allardjd 1,853 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 7/30/12 Airport Diagrams New: CYRV Revelstoke - Revelstoke, British Columbia - Canada BIKF Keflavik - Keflavik, Iceland Updated: KPDK DeKalb-Peachtree - Atlanta, Georgia - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,298; downloads 1,675 If you'd like to become a subscriber (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". After two days away from airport diagrams for newsletter work, including one day pretty much lost to a bad headache, I'm back. This batch puts me within striking distance of 1,300 airports now and that milestone should be in the rearview mirror with tomorrow's batch if something unforeseen doesn't interfere. Keflavik, Iceland (BIKF) finishes off the Mutley's Hangar ATWC IV list, which I've already replaced with another. That one too will be short-lived since it only lacks three airports to complete it. Revelstoke (CYRV) in British Columbia appears to be out in the boonies. Even though it has a 4,500 foot paved runway, it's not lighted and has no nearby Navaids or published approaches. Today's update, Dekalb-Peachtree (KPDK) in NW suburban Atlanta is a place I'm actually familiar with, at least on the ground. It once had one of those themed restaurants, named for an aviation squadron, in one corner. The building looked like a bombed-out French chateau and there were various pieces of military hardware scattered around the area, including a C-47 outside the windows on the side facing the airport. The restaurant had a great view of the runways and the food was quite good. For many years it was a favorite stopping-off place for a meal on the way to Florida vacations. I've probably been there a half-dozen times. I believe the restaurant may be out of business now, but the airport is still a going concern. KPDK is a runway-rich environment, with four and none of them closed - the longest is 6,000 feet, but three of the four are generously wide at 150 feet. It is a controlled field. There's only one ILS and a couple of other published approaches but it appears to be a busy and well-equipped place. It's a fair distance from Atlanta Hartsfield - pretty much on the diagonally opposite corner of the city and Atlanta is a city with a very large footprint. That must help to keep the KPDK planes from getting tangled up too much with the KATL traffic. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 7/31/12 Airport Diagrams New: UBBB Heydar Aliyev - Baku, Azerbaijan WITT Sultan Iskandarmuda - Banda Aceh, Indonesia NGZ Alameda NAS - Alameda, California - US Updated: - None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,301; downloads 1,676 If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". As expected, the 1,300 airport milestone is history. Today's airports were an easy batch. All three are large enough to be interesting but none required extra plates - life is good. Heydar Aliyev airport (UBBB) in Baku, Azerbaijan is the first from a new list that will come and go quickly. There are only three on the list that weren't already done when it came into my hands - now two. I found this airport kind of interesting - it has two almost parallel runways of respectable length and width with four ILSs, two of which are Cat. IIIs, and a VOR/DME approach to each of the four as well. The thing I thought was pretty neat was an LOM (Locator - Outer Marker) placed where the two extended centerlines intersect, serving both runways. I expect this has a somewhat retarding effect on simultaneous operations on both runways but for however functional it is, that's what's there. This airport also has a pretty nifty terminal building, consisting of a nest of five interconnected hexagonal buildings unlike any I've encountered elsewhere. That building footprint rendered pretty nicely in the diagram. Sultan Iskandarmuda airport (WITT) in Banda Aceh, Indonesia is somewhat smaller and more Spartan than the one above but still a decently appointed single-runway airport with a strip roughly 8,200' X 150' and an ILS from one end. There's an NDB and a VOR/DME on the field. Oddly there's only a single radio frequency listed and that's for the tower, a configuration we don't see too often in FSX. The final airport today is Alameda NAS (NGZ) in Alameda California, just a few miles up the shoreline of San Francisco Bay from the Oakland airport and a short hop across the bay from KSFO. It's much like Bellows Field (XBEL) in Hawaii, which was done a few days ago - a closed and defunct former military airfield. Closed as a Naval Air Station in 1997, it still exists but no longer functions as a working airport. Given that it closed a full decade before FSX was published, it's interesting that they included it. In the sim, all the runways and taxiways are closed and the place is unlighted but there are Ground and Tower radio frequencies listed, which seems a bit strange - maybe just an oversight. The place is now owned by the city of Alameda who have grandiose plans for developing it. Those mostly have come to naught in a state that can barely afford to pay attention. The main uses have been in the hosting of television and movie stunts that require large open spaces, e.g. some of the more adventurous Mythbusters TV series segments and an extended high-speed chase scene for a movie that took place on a 1.5 mile continuous loop of freeway that was specially constructed for it and then destroyed. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 8/1/12 Airport Diagrams New: 09CL Alta Sierra - Grass Valley, California - US MROC Juan Santamaria Intl - San Jose, Costa Rica Updated: KGEO Brown Co - Georgetown, Ohio - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,303; downloads 1,678 If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". Today is an update day, so two new airports are included and a re-do of the oldest file in the pile. The first of the two new airports today is Alta Sierra (09CL), in Grass Valley, California. I guess both the format of the ICAO code and the city (?) name should be a clue that this is not going to be a thriving international airport. I should explain a little - one of the lists that I work from is very large, containing something on the order of 18,000 airports. It contains virtually every airport in several countries - US; UK; Brazil; Canada and a handful of others. Included are many relatively small, unimproved, unimportant airports as well as all the larger ones. I've randomized the list and there's no predicting what will be next up. As a result, I've come up with some formal inclusion criteria to allow me to consistently decide which to include and which to pass by. A primary criterion is the presence of a paved runway - if it has one, it's in. In the case of Alta Sierra, that's why I bothered creating a diagram for it - it does have that, but little else - no radio frequencies, no approaches, no buildings, no MS fuel pump. The only other thing worth noting on the plate is a DME-only Navaid (probably a TACAN) a couple of zip codes away. I always include the nearest Navaid(s) if within 20 NM. MROC, which is Juan Santamaria Intl in San Jose, Costa Rica, is a little more feature rich. It has a single runway of nearly 10,000' feet with an ILS for one end of it, a generous ramp and a non-generic terminal building that appears to be pretty large. The update for today is KGEO, Brown County airport in Georgetown, Ohio. The original was done in July of 2009. It appears to be a smallish municipal with a single 3,500' X 65' paved runway and a typical set of facilities for a field of that size. There's no ILS but there are three published non-precision approaches, including a VOR-A, which I've learned is a Circle-to-Land only approach not associated with a specific runway. This is the first of those I've encountered since beginning to include a list of published approaches a couple of weeks ago. For the record, if you see "R00" listed as the runway for an approach, that signifies an IAP with a Circle-to-Land only configuration. John Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,316 Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Revelstoke(CYRV).This airport is a few posts back but it is a beautiful area and I am thinking about making a mission to it. Thanks for the heads up. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Arrive in daylight - even though it looks like a fairly well equipped place, it's unlighted. Glad you're getting some use from these. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 8/2/12 Airport Diagrams New: KSAN San Diego Intl - San Diego, California - US WBSB Brunei Intl - Bandar Seri Begawa, Brunei KRQB Roben-Hood - Big Rapids, Michigan - US Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,306; downloads 1,679 If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". As luck would have it I have a real-world personal connection to two of the three airports today. In the last three months of 1966 I was assigned to a US Navy technical school in San Diego, California. The Naval Training Center there lay more or less under the approach path to KSAN Rwy 27. At that time, the tallest of the Rwy 27 approach lights was actually mounted on a stubby little tower on the roof of our chow hall, which was just down the street from our barracks. When the KSAN traffic was landing on Runway 27 at night, the landing lights would light up our whole barracks complex like daylight, which I actually enjoyed very much. Having grown up in a small town, seeing and hearing jet airliners up close was quite a novelty for me and I never got tired of it or was annoyed by it. At the end of that assignment I had what was literally my first airplane ride of any kind out of there, on a 707 (I think) from KSAN to KORD (I had come to California on a train). The other personal recollection is to Roben-Hood (KRQB) airport in Big Rapids, Michigan. During the winter of 1980, while on my student 3-leg cross country flight I made an unplanned landing there in a C-152. My intended stop was about 60 miles further west at Ludington, Michigan (KLDM) on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. As I approached Ludington from the east I was chased away by a large snow squall coming in off Lake Michigan. I remember distinctly what I was told on UNICOM while still about 10 miles east - "It's been snowing hard here for about ten minutes and visibility is down to about a quarter mile - unless you're really good I don't recommend trying it." (He didn't know I was a student.) That was enough for me. I turned south and soon saw the leading edge of the front again, coming in from the SW. I didn't have charts to support going much further north. Turning back east I was looking hard for a place to get my butt on the ground. I overflew Baldwin (7D3), which was unplowed and closed in the winter and continued east to find Roben-Hood at Big Rapids, a most welcome haven for a student pilot whose well-planned flight had turned into a pumpkin on him. In the end, I got credit for the cross country flight, even though I'd begun it on a Saturday and finished it on a Tuesday. The other airport today, one for which I cannot dredge up any personal tales, is Brunei Intl (WBSB), in Bandar Seri Begawa, Brunei. That's a large, one-runway international with ILSs at both ends, several other published approaches and good Navaids nearby - no more than you'd expect for the principal airport of a country. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 8/3/12 Airport Diagrams New: SBCT Afonso Pena Intl - Curitiba, Brazil KDCA Ronald Reagan Washington Natl - Washington, Virginia - US Updated: 70A Jones - Linden, Alabama - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,308; downloads 1,751 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Today was a red-letter day for downloads - over 70!!! There's another airport in the list today with a personal connection, though a rather thin one. I flew in and out of Washington National (KDCA) as a pax only once, on business, probably around 1994 or 1995. I recall walking through one of the terminal buildings and noticing the structural supports up near the ceiling. It dawned on me that the building had once been a hangar of some kind and had been refurbished into a very nice looking building for passengers. It's an engineer thing and I'm reasonably sure that not one person in a hundred would have noticed what I did but I thought it was interesting at the time. KDCA was a handful to diagram - about two hours worth. Most don't take that long. The buildings were the main culprit in that. I've noticed before on very large airports that there are often areas of pavement that are not rendered by the software that produces my basic images. When looking at a top-down view of the big airports in FS, I often see large areas of pavement visible that aren't shown in my images. In the case of KDCA, virtually all the buildings are on paved areas, but you could reasonably conclude from my diagram that many of them are "out in the grass". I'm going to have to take a look at devising a way to capture that. By and large these are not areas where aircraft normally go, and are not important for finding one's way around the airport, but might materially affect the overall shape of the airport when viewed from the air. It seems there's an opportunity for further improvement here. Afonso Pena Intl in Curitiba, Brazil (SBCT) is the last of the short list I recently added. Retiring that list will bring in another, a randomized list of world capitals and their principal airport. Many are already done, of course, but in the Olympic spirit it seemed like a good idea to be working toward having each nation represented by at least one airport. Today's update, Jones in Linden, Alabama (70A) isn't anything remarkable, but it was the oldest and needed updating. John Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 And that short list contributed 20 downloaded yesterday.......... Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Attaboy, Chuck! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 8/4/12 Airport Diagrams New: WADB Mohammad Salahuddin - Bima, Indonesia 1I5 Freehold - Freehold, New York - US BGGH Nuuk - Nuuk, Greenland Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,311; downloads 1,757 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Today's selection of airports are at the low end of complexity and fame. You may have heard of one and that only because it's one of the principal airports of a nation with only eighteen of them, Greenland. Technically Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, not an independent nation, but I included it in my list anyway, mainly because the FS airport listings treat it as a country and it has its own ICAO code prefix. That's good enough for me. After assembling my list of all the national capitals I randomized it and Greenland was at the top of the heap, so in this, my first use of that list, Greenland gets the nod. Nuuk is the capital and its airport is also called Nuuk (BGGH). It is a pretty low-end facility for a national capital but It serves its purpose for them. It is not the principal airport of the country, but being the one that serves the capital, this is the airport in my list. Nuuk's single runway is about 3,100' X 100'. It's a non-tower airport and has a Localizer-only approach from one end, with NDBs available off both ends. The airport in FSX has a complex terminal building requiring an extra step to bring its footprint into the plate. As modest as it is, Nuuk is the most complex airport in the group of three today. The other two airports today are simple affairs. One is Freehold, in a town of the same name in New York state. It has the distinction at this time of being the narrowest runway I've encountered in FS to date at 22 feet. At least it makes the 2,275' runway look longer from the air. I'm guessing that the visual cues there might be a bit deceptive to pilots who are accustomed to more generous patches of asphalt. Our last airport today is Mohammad Salahuddin (WADB), in Bima, Indonesia. There's a runway, a fuel pump and a control tower - that's all folks. There are Navaids nearby. I can't think of much else of importance to say about this one. It's one more in the pile. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 8/5/12 Airport Diagrams New: TVSB J.F. Mitchell - Bequia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines NZAA Auckland Intl - Auckland, New Zealand Updated: KEET Shelby Co - Alabaster, Alabama - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,313; downloads 1,757 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Two easy ones and a hard one fell out of the lists for me to tackle today. The update was Shelby Co (KEET) in Alabaster, AL. It was a piece of cake and the finished product looks much better than the original version it replaces. Next up was J.F. Mitchell airport (TVSB), in Bequia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It's an ordinary little sort of airport and didn't present much in the way of challenges. It looks like a nice place to visit. The third one made up for the other two in difficulty, though I didn't foresee that, even after seeing where it was. Auckland Intl (NZAA) in New Zealand was a sleeper - I really didn't expect any problems with it. Like Washington Reagan a few days ago, it transpired that this one got the full Microsoft treatment with respect to buildings - not a single generic structure showed up in the editor view. That meant every single building was a "special" whose footprint had to be brought in from a series of top-down screenshots of the airport in FSX. That's an interesting process. Typically a single screenshot can't be used because of the effects of oblique viewing on the shapes of some of the buildings if they are widely separated and captured in a single view. It's not so much a matter of detail as of correct shape. Low buildings are not much affected - taller structures far removed from the eye-point of the screenshot are sometimes very skewed and multi-level buildings with high-low profiles are the worst of all. The solution, of course, is doing them in groups from multiple screenshots so that each is viewed not too far off vertical - Auckland needed four. The editor does show the location of the custom buildings if I turn on the Library Objects in the view, but they are rendered simply as a bounding rectangle, often not even oriented with the building. That view is useful for knowing where they are but not for capturing size, shape and orientation - only FSX screenshots can give me that. If that sounds like complaining it's not. I really do enjoy doing these, even the harder ones. Auckland just took a while longer than average to produce. If that's the worst thing that happens to me today it's a good day, and I have a lot of good days. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 8/6/12 Airport Diagrams New: CYQG Windsor - Windsor, Ontario - Canada DNAA Nnamdi Azikiwe Intl - Abuja, Nigeria SMZO Zorg En Hoop - Paramaribo, Suriname Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,316; downloads 1,757 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Today was even easier than yesterday - all three were pretty much a walk in the park as far as making diagrams. There were no non-generic buildings to capture from FSX screenshots, no extensive taxiway labels - the list gods were kind today. Windsor airport (CYQG) in Ontario was the most complex of today's selections. It has two runways, an ILS, and the usual accoutrements. Windsor, for those who don't know, lies just across the river from Detroit, Michigan. Nnamdi Azikiwe Intl (DNAA) in Aduja, Nigeria is an odd sort of thing. It has a single very long runway - almost 12,000 feet by about 200', but only a very small ramp and the only building in FSX is the control tower. There is a full length parallel taxiway, which is marked as closed along its full length and at every runway entrance. There are two short taxiways connecting the ramp, which lies near one end, to the runway and those are the only two functional taxiways. The runway does feature ILS equipment at both ends but the FSX approach table does not list a published approach for the Runway 4 end. Since all the published approaches (only three) are from the Runway 22 end and that's where the ramp is, some serious back-taxiing must be the order of the day. There's not even a turn-around pad, but with a 197' wide runway that can be forgiven. I suspect you could turn the A380 Whale around on that if you were careful, in the unlikely event you could ever find 500 people who all wanted to go to Abuja at the same time - perhaps a low-budget French vacation excursion. More surprising is that this airport came from the list of national capitals and I've confirmed again that it is the principal airport serving the Nigerian capital. I'll be checking my list of the ten places I most want to visit to be sure this isn't lurking amongst them - you can't be too careful about these things. Zorg en Hoop (SMZO) in Paramaribo, Suriname is a pretty low-end airport with an interesting name and a single 2,100' runway. FSX shows it with an MS fuel pump, a control tower and a paved runway - das ist alles, or dat is alles in the Dutch, if Babel Fish can be believed. After some searching on a source of the airport name, obviously Dutch, the best I can do is a literal translation, which is "care and hope". There's got to be a story behind that, but I couldn't find it - missionaries maybe - it's in that part of the world. To me that means take care on the approach and hope that 2,100 feet is long enough. John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 8/7/12 Airport Diagrams New: SPZO Tnte Fap Alejandro Velazco Ast - Cuzco, Peru KMRY Monterey Peninsula - Monterey, California - US Updated: LFQI Epinoy AB - Cambrai, France (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,318; downloads 1,757 From the, "What are the Chances" department, I had SPZO fall out of very large list of airports today, one day after doing SMZO from a completely different list. That's an interesting coincidence of ICAO codes. SPZO is Tnte Fap Alejandro Velazco Ast, in Cuzco, Peru. I looked up "Tnte" and it's an abbreviation of a military rank, equivalent to "Lt." in English. This airport's main claim to fame is it's elevation, at 10,860 feet. No wonder it's got a runway over 11,000 feet long. Aside from the generous runway, it's not lighted in FSX. The only two published approaches are a VOR A and VOR B, so those are Circle-to-Land only. Next up was Monterey Peninsula airport (KMRY) in California. This is quite a complex airport with two runways (one pretty small) and had a handful of non-generic buildings sprinkled amongst the dozen or so generic ones. Some of the buildings seem to lie directly on non-closed taxiways, which is pretty uncommon in my experience with FSX airports. One wonders if there's an error. Unusually KMRY has three Microsoft fuel pumps/fuel trigger areas. I see that occasionally at large airports but it's not particularly common. The larger runway has a full ILS from one end and a Localizer-only approach from the other, plus about five other miscellaneous approaches. The taxiway network was dense enough to require a second plate to get the labeling right. The updated airport for the day was LFQI, Epinoy AB in France. There's not too much to it. The runway is on the short side for an air base at 8,248' and it only shows a few buildings in FSX, all generic (rectangular) ones. It does have an ILS from one end but oddly there are no published approaches listed, perhaps because it's a military field. I'm going to have to pay attention and see if that's common. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 8/8/12 Airport Diagrams New: FGSL Malabo - Malabo, Equatorial Guinea SBNT Augusto Severo Intl - Natal, Brazil SEGS Seymour - Baltra I Galapagos Is, Ecuador Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,321; downloads 1,757 I have to admit that my grasp of African geography is a little light and when Malabo (FGSL) in Equatorial Guinea popped up I only had a vague idea where it was. This one is from the world capitals list. It's a one-runway airport but with reasonably good facilities - towered, one ILS, a half-dozen published approaches and Navaids nearby. SBNT in Natal, Brazil appears to be a good sized field with three 148' wide runways, the longest at about 8,500'. There is no Localizer or ILS but there are seven published non-precision approaches and a pair of Navaids on the field. The ramp area is generous. There were a pair of non-generic buildings to pick up out of the FSX top-down screenshot and enough taxiways to make a second plate for labeling them look like a good idea. On the list of remote and unique places in the world, the Galapagos Islands always turn up. They lie a little over 500 miles west of Ecuador, which owns them. Seymour airport (SEGS) on the island of Baltra, is the older of the two airports in the islands and the only one with "...facilities for planes overnight...", whatever that means. The airport is about the only thing of note on that particular island except ferry docks, where one must go to travel anywhere else in the archipelago. Seymour airport has a single paved strip of almost 8,000'. There is no ILS or localizer but there is a VOR/DME on the field and an NDB nearby. Two published approaches are listed, and the airport does boast a tower. This place is a pretty long haul from most anywhere, so if you're going in a GA aircraft, check your fuel carefully. Did I mention there's no MS fuel pump? You'll need to carry enough gas for the return trip too. You wouldn't cheat and use the Fuel & Payload menu to add gas where there's no fuel pump, would you? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 8/9/12 Airport Diagrams New: SWNK Novo Campo - Boca Do Acre, Brazil GMME Sale - Rabat, Morocco Updated: KPDX Portland Intl - Portland, Oregon - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,323; downloads 1,778 A new MH member downloaded 21 diagrams last night in the first two hours he was a registered member. I hope he brings his friends. It's kind of a mixed bag today. First up is Novo Campo (SWNK) in Boca Do Acre, Brazil. No, I'd never heard of it either. It's not much of a place with not much of anything, except a paved mile-long runway, which is what got it included in the first place. From the national capitals list we have one from North Africa, Sale (GMME) in Rabat, Morocco. This is a good sized one-runway airport (two if you count the 3,000' grass strip alongside the main runway - ("Royal Air Maroc Heavy 105, caution wake turbulence from the departing Piper Cub on the parallel runway."). The main runway is around 11,500' X 150' and has an ILS from one end. This one is a rather spread out airport layout and I could have gotten the taxiway designators into the main view but it would have been cluttered. I added a second plate for the taxiway designators. Last up is our update for today, KPDX in Portland Oregon. This is a reasonably big-time airport with three runways, one almost 11,000' long. There are four ILSs, one a Cat. III and a localizer-only approach to one of the others. That's a pretty full bag of approaches. The airport layout was large enough that I had to resort to a second plate for the taxiway designators and a third for most of the text information, i.e. radio frequencies, runway table, ILS mini-table, nearby Navaids, Approach list, etc. The original version of this airport, from July 2009, was a travesty and I'm happy to have it gone. All the diagrams from that time are pretty bad but those for very large airports are the worst of the lot. My techniques have improved considerably since then, not least because of increasing the original image resolution by 50% and going to additional plates where needed - I wasn't doing that back then. There are still about 40 old diagrams in the collection that have no building footprints, dating from when I was still using AFX/AFCAD for the original image. I won't be sorry to see those gone. Switching to ADE had been a big help, not least in bringing in the generic building footprints with the base image. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 8/10/12 Airport Diagrams New: FHAW Ascension Aux AB - Ascension I. - Ascension Island TLPL Hewanorra Intl - Vieuxfort, Saint Lucia 30IS Aero Lake Estates - Genoa, Illinois - US Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,326; downloads 1,778 I guess I'm in an islands phase. After having the Galapagos airport in yesterday's batch, two more island airports fell out of the lists today. FHAW is a British Aux Air Base on Ascension Island. The station, sometimes known as Wideawake Airfield, is jointly used and manned by the RAF and the USAF. For Great Britain, it's an important staging area, and the nearest one, in case of problems in Las Malvinas, oops, excuse me, the Falklands. The airport has a 10,000 X 150 foot runway and there are Navaids nearby, but no ILS. The only published approach is a VOR-DME to runway 13. If you're a sericeman, I'm guessing that this place ranks right up there with Diego Garcia as somewhere you'd prefer not to be stationed for very long. Our second island paradise today is TLPL, Hewanorra Intl, on the former French/former British (it was ruled seven times by each as it repeatedly changed hands) island of St. Lucia, in the Lesser Antilles and forms part of the Windward Islands group along the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea. It was last held by the British from 1814 and eased into independence in several steps, finally achieving a fully sovereign status as an independent state of the UK Commonwealth of Nations in 1979. TLPL is the larger of the two airports in St. Lucia. The runway is nearly 9,000' X 150' and is towered, lighted and has a handful of non-precision approaches based on nearby Navaids but has no ILS. The third airport slipped in today because if fell out of a very large list and has a single paved runway in FSX. Looking at Aero Lake Estates (30IS) in Genoa, IL in Google Earth, it's one of those housing developments built around its own airport - in this case a small development of only about a dozen homes. The runway is pretty short at 2,800' and is sans lights, radio frequencies, MS fuel pump, buildings, approaches or much of anything else. This is not exactly O'Hare, but not all that far from it, either. Maybe Rob would consider making 30IS a candidate for his new Improved Airports project. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Don't forget John - FHAW was, for a day or two, the busiest airport in the world, when those Victors, Vulcans, C-130's, copters and the like landed...... Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 8/11/12 Airport Diagrams New: HLLT Tripoli Intl - Tripoli, Libya DXXX Tokoin - Lome, Togo Updated: EGLK Blackbushe - Blackbushe, UK (updated)US Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,328; downloads 1,779 No more islands today, but two of the three are in Africa again. There have been quite a few there recently. Tripoli Intl (HLLT) is the first Libyan airport that I've done. This airport came from the national capitals list and is the kind of place you'd expect to be serving the capital of a large oil-producing country. There are two runways, one almost 12,000'. The ramp space covers many acres and the area is rife with Navaids, including no less than seven NDBs lying on the runway extended centerlines. There is a VOR/DME on the field and two ILSs, one of which is a Cat. II. That's a not-too-shabby suite of Navaids, though strangely there are only two published approaches listed. Stranger yet, only one ILS approach shows up in the FS list of published approaches, even though there are ILSs on both runway 27 and runway 18. Unlike many large international airports, this one is not overly cluttered with buildings, at least not in FSX. There was only one non-generic building to bring in, a medium-sized terminal with a half-dozen or so jetways. Tokoin airport (DXXX) is in Lome, Togo, in west Africa. Lome is the capital of Togo, however this particular entry came off another list I'm working from in parallel. Its single runway is nearly 10,000' X 150' and includes a Cat. II ILS approach. In FSX there's only a tower frequency shown and the taxiway network is sparse - no full-length parallel taxiway is present. There is a good assortment of Navaids and published approaches. The update for today is Blackbushe (EGLK), in the UK. It was established as an RAF base during 1942 (Hartford Bridge) and was home to Mossies and Spits. The RAF ceased using it in 1946, after which it became a civil airport. The US Navy operated a small facility there in the 1950s. In the FSX version there are three runways of medium length (4,400' maximum), a busy network of taxiways and a grass runway. Two of the paved runways and many of the taxiways are marked as closed. There are good Navaids but no ILS and no published approaches. In FSX it shows as an uncontrolled (non-towered) airport. As I've noted on some earlier airports with closed runways, the closed runways here are designated with sequential runway numbers beginning with 1/19 regardless of their physical orientation. In this case 1/19 look like it should be 18/36 and 2/20 looks like it lies about on 14/32 or 15/33 headings. I don't know if that's a RW standard or not but I use what's in FSX even though it is clearly wrong with respect to the magnetic direction of the closed runways. The purpose of these charts is to help people get around in FSX, not in the real-world. If FSX got it wrong, it will be wrong on my plates too. I did diagrams today for two of Rob's Improved Airports. Those are not listed here because they are not useful unless you also have his updated airports. Rob is improving small, runway-only airports, so far just in Scotland. Check the MH File Library if you're interested. My plates for those will be bundled with the airport updates there. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 8/12/12 Airport Diagrams New: TFFJ St Barthelemy I - St Barthelemy I - Guadeloupe 0GA9 Roberta Industrial Park - Roberta, Georgia - US FOOL Leon M'ba - Libreville, Gabon Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,331; downloads 1,779 It's quite a mixed bag today - from the ridiculous to the sublime. In keeping with the island theme we had earlier in the week, St Barthelemy (TFFJ) in Guadeloupe has popped up in today's selection. It's a place whose fame outstrips it's modest size. In the RW the approaches to Runway 10 are over a hill and road that lie close in to the threshold but some 40' above it. Since the runway is only 2,133' long and the overrun area at the other end is a short strip of beach sand and then salt water, it concentrates pilots wonderfully on placing the wheels on the numbers and getting on the binders. That has resulted in a large number of videos and photos of arriving aircraft with their wheels in the weeds, or nearly so, as they compete with motorists, cyclists, plane spotters and some of the taller iguanas for some space as they pass over the top of the hill. Unfortunately, in stock FSX the terrain is all wrong and both ends of the airport are on land with the sea, incorrectly, off on the pilot's left. The shape of the island in FSX compares reasonably well with the Google Earth view but the airport is just misplaced by about a half mile. Anyway, in FSX it's a non-towered, single-runway field with an apron and a few buildings. There are no approaches and no MS fuel pump, but there are good navaids off in the middling distance to the NW, on nearby St. Maarten. It looks like a thrilling place to get into or out of in anything but a light GA or something with the acronym "STOL" in its spec sheet. Continuing the string of African airports today, we have one of the losers of the ICAO naming lottery, FOOL. No, that's not B.A. Baracus commenting on one of Hannibal Smith's more off-the-wall plans (OK, it might be that too), but really is the ICAO code for Leon M'ba airport in Libreville, Gabon. As you may have guessed, this airport came from the national capitals list I've been using. This is the airport serving the capital and is the primary international airport of the nation of Gabon. It's a reasonable sized single-runway airport, with a strip almost 9,900' X 150'. There's a single Cat. II ILS for Runway 16 and a quartet of other published approaches, all to R16. It is towered and boasts a VOR/DME on the field and an LOM out on the approach to R16. That's not a badly equipped place so I guess the name is the worst of it. As for ridiculous, one of the lists spit out 0GA9, the Roberta Industrial Park airport in Roberta, Georgia (in the US, not that other Georgia). I don't know what they produce in the Industrial park at Roberta but it's a safe bet they don't fly much of it out - maybe Moon Pies, Corn Pone and RC Cola. It has an MS fuel pump, which was its ticket to fame as an Allard airport plate - it doesn't take much to get in. The strip is 3,700 feet of grass a hundred feet wide with not much of anything else. There are navaids within the 20 NM radius that gets them listed on my charts, so at least there's a reasonable way to find the place if the WX is VMC, just in case you're out flying and get a sudden craving for a Moon Pie and an RC Cola. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 8/13/12 Airport Diagrams New: LPFR Faro - Faro, Portugal TUPJ Terrance B Lettsome - Roadtown, Virgin Islands, British Updated: EGLD Denham - Denham, UK (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,333; downloads 1,779 Yep, another island. I should explain myself. I'm using four lists in parallel, taking one airport off each list in rotation, plus an update of the oldest already-done diagram in the collection every other day. Two of the lists have been randomized but two have not. Those two are from old ATWC tours so they're proceeding along the route that those around the world tours took, more or less, but skipping those airports on the routes that have already been done previously. Anyway, my place in one of those non-randomized lists has me in the islands so when that list comes around in the rotation (approximately once a day - a little less) then it delivers up an island. For the future I'll be randomizing all the lists except those for current or imminent events where getting the needed plates out in order is necessary to assure they are available when needed. If time permits, I'll randomize those too. Our island airport today is TUPJ, Terrance B Lettsome in Roadtown, in the British Virgin Islands. It's 4,644 feet of asphalt with a ramp and connecting taxiways and a half-dozen or so generic buildings. It's towered and has five published approaches, but three of those are Circle to Land approaches, not to a specific runway. The other two are to runway 25. There is no ILS. TUPJ has an NDB on the field but no VOR within 20 NM. Faro, Portugal (LPFR) is one runway of almost 8,200' X 150' with a full-length parallel taxiway and a very large ramp. There is a fair collection of buildings including a control tower and three non-generic structures. There's a VOR/DME on the field, an NDB nearby and an ILS to one end. Three other approaches are also in FSX for this airport. The updated airport in today's collection is Denham (EGLD), in England. It's pair of crossing runways consists of one each of asphalt and grass with the longer, paved one measuring about 2,550' X 60'. There are grass taxiways to grass parking areas but no paved ramp. There's only one generic building showing. This field is non-towered and has no published approaches, but does have a good assortment of nearby navaids, including the London VOR just over six NM to the south. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 8/14/12 Airport Diagrams New: Z06H Planura - Planura, Brazil HCMM Mogadishu - Mogadishu, Somalia LEXJ Santander - Santander, Spain Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,336; downloads 1,779 I must have been leaning on that Staple's Easy-Button today. The lists delivered up three easy ones for me this time around. I did the whole shooting match, including the uploads to the Mutley's Hangar File Library (but not this posting and the e-mail to the subscriber list) in 61 minutes. Z06A is in the Amazon jungles of Brazil and from a facilities perspective, looks like it. Its 5,800' X 100' paved strip is its only claim to fame and is the sole ticket that got it into my lists. It literally has nothing else. HCMM in Mogadishu, Somalia is from the world capitals list but hasn't much more to recommend it than the Brazilian one above. The runway is over 10,400' X 150' and there is a tower with the supporting radio frequencies and it is lighted, but has no MS fuel pump, no buildings except the tower, no ramp or taxiways, no approaches or Navaids within 20 NM. In FSX it lives up to its real world reputation as being a bleak and impoverished place. The last one was a breath of fresh air after the first two. Santander airport (LEXJ) in Santander, Spain has a little more going for it than the other two. It's a medium-sized single runway airport with a single taxiway stub to a modestly sized ramp. It has a handful of buildings including one non-generic one, which I take to be a terminal. It's a towered airport and there's an ILS at one end and two published non-precision approaches. A VOR/DME and an NDB (but not as LOM or LMM) both lie on the extended centerline of Runway 29, the ILS runway. Santander finishes one of the four lists I've been working from and I've replaced it with a randomized list of airports serving the 50 US State capitals. Many of those are already done but this will bring the remainder of them into the working queue. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 8/15/12 Airport Diagrams New: KAUG Augusta State - Augusta, Maine - US MDHE Herrera Intl - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Updated: EGTR Elstree - Elstree, UK (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,338; downloads 1,779 The group of three today is altogether more interesting and complex than those presented yesterday. Two of the three are 2-plate airports. Today is an update day, so our oldest airport, EGTR, Elstree, UK got a much needed re-do. Elstree is a smallish place. The single paved runway is only a little over 2,100' long but it is lighted and the width is a generous 98'. It's an un-towered field but has an FSS/MULTICOMM frequency. There are nearby navaids but no published approaches. It's actually a nice looking little place that sports a ramp, MS fuel pump and an assortment of MS generic buildings. Our first entry from the US State capitals list is KAUG in Augusta, Maine. This is a fairly complex municipal airport with one runway, 5,000' X 150' and the crossing runway, 2,700' X 75', both paved. One end of the larger runway has an ILS. There's a fairly long list of published approaches, eight in all, including the ILS, a VOR A (circle to land) and some others. The network of taxiways and ramps is relatively "busy" for an airport of this size, forcing me to a second plate to avoid cluttering the main view unnecessarily. There are about a dozen buildings, all but one of which are FS generic types. The one outlier, adjacent to the fuel dock, still has a rectangular footprint and you wouldn't be able to pick it out from the others on the diagrams but will be less "familiar" in FSX. KAUG has a VOR/DME on the field (always handy) and a Compass Locator (NDB - LOM) at the Outer Marker, almost surely the FAF for the ILS. Finally another island, I guess, though a big one. This airport is Herrera Intl, (MDHE) in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. It's a 4,000' + X 82' towered strip with an odd set of 25 buildings lined up in a row along one side and many connections between the parallel taxiway and the runway. My first thought was "military" but there's no real evidence of that and the runway is pretty short as military fields go. Looking at the place in GE was an eye opener. The line of buildings is there, cheek by jowl, more of them and more closely spaced and decidedly more ratty looking than in FSX. There are scads of aircraft, some apparently in heaps and I'm put in mind of a wrecking yard. To top it off the place is nestled in the middle of a dense urban environment with not much footprint at all beyond the runway and buildings. The RW aviation sites list it as closed but the GE shot does not indicate Xs on the runway and judging by the number of intact, non-heaped aircraft, appears to be in service even though GE didn't actually catch anyone on the runway. In FSX the place is lighted and there's a Tower and a Ground frequency, an NDB on the field and a pair of NDB approaches, one to each end. There's also a VOR/DME within 20 NM. The runway, parallel taxiway and all those connectors look very much like a long ladder; the connectors are all "named" forcing me to a second plate for labeling them. I do that to avoid clutter, however, after looking at the real place in GE, nothing I could do could do justice to the real-world clutter. It's 5 pounds of airport in a 3-pound bag. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 8/16/12 Airport Diagrams New: CJE3 Weyburn - Weyburn, Saskatchewan - Canada NFFN Nadi Intl - Nadi, Fiji Islands KJEF Jefferson City Meml - Jefferson City, Missouri Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,341; downloads 1,779 It's no surprise there's another island airport in the mix today - the surprise is that it didn't come from the around the world list, it came from the national capitals list. This one is NFFN, Nadi International, in Nadi, Fiji Islands. Since it probably gets a lot of long-range traffic, it's not astounding either that it's got a long runway - 10,500' + for the big one and another at just over 7,000. Those should be plenty for most of the trans-Pacific types, with the possible exception of an A380 Whale needing a wee sip o' gas due to headwinds or the like. Anything else should fit into this airport just fine. It's a towered, lighted airport with one ILS, good Navaids in the area and five approaches, including the ILS and a VOR Circle-to-Land approach. There aren't a whole lot of buildings for an international but the main terminal, which is made up of a whole network of interconnected generic FS buildings, is pretty complex and rendered well on the diagram. There is one relatively small non-stock building and a couple of round oil tanks (probably for the Whale) - all else was just stock rectangular building footprints. The taxiway designators forced a second plate, so this one is zipped. Number two today is CJE3 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, in Canada. This is the only one of the three today that didn't require a second plate. It's in the triangular layout with three paved runways, the longest only 4,000'. The ramp lies parallel to one side of the triangle and there's a paved taxiway between that and the runway. The other two runways also have parallel taxiways but those have gravel surfaces. It kind of has the look of a former military field and Wiki confirms that it was part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan from 1941 to 1944. Facilities are modest - there's an NDB on the field but no other Navaids within 20 NM. There are no published approaches and it's non-towered, but is lighted. There are about a dozen buildings, all of the generic FSX type. The last of the three today, also a 2-plater, is from the US state capitals list, KJEF, in Jefferson City, Missouri - and here you were thinking that surely St. Louis or Kansas City just had to be the capital of that state, but no, it really is Jefferson City. It has all the hallmarks of a medium-sized municipal, and a couple of unusual things. There are two runways, one 6,000' and the other 4,000. It is towered and lighted and has an ILS to one end of the main runway. The really odd thing was revealed when I looked at approaches and Navaids. There's the typical garden variety LOM at the Outer Marker from the ILS end but there's also a co-located NDB and Outer Marker at the other end too, designated as a Backcourse Marker. The approach list also includes a Localizer Backcourse approach to Runway 12. I know that such things exist in the RW but this is the first time I've seen it in FSX. Markers and co-located NDBs (LOMs and LMMs) are pretty commonly found strung out from ILS runways but not so much on the backside unless that has an ILS too. There's also a VOR/DME about 13 miles away but it doesn't lie on the extended centerlines. Jeff City turned out to be a pretty odd duck. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 8/17/12 Airport Diagrams New: KFAY Fayetteville Regl/Grannis - Fayetteville, North Carolina - US A34 Dayton Valley - Dayton/Carson City, Nevada - US Updated: KMOB Mobile Regl - Mobile, Alabama - US (updated) Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,343; downloads 1,779 Today was a relative rarity - all three of the diagrams are US airports. Fayetteville, (KFAY) fell out of the round-the-world list. It's a familiar place to me, at least on the ground. Fayetteville was the home of close family for a number of years while son-in-law Dave was stationed at nearby Pope AFB. KFAY is the civilian field in the area and is a nice little regional airport with scheduled commuters serving it. This airport has two runways, one at over 7,700' X 150 with an ILS at one end. It has a Localizer Backcourse approach to the far end, similar to what I commented on at Jefferson City, Missouri yesterday, but lacks the very unusual Backcourse locator that Jeff City had. Fayetteville is very well equipped however, towered and lighted of course but with a better than average suite of published radio frequencies in FSX and over a dozen published FSX approaches, including the ILS and the Localizer Backcourse. There's a VOR/DME on the field and an LOM serving the ILS on Runway 4. This one has very few buildings but does have a custom terminal that was in as a library object. That one could just as easily have been done as a group of three rectangular generics, judging from the footprint, but MS chose to make it a special. This one is a 2-plater because of numerous taxiway designators. A34 Dayton Valley near Carson City, Nevada is a strange looking place. It's single paved runway is 5,337' X a miserly 40 feet and lies at an elevation of over 4,400 feet. I'll bet that puts the pucker meter into the yellow in a stiff crosswind. It's an odd layout of buildings - quite a few around a clutter of taxiways that don't seem to have much rhyme or reason and a bunch of buildings all set at odd angles. Once looking it up on Google Earth, all became clear. It's one of those housing development/air parks, with about fifteen dwellings served by the obligatory network of non-parallel roads, cul de sacs and other suburban niceties. Every home connects to the taxiway network. Other than the runway and a published CTAF/MULTICOMM frequency, there's not much there. There are Navaids off in the far distance, just inside the 20 NM limit for including them on the plate, so they are annotated. There is no fuel pump, no published approaches and the runway is unlighted. There is a pavement anomaly in FSX at the west end where the taxiway joins the runway at the over-run area. It's not all that bad as such things go but FSX is not displaying the intersection as the designer intended at that point, probably because of the very narrow runway width. Last on the list today is the update, KMOB in Mobile, Alabama. Like Fayetteville, this one needed two plates because of the taxiway labeling. This is where Airbus proposed to build a plant for making the A330 based tankers they wished to sell to the USAF and where they now intend to build an assembly plant of some kind anyway. Not sure if this is the exact airport but it's certainly the city. It's likely this IS the airport, since GE shows a lot more vacant land around it than Mobile's other large airport. KMOB has two runways, one long, one short, in a V-shape. The main runway is over 8,500' X 150' and the facilities are plentiful. Towered, lighted and with a heaping helping of published COM frequencies and approaches, it boasts full ILSs (without DME) at both ends of the main runway. There's an LOM for one end and a VOR/DME just a few miles away. The main terminal building is complex and came out looking good on the diagram. Be careful departing to the east - there's a battleship out there. John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted August 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 8/18/12 Airport Diagrams New: GATB Tombouctou - Tombouctou, Mali KSMF Sacramento Intl - Sacramento, California - US CYSJ Saint John - Saint John, New Brunswick - Canada Updated: None Current Airport Diagram Stats @ Mutley’s Hangar: Uploads 1,346; downloads 1,779 It was a busy day for airport diagrams today - besides these three I did two for Rob Scott's improved airports, CPX and EGTD. Those should be uploaded to the Mutley's Hangar File Library and available for downloading sometime tomorrow. Rob's zip files will include the airport diagrams for the updated airports. He's built in an interesting surprise at EGTD - when he gets it posted, download and install it in FSX and pay the place a visit to see for yourself. Sacramento Intl (KSMF) is a good sized place and took a fair amount of work to document properly. It's got lots of everything and getting it all to fit in on the main plate was a struggle, but I managed it. I did go to a second plate for the taxiway designators, however. It has two identical parallel runways, one with two ILSs (one of those a Cat. III) and the other runway with just one ILS. In the exotic locations department, we have Tombouctou, (GATB) or in the more traditional spelling, Timbuktu. That's in landlocked Mali in west Africa. It's a medium sized single-runway airport with both a VOR/DME and an NDB on the field, but no published approaches, no fuel pump and not too much of anything. It is towered and lighted. The final entry is St John (CYSJ) in the city of the same name, in New Brunswick, Canada. It seems to be a pretty civilized place with good Navaids nearby, lots of published approaches and a pair of ILSs to the ends of the longer, 7,000' runway. It is an uncontrolled field but is lighted. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Of special note today, the freeware Plan-G version 3.0 Flight Planner (and more) for FS9 and FSX and X-Plane 9 and 10, has been released now. The developer has pointed out that there's the capability to add chart files, including these airport diagrams, to the Plan-G Files folder in a way that associates them with the airport. When using Plan-G, right clicking on the airport will bring up a menu of items specifically related to that airport, including one of these airport diagrams if it's loaded properly. Plan-G requires that the files be in pdf format - it doesn't seem to recognize the jpg format that I use but it's easy to convert a jpg to a pdf. If anyone is interested in pursuing this for a few favorite airports (or a lot of them) and you can't nuke it out for yourself, contact me for more details and I'll try to help you do it. I've only done it for one airport but once you figure out what's needed it's pretty easy. [EDIT: Plan-G now accepts files in jpg, pdf or lnk format. The latter is the file format for a Windows Shortcut.] John - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you'd like to subscribe (free) and have all new and updated airport diagram files e-mailed to you, contact me at allardjd@earthlink.net with a Subject Line of "Airport Diagram Subscription". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now