Just a Strip of concrete

I wrote the below article about 5 years ago and it was published in the Galveston County, "The Daily News". The previous post I did on Joni Mitchell jogged my memory of the editorial comment I made back in March 2002. The image above is the landing threshold of runway 13 at SPX, Houston Gulf Airport taken in March 2002. The airport was closed the next day. Within a month the runway was ground up for road material and hauled away. Now it has been carpeted over by suburbia and is South Shore Harbor phase 72 A. I soloed an airplane for the first time from here in September 1978. Within 2 years I was instructing and sending others on their first solo's as I watched f rom the adjacent taxiway. Each time I walked around remembering my first solo.

“Just a strip of concrete”

This is an epitaph for the Houston Gulf Airport; which will be closing at the end of March 2002 after almost 40 years of operation. Just a strip of concrete, which was the last threshold for the City of League City to the rest of the World. Part of the heritage of this community is the exploration of space. There is no exploration without explorers.

The original name of the airport was Spaceland Airport. The name at that time is indicated in Its FAA identifier: SPX. My connection to this airport began in 1977 at the age of 15. Working for the Fixed Base Operator, “FBO”, that was in operation then, “Clear Lake Aviation”, I washed airplanes or whatever needed to be done around the place. I traded my time to learn to fly there and soloed at the age of 16. From time to time I get a birds eye view of Houston Gulf airport from the Captain’s seat of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737. I always look down fondly on this airport and remember. This view and many others that would amaze you have appeared out the window of airplanes I have flown. Views of the pyramids, the grand canyon, the glint of a sun set through the delta of the Mississippi river, The Greek archipelago, The Alps, The Rockies etc.

At its peak around 1978 there were many air shows and other activities at Spaceland airport. I was able to meet many legends of aviation there including: Art Scholl and Jimmy Franklin. It was common to meet astronauts who were active there. To a kid they were Gods. Also, during that time, the Clear Creek ISD had an aviation class they offered to high school students. Students could take the class to learn the fundamentals of aviation. The FAA Private Pilots exam was offered at the end of the course. I was allowed independent study in this course twice after I passed the first FAA exam. My independent study let me take all the FAA exams up to Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, CFI. No such program exists today. The link between this airport and the high school was direct. I was not the only one. There were a couple of students with the same passion as I. We established a camaraderie amongst ourselves in knowing we were doing something that was sacred to those who fly. Flying changes everything. It makes you a citizen of the world not just of a single place. This is because the horizon is literally pushed out. There is a phrase from the song “Amelia” by Joni Mitchell that summarizes:

“The drone of flying engines is a song so wild and blue.

It scrambles time an seasons if it gets through to you

Then your life becomes a travelogue of picture-postcard-charms”

Soon not only will the aviation course be gone but so will the airport. League City will not miss its last threshold to the world. It will be dazzled by a few more Property tax invoices. Airports do not spontaneously sprout out of suburbia. I hope your children, if they aspire to be explorers, are able to find a threshold and mentors from which to launch their dreams to fly.

After all this is said, it’s only a strip of concrete.

K.

Captain Southwest Airlines