RAF Leconfield

The former RAF airbase (ICAO: EGXV) was used by Spitfires in WW2 and now is used by MoD Defence School of Transport. The runways are disused, but there is parking for helicopters. The custom scenery is provided by UK2000 as part of VFR Airfields volume 3.

There are some helicopters parked at the helipads near where the flight starts, careful to avoid the wire fence and then I took off from the disused runway and did a quick crcle of the airfield. Some quite good detail on the runway textures and the buidlings of the MoD facility.

The short flight is available in full in HD video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inHoowKNSGY

An aeriel photo of the actual airfield:

FSX YouTube channel

I have just created a new channel for uploading my FSX recordings.

My first video is a circuit at Lanzarote in A36 Beech Bonanza. This is the Caranedo aircraft and using the FWI Canary Islands X scenery. I am using FRAPS to record AVI file and then converting to MP4 using convertavitomp4 freeware.

I hope to upload some more of the Canary Islands and also create a blog feature on the various sceneries for the islands.

Havana Airport MUHA, Cuba

Cuba is in a convenient location between the Caribbean islands and Florida USA. Cuba has 4 civil airports currently covered by commercial airport scenery and published by Taxi2Gate.

Havana is the capital city and the airport is José Martí International, (ICAO MUHA). The airport is a single runway, located 15km southwest of Havana city.

Havana MUHA Chart

Landing at Havana MUHA

It is not a very big or detailed airport, but it is a convenient stop off between United States and the Caribbean islands. I am using Orbx Global, I have seen some elevation issues in the Taxi2Gate Cuba airports, some of which are evident on the screenshots on simMarket. Havana seems fine evelvation wise, and it fits in with the global scenery, but there is some issue with the fire station building as mentioned in a detailed review.

Parked outside Domestic Terminal 1

International Terminal 2

International Terminal 3

Customs Terminal

Some international static traffic

Local static traffic

I took a short flight from Havana to Varadero HUVR, which is just along the coast to the west surrounded by forest and also published by Taxi2Gate.

Havana City default scenery

Havana airport is available at simMarket.

MOD St Athan to Filton via Cardiff Airport

I took the Just Flight Hurricane out for a spin, it's got great handling and is perfect for scenic flying and land and take off on a sixpence. I started at MOD St Athan near Cardiff in South Wales. Formerly a large RAF airbase, it is now only home to University of Wales Air Squadron and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The airport scenery is provided by UK2000 VFR Airfields volume 1. The en-route scenery is provided by Orbx FTX Wales, which also provides a detailed Cardiff Airport EGFF.

Takeoff from MOD St Athan

MOD St Athan

Takeoff from St Athan (Runway 08 flying east). It is a very short hop to Cardiff airport, where we land on runway 12. Shortly after takeoff from runway 12, we can see a nice viaduct in Porthkerry Park next to the beach at Barry.

Cardiff Airport EGFF

Porthkerry Viaduct

I follow the coast to Cardiff and then Newport, then cross the Bristol Channel east toward Filton airport which is now visible. Filton scenery is provided by UK2000 VFR Airfields volume 1. On landing we can see the Concorde parked up, that was developed and built at Filton.

Cardiff City

Concorde at Filton

Orbx Chichester/Goodwood to Orbx Southampton

This flight is from Orbx FTX Chichester/Goodwood EGHR to Orbx FTX Southampton EGHI, via Lee-on-Solent airfield. Goodwood airfield is situated on the north-east side of Chichester, half way between the city and Goodwood races on the South Downs. I am also using FTX England for the surrouding countryside. There is a full-review over at Mutley's Hangar.

Takeoff from EGHR

Goodwood racecourse and Hill fort

Goodwood house behind the airfeld

I flew over Chichester centre and headed out to the coast. I know the area well, so flew over Pagham harbour and the Witterings. I then took a route over Hayling Island and Portsmouth and landed at Lee-on-Solent.

Chichester Cathedral

Lee on Solent (also known as HMS Daedalus) is an ex RNAS airfield and now a conveniently situated general aviation airfield. It has one runway of 1200m length (05/23). It also has a disused runway (17/35).

Landing at Lee-on-Solent

Landing at Southampton International

Orbx FTX Southampton is one of my favourite airport, lots of detail and good frame rates, it makes a good base for exploring the south of England and for flights over the English Channel to France.

JustFlight Battle of Britain Hurricane Special

I just noticed the Hurricane is on special at Just Flight at the moment. Ufortunately not on Steam, as I already have the Me109 and Spitfire on Steam, so this completes my collection at Euro 18.95 it's not cheap but it's not a bad price. I like it as it's simple and flys well, just jump in and fly! The Merlin engine sound is fantastic and it's very manoeuvrable. I took my first flight from Orbx Shoreham, which hosts air-shows and was sadly where a Hurricane crashed in 2007, killing the pilot. There is a full review of the trio at Mutley's Hangar.

Hurricane takeoff from Shoreham EGKA

I personally prefer this addon to the First Class Hurricane, it's easier to fly! The clincher for me was I could pay with my Paypal balance and download it.

Taxi2Gate KSEA Seattle Tacoma Elevation Issues

I today bought Taxi2gate KSEA Seattle International airport, as it should compliment the Orbx FTX Pacific Fjords scenery. Unfortunately on loading a flight, it is apparent there are some severe elevation issues with the airport in conflict with FTX Global Vector.

To fix this, first make sure the KSEA scenery is in top priority position in the scenery list:

Then in Explorer, locate the Orbx/FTX_VECTOR folder which is in the root folder of Flight Simulator. Run the configuration tool (FTX GLOBAL VECTOR Configuration Tool.exe).

Select the tab "Airport Elevation Corrections" and then click the button "Run Auto-configuration" and once complete the Apply button. Check KSEA is in the corrections disabled list and exit.

On loading the airport, we can now see the elevation issues are fixed.

Taxi2Gate KSEA Seattle International Airport