Introduction:     

 Germany's fourth largest and sixth busiest, the Konrad Adenauer airport lies just south of Cologne (Köln) Bonn and is named after a German statesman who led his country into NATO in 1955.  Popular European personalities are seldom familiar to those of us brought up in the West, so I was surprised to see his name in the first chapter on a book on free thinking centered on Albert Einstein's life and philo­sophical legacy (another German native) that I just happened to be reading at the same time I was writing this review. Adenauer was considered a man of free thought during a dark period of Germany's history who took great chances as a politician in not showing even the slightest support for the fascist and Nazi ideals prevalent during his time. Unsurprisingly, most of his political career was in Cologne, which led to his becoming the first chancellor of West Germany after World War II in 1949. Before the advent of PC games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, people played board games such as bocce, in which Adenauer was often found absorbed, even while in office. Sound familiar?

 Aerosoft has made available a 200 MB download rendition of this busy airport as a single (cheaper) or as part of a larger 350 MB package containing 5 airports: Cologne/Bonn, Hannover, Dortmund, Munster/Osnabruck and Leipzig. Although it is the larger package that I have installed, this review covers the single Cologne/Bonn airport. I recommend getting the larger package, as it is always a good idea to have a lot of nice destinations in FSX, and the price per airport works out to around 50% of their price as singles

Installation:

Have your serial sequence handy to unlock the installation. If you already have a German Airports 2 installed, no new folders are created.  You are given the opportunity to install with static aircraft and I strongly recommend doing just that, because even with my ultimate traffic at 100% there are few airplanes parked. This only adds a few static items and does not over clutter or plug up the parking access.  The bgl files’ names for static vehicles have the term stat in them and can be renamed after to hide them if they are not to your liking. No problems encountered here.

Minimum specs for FSX usage are not very demanding:

·         Microsoft Flight Simulator X with Service Pack 2  

·         Pentium IV 2.6 GHz,  recommended Dual Core processor with 3 GHz

·         1.2 GB MB free memory on your hard disk

·         2 GB RAM

·         3D graphic card with 256 MB, recommended 512 MB

And somewhat less for FS2004 :
 

·         Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004  

·         Pentium 2.6 GHz or higher

·         1.2 GB free memory on your hard disk

·         512 MB RAM

The Konrad Adenauer airport:

There is something about smaller regional airports that makes them a better destination than the big mega projects like Heathrow: for the same level of detail, you get much better performance from your system. Granted, the massiveness is all but absent, but some airport sceneries, like this one by Aerosoft, still cover enough  real estate for you to get lost in while keeping some headroom in your fps window.

In the above comparison snapshots, it is evident that Aerosoft has done an excellent job at reproducing this eloquent and modern airport. Adjacent tiles from a VFR-Germany install are the best for reproducing the real life view, but I found that for color matching Ultimate Terrain for Europe was better since it fell into focus quicker and gave better frame rates. The airport's parent city  of Cologne has FSX custom building objects, with even more added by both VFR-Germany and UTX-EU. This does contribute to some reduction in frame rates on approach if your scenery sliders are left on high (as is preferred at custom airports). If you are using UTX-EU and VFR-germany-1 both active, you may want to deactivate one scenery library item called; "UT FSX Object Repositioning", as this will cause an obvious doubling of some of the custom buildings in the city of Cologne. I found the other entries from UTX-EU to enhance VFR-Germany-1 if you have it installed by increasing road traffic and highlighting some night lighting.

The airport is not a busy international destination, so most your arriving and departing AI will be made up of local airlines, with a few from neighboring European countries. Even so, I saw an ample variety and regular activity at EDDK using both WOAI or Flight1's Ultimate Traffic X.

Placement of Aerosoft's static AI	Both static and WOAI AI at 100%

There is a large UPS sorting facility so expect some large cargo irons without windows. WOAI had these big cargo UPS AI for EDDK. Leaving the static airplanes (there are no that many to worry about) as active scenery enhanced the overall impression of the airport without adversely hitting the performance.

Included charts:  A short manual (German and English) is included, as is a large group of charts that are quite readable. These include aerodrome and ground movement charts; standard arrival STAR; FMS RNAV arrival charts for transition to RWYs 06, 14L/14R, 24, 32L/32R; ILS instrument approach charts for RWYs 14L, 24, 32R; GPS approach charts for RWYs 06,  14L, 14R, 24, 32L, 32R; and both Instrument and GPS SID charts for RWYs 06, 14L, 14R, 24, 32L, 32R. Looks like a full set.

EDDK Airport Layout	SID for 32L	Tree texture configurator

Tree configurator: For those that like to have winter tree textures in winter, there is a configurator that allows for selection of different tree sets for each of the  four seasons (affects trees in the airport scenery only). I left mine set at summer as I like to use VFR-Germany-1 which is a summer set of aerial photos.

Airport architecture:  While taxiing anywhere at EDDK, I always had a pleasant view from the VC. There is so much detail, so many additions to complete the illusion that I was always well immersed in my flight procedure experiences from engine startup to taxiing to position for takeoff. The amount of optional static aircraft is just right, and either WOAI or Ultimate Traffic X at 100% still leaves room to park.

A real photo of Terminal 1 compared to Aerosoft's in FSX

The two photos of terminal 1 above show the minute details Aerosoft took time to include, as evidenced by the exact same store front signage. The parking lot though seems a bit neglected in the FSX snapshot.

Access roads at entrance	Lots of airport detail everywhere
Nicely subdued night lighting effects

Taxiways/Runways/Tarmacs: One novelty I have not experienced so far with FSX add-ons is in the way this add-on places of your aircraft near and not on the active runway using the World/Airport selection from the menu. In the screenshot with Aerosoft's F-16, you can see that the placement is not on the runway itself anymore but well back, where it should be. Notice on the same snapshot the multiple textures they use, and the realism added but not just making everything at right angles to each section. For this very reason you will not get wet cement as with FSX default simple textures. At holding areas there are elevation signs, handy for setting your altimeter the old fashioned way.

Better placement for "active runway" choice	No wet cement effects due to multiple layering	Added realism when able to check altimeter

Passenger silhouettes, just like the real airport.	Always a nice environment during taxi

Summary / Closing Remarks   

This scenery product is top notch.  The complete set of approach and departure charts, along with the photo terrain, allow for a pleasant immersion in simulating flights to and from the Cologne-Bonn airport. I found a better color match with UTX-EU for the surrounding terrain tiles, and a better match for accuracy with the VFR-Germany-1 installation. Although the configurator for tree textures could be useful, it can be easily forgotten, which may or may not make for a clashing of tree textures with the surroundings.

Performance was always smooth and acceptable except in areas where building and bridge objects from adjacent scenery was being drawn while on approach. If you are tempted to get this product, I suggest looking into the package deal with five airports which has more bang per buck.

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