original grass airstrip opened between 1945 and 1947 as the F.H. Jackson Airport, and was purchased by brothers Robert and Cecil Weiser in 1951.[4] In 1963, the brothers built ten hangars on the property and renamed it Weiser Airpark. In 1964, they added another twenty hangars and fenced the site to keep wandering cattle out. The runway was paved around 1980.

Robert Weiser died in 2013.[4] After Cecil died in November 2017, the Weiser family lost interest in operating the airfield.[4] At the time, it was home to about 78 aircraft, a flight school, an aircraft repair shop, a flying club, and the "shack", a public lounge and outdoor aircraft viewing area that was a popular local gathering place. Area pilots and airfield tenants launched an effort to purchase the field from the family and keep it open.[4] [5] However, it was a prime location for commercial or industrial development due to frontage on busy U.S. Highway 290,[5] and the family listed it for sale for million.[5] The family announced in mid 2019 that the 102acres site was being sold for redevelopment.[6] In September 2019, the Trammell Crow Company announced that it had purchased the field in partnership with Clarion Partners, that it would be redeveloped as an industrial park, and that the Weiser family had been granted a temporary lease until December 2019 to wind down airfield operations. Detailed terms of the purchase were not publicly disclosed.[7]

Notes and References

  1. , effective 2008-04-10
  2. Web site: Weiser Airpark-The "friendliest airport" in the United States . https://web.archive.org/web/20200126172730/http://weiserairport.com/ . 26 January 2020 . Weiser Airpark . weiserairpark.com.
  3. http://gc.kls2.com/airport/KEYQ Great Circle Mapper: KEYQ - Houston, Texas (Weiser Air Park)
  4. News: Arrajj . Shawn . 21 December 2018 . 102-acre tract containing Weiser Airpark goes up for sale in Cy-Fair . Community Impact Newspaper . 1 October 2024.
  5. Web site: Namowitz . Dan . 10 December 2018 . Pilots Rush to Save Houston's Weiser Airpark . aopa.org . Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association . 1 October 2024.
  6. Web site: Begley . Dug . Weiser Airpark flies into the sunset with one last party and some final high moments before the planes move away . houstonchronicle.com . 9 June 2019 . Houston Chronicle . Houston . 1 October 2024.
  7. News: Jeffrey . Jeff . Exclusive: 55-year-old Houston airport sells in huge industrial development deal . 26 September 2019 . Houston Business Journal . Houston . limited . 1 October 2024.