March 07, 2014 // Facility Spotlight: Sugar Land ATCT

All six controllers at Sugar Land ATCT (SGR) in Texas are NATCA members, making this facility 100 percent NATCA!

This 94-foot tall, level one facility runs operations from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., local time.

Controllers at this 12-year-old facility work a variety of aircraft that fly through Class D airspace. These aircraft are primarily general aviation, from C-172s and PA28s to GLF5s and GLEXs.

The six SGR NATCA members work with controllers at Houston TRACON, in Houston Center’s Traffic Management Unit and with those at Fort Worth FSS.

The weather in the Sugar Land area is what makes working at this facility unique, according to SGR NATCA FacRep Chris Maresca.

“Our weather in the spring and summer months can turn on you rapidly,” he says. “Pop-up severe thunderstorms are commonplace here along with the occasional hurricane threat.”

Maresca says that since SGR acts as a corporate reliever airport to both William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), whenever HOU hosts major sporting events and/or business conventions, SGR generally sees an increase in traffic.

The SGR NATCA local hosts quarterly luncheons and also biannual dinners for the members to promote solidarity.

Maresca says all the SGR NATCA members are strong supporters of the union and what it stands for, and because of that for they generally have positive views of and attitudes about work.

“To me, the best part of representing our facility is the sense of pride in ensuring that our members’ concerns are always heard and treated with the utmost fairness and reason,” he says.