Lajes field LPLA, Azores

Taking a bit more of an in-depth look at TropicalSim's LPLA scenery, which includes the dual civil/military airport of Lajes Field and the surrounding scenery of Terceira Island. Terceira Island is a small mid-Atlantic island of the Azores archipelago. It is actually one of the larger ones, roughly in the middle of the group. TropicalSim provide scenery covering all the islands and can be bought in packs or individually. Lajes Field is interesting as it combines a mility airbase and a civil airport. The runway is 33/15 with a length of 3314m (10873ft) and elevation of 55m (180ft).

Lajes Field Diagram

The military part is base to both the Portuguese air-force and the United States air-force. The island is at a strategically important place, but with mid-air refuelling, the airbase has become less used in recent years,

Aeriel view of the actual Airport

Lajes Island is about 400 square kilometres (155 square miles), 30km x 19.5km. It's highest point is Serra de Santa Bárbara at 1021m (3350ft).

Terceira Island Map

The frame-rate is good, with 35-40 fps with my iFly 737NG. The scenery settings are below:

Here is the iFly 737NG on takeoff with the military static aircraft in the background:

iFly737NG on takeoff at LPLA

And the Carenado Cessna 172 parked up in front of some detailed buildings:

C172 parked in front of airport buidlings

Invisible main menu text and ATC window text solution

After I installed a couple of addons, I found on my next flight, the main menu was working but had no text, same for the ATC Window. A quick Google, showed me that this was a common problem and the solution that worked for me was to copy the Verdana font from c:\windows\fonts to d:\steam\steamapps\common\fsx\fonts and restart FSX. I guess an addon installer had changed the font to Verdana, a bizarre bug that has obviously been there a while now.

Tropical Sim, Horta LPHR to Lajes LPLA field (airbase), Azores, Portugal

I am trying out Tropical Sim's sceneries at a couple of small islands in the mid-Atlantic owned by Portugal as they provide convenient stopping off points for general aviation flights from USA (e.g. FlyTampa Boston), to mainland Europe (Lisbon or Gibraltar by Aerosoft), via Madeira (Aerosoft). This is for my round the world flight. Both sceneries are fairly dated, so I cannot say they are good value for money, but LPHR is not a bad price. They are on separate, but very close islands. The frame rate is very good, with around 40 fps on my system. The sceneries do include the whole islands and not just the airports, also with good mesh. LPLA is both a civil and military airport.

Default Horta

Tropical Sim Horta

Compare default scenery (above) with the Tropical Sim scenery for Horta.

I took a short flight to Lajes field on Terceira Island from Horta on the island of Faial Island.

Leaving Horta

Approach to Lajes Field

Landing at Lajes Field

Military aircraft parked at the airbase

On installation, LPHR does require manual adding to the scenery library on FSX Steam. Overall, I would say this is a useful addon(s) for trans-atlantic island hopping, good frame-rate and reasonable value. Not in the same league as Aerosoft Madeira, but good for collectors and island lovers.

Also, there is LPGR Graciosa, the small island in the north of the Azores, covered my TropicalSim scenery. It's a pretty unremarkable airport.

LPGR by TropicalSim

For a good map of the Azores, one on the University of Texas Libraries site here. A cut-out from that map below:

Ultimate VFR Guam Scenery Steam Special

This scenery by Ultimate VFR I grabbed for 5 Euro, as I like island scenery and this one is right there in the middle of the Pacific. Quite a small island, but with an International airport (Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, ICAO: PGUM) and a United States naval airbase (Andersen, ICAO: PGUA), used historically for B-52 and KC-135 tankers.

Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, GUAM

The scenery is a bit drab and basic, not really up there with the Orbx FTX sceneries, but for 5 Euro for an unusual piece of island scenery and 2 airports, I think it is good value.

Gruman Intruder, takeoff from Andersen Naval Airbase

Battle of Britain Spitfire Sale on Steam

This aircraft is normally 35 Euro on Just Flight website, I just saw it on Steam for 10 Euro, so it's a no-brainer. Goes well with my Messerschmitt Bf 109, which I also picked up on special offer on Steam. Very easy to fly, great engine sound and looks great. I took mine on a spin from Southampton Airport (FTX) over to Old Sarum at Salisbury (UK2000). Here I am at the end of the flight parked up on the airstrip.

Just Flight Spitfire at Old Sarum

The Just Flight Spitfire is available on Steam, now at the normal price of 19.99 Euro. I am waiting for the Hawker Hurricane to complete my collection.

Courchevel airport LFLJ

A dangerous airport located in the French Alps, this runway is only 537 Metres long with a gradient of 18%. It serves the small ski resort of Courchevel. Details include hotels, ski lifts and a restaurant and some very detailed hangars. Good for light aircraft or helicopters. Available from LLH Creations.

Cessna 185F Ski ready for takeoff

Looks like a restaurant/bar

Takeoff into the valley, hotels on left

The summit ski lift station

It's a good scenery and does not impact the frame rate too much, either available stand-alone or in a pack with nearby resort airport of Meribel.

L52 Oceano County Airport, CA

This scenery comes from the North American Pack 1 of Orbx free airports. It is a small airfield on the Californian coast just north-west of Santa Barbara. Not much to see here, just some hangars and a single runway 29/11. Following screenshots are with FTX Global.

Oceano runway is 709 Metres long, opened in 1947 as a public airport. It does not have an ICAO code. Walking distance to the beach,

Takeoff from runway 29

Curious structure on this side