I have all of the NA regions, and every NA airport that interests me. I've also got NZSI, but still haven't installed it despite having it for several months now. I admit it - I like to fly the places I know and love, and I've struggled with the idea of flying out of NA. But now with nothing more available in NA...

 

I'm tempted to encourage myself to move south by taking advantage of the sale and picking up all of Australia, hoping that'd also get the juices flowing for NZ. But I'd also want to get a select few (3-4) airports to add interest and I'm completely clueless about the region and what airports would fit my flying preferences. I'm not a bush pilot, but not a tubeliner guy either. If fly complex GA singles and twins and like to go places, mostly IFR, rather than fly around the patch or for local $100 hamburgers. I'd want airports that help anchor regions to explore, have some instrument approaches available but aren't mostly commercial hubs.

 

So... given those desires and constraints, what 3-4 airports would you get, and why.

 

Thanks for any and all suggestions,

 

Scott

What about Adelaide (YPAD) and Parafield (YPPF) and Alginga (YADG).

 

Neil Bradley

AUS was there first region they did, it's not as sharp or as done so well as PNW onwards. IMO ofc.

 

If you do go ahead at get it. YMML is by far the best FPS big airport, link that to Canberra and leave it at that.

 

If you fly tubs I can think are of far better placers for your money.Orbx PNW onwards are stunning CRM is a great place to fly jets over. AUS Orbx is very flat and not so interesting to look at.

ybcs and ystw are the best imo followed by yscb

If you're looking for 4 ORBX payware airports for exploring from, I'd go for YPJT Jandakot (for exploring Perth and Western Australia); YMAV Avalon (for the Melbourne area and Victoria, even over to Tassie); YSCH Coffs Harbour (is a bit north of Sydney, but just a hop away in a regional airliner or a fast twin); YBAS Alice Springs (will let you explore the Northern Territories, Ayers Rock etc).

 

These are all fine airports and with the exception of Jandakot (correct me if I'm wrong, Aussies) are served by regional airlines allowing you to use something like a JS41 or a Dash 8 or even a 737 to get into if you wish.

 

Cheers

Jack

A few years ago, on my only visit to Oz, I was lucky enough to visit when the company then flying the mail to outback towns and stations was taking sightseeing passengers. This was from Cairns. Now as a UK PPL back then I was used to "eyeballing it" rather than any instrument or nav aid navigation. Once we crossed the mountains west of Cairns and crossed the narrow cultivated strip the other side we headed out to the first stip. It was then that the sheer enormity of the bush struck me. This was more like sailing. The sea having no landmarks, if you see my point. Of course with GPS this trip was a stroll in the park for the young local pilot who flew us in a small twin. I did ponder on my old CFI's insistance that nav aids and GPS should be a back-up to a current chart and the good old circular slide rule. "They'll keep going when the others have all failed."

 

So although I bought all of the Oz regions I've hardly ever flown them. Low and Slow there's a lot of what I saw for real. Mile after tens after hundreds of miles of bush with few if any distinguishing features. However if your a jet jock and want a well done region with some excellent airfields it's got a lot going for it. For Low and Slow fans like me it's a bit of a waste frankly although some of the smaller fields are good. I think it shows it's age a bit compared to the NA stuff but that's a feeling rather than definitive criticism. Against that you are getting an entire continent for your buck?

 

Geoff

As a recent newcomer to ORBX AU, coming from the PNW and NA sceneries, the main shock was that all the airstrips in AU didn't get the Orbx lib treatment as the NA ones did.

 

Thankfully there are hundreds of nicely done freeware AU airfields from OZX and Ant, but it is still hard to get used to seeing the other plain FSX barren default airfield rectangles when I've become spoiled by all the airfields having a basic lib object upgrade in the Orbx NA sceneries (one of my favorite reasons for buying the Orbx NA regions). Thankfully the NZSI region got the airfield improvements treatment.

Harvey bay Bundaburg Tamworth and Cairns

 

yhba and ybud are close together and on the coast and get oz x they have made nice airports on Fraser island just off the coast. Tamworth for your inland flying delights. and Cairns if you want a place to land your tubes... Of course this is only a start .....

Thanks for all of the comments so far.

 

John, I didn't realize that the airports hadn't gotten the upgrade treatment as the NA ones have, but I guess the oz x stuff can fill in there a bit.

 

Geoff, I appreciate what you're saying, and I do realize that there's a lot of "miles and miles of miles and miles", but that's OK. I know there're routes that I'd rarely (if ever) fly, but I'm expecting that there are still many that I will.

 

More research to come, and I do have all month to make the decision. :-)

 

Scott

Well if you want some treatment, go for OZx! They do freeware additions for 300+ airfields in Australia, and quite a few in PNW :D