I am in the process of confirming or selecting a base for most of my operations, which are flown by aircraft from the size of the small Cessna C510 to the size of the large Boeing B747. I am brainstorming suitable major international airports that possess all or most of the following characteristics:

• Located moderately closely to other large international airports (under 800 NM) so B747 and B777 flights are possible and realistic
  
• Possesses a high-quality FSX counterpart (this may include the default version, if the scenery is adequate enough)
  
• Preferably located near large bodies of water (rivers and similarly sized bodies of water are a last resort)
  
• Serviced by a variety of aircraft of various nationalities and sizes
  

Currently, I am based at Hong Kong (VHHH). This allows me to make short flights to Kai Tak as well as "longer" flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. The default scenery is only decent (but better than most), but I am not sure whether I want to upgrade to the Imagine Simulations version after experiencing the high quality of FlyTampa products. Hopefully a newer high-quality version will be created in the future.

 

In Japan, candidates include Kansai (RJBB) and Narita (RJAA). Both are located relatively closely to other large Asian airports, and have challenging winds, which I like.

In the United States, candidates include Boston (KBOS), New York (KJFK), and San Francisco (KSFO). All seem like decent options with great payware scenery and proximity to other large United States airports. KBOS and KSFO also have challenging winds.

In Europe, the sole candidate is currently London (EGLL). EGLL is located conveniently in relation to other British airports and other European hubs such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris.

 

Airports that are attractive but too isolated include Anchorage, Auckland, St. Martin, and Sydney, I would prefer to stay out of Africa, Antarctica, Oceania, and South America (not to be biased or anything) because of the sparsity of high-quality payware products that fit the criteria above.

 

I would also appreciate opinions about existing payware options for the airports mentioned above. Frame rates are always important, but quality comes first. I downloaded the FlightBeam KSFO trial, and was impressed by the quality, but the performance was less good than expected.

KMIA is a very central jumping point to all over, to Texas, South America, Atlanta, New York and even overseas for the longer ones. It has beautiful scenery addons and the default isn't bad either. I use GEX and Miami City X.

 

KLAX is also a good area to look at. It services a lot of areas also far and short.

Singapore Changi?

My default airport is LSGG Geneva in Switzerland. There are some nice mountains, big lake, many destinations around it, nice FSDT scenery or free AFCAD.

Highly recommended as a starting base.

Why limit yourself? Enjoy all that FSX has to offer.

 

Personally I fly everywhere and anywhere, that is the amazing thing about FSX to me. Seeing places (and learning about them) that I would never think of normally. I just took off from USSS (Koltsovo) on my way to OMDB.

 

USSS has a bit of a snow storm at the moment....if not for flight sim I would never have even know where this place was. How cool is that?

I would pick VTBD, TNCM, TJSJ, MMUN or MMCZ. TJSJ and MMUN are favorites because you can have quick access to the US, all of the Caribbean, South and Central America

In the US: KLAS, has quite a good default rendition, plus there's FSDT's airport and (if you really want that) the Aerosoft US CIties Las Vegas, which adds some more buildings to the town. Furthermore you got freeware Blue Sky Scenerey coverage for a large part of Nevada, Arizona and California. THis leads me to the next plus of LAS: You have KSFO, KLAX and KPHX within a few hundrets of miles, which would fit your wishes. There are addons for all three airports, which I hear are very good. You also have Area 51 and Edwards AFB for military ops, and with Blue Sky Scnery you hvae a wonderful view when doing some slower GA flights.

For Europe: I myself usually fly out of Vienna, mainly because it's the closest airport to where I live, that has a good addon airport (by FlyTampa). Here I have the possibility to do either some short flights to Innsbruck or Venice as well as some longer flights to London, Tirana, Rome, Athens or Moscow Sheremetyevo (for all of which exist either free- or payware addons). It also gives you the opportunity of flying some quite thrilling approahces, such as the one to Innsbruck as well as to some altiports in the French alps (Alpe d'Huez, Courchevel etc.) for which Milton Shupe's DHC7 is a really great aircraft.

 

Regards,

Flo

I would say Singapore Changi or Kuala Lumpur. Good mix of short hauls Asian destinations, with wide and small body aircraft of many operators at both airports. Medium hauls to Australia and Africa, long hauls to Europe and the US. Plus it is near the ocean too!

Why limit yourself? Enjoy all that FSX has to offer.

 

Personally I fly everywhere and anywhere, that is the amazing thing about FSX to me. Seeing places (and learning about them) that I would never think of normally. I just took off from USSS (Koltsovo) on my way to OMDB.

 

USSS has a bit of a snow storm at the moment....if not for flight sim I would never have even know where this place was. How cool is that?

 

I wish all the great Russian airport scenery for FS9 was updated for FSX. I remember some great scenery for USSS and UNNT among others

I wish all the great Russian airport scenery for FS9 was updated for FSX. I remember some great scenery for USSS and UNNT among others

 

Agreed, way more CCCP stuff for FS9. But Aerosoft did put out an excellent rendition of USSS for FSX. I do miss UNNT from FS9 tho, it may have been the best freeware around.

...but I am not sure whether I want to upgrade to the Imagine Simulations version after experiencing the high quality of FlyTampa products.

 

ImagineSim's sceneries are adequatly good. You also get great framerates. So, their VHHH, WSSS or VIDP could be good for what you need.

 

 

 

PS: You said you need a plethora of good international airports close together, and yet you do not mention Europe at all. There is no other continent that is better covered, with good international airport sceneries, than Europe, in FSX.

I am currently based at RJBB (Kansai) as it has some great interesting SIDs (including a corkscrew departure) and STARs. The FSX default version is missing the 2nd runway that was activated in 2007, so I am using a freeware model.

 

Frame Rates are excellent in Japan in FSX, so I am enjoying the NGX with some nice OPUS weather.

Are you using some sort of airline simulation like Air Hauler that charges fees? I'd imagine the likes of KSFO and KBOS charge pretty good fees whereas smaller airport don't charge as much. So, for example you may not want having a Cessna landing at KSFO with $1,000 worth of cargo only to get charged $500 for landing fees.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Options I am seriously considering are in bold and are compared with other serious candidates. I would appreciate your opinions on which candidate you like better in each pairing.

• KLAX vs. KSFO: I like the layout of KLAX as much as I like KSFO. Both have their benefits and drawbacks (while KLAX is situated closer to many other international airports, this may result in some flights being too short!). Basically, it is a matter of which scenery is better—FlightBeam KSFO or FSDT KLAX—in terms of both performance and quality. What about KBOS vs. KJFK in comparison with this pairing?
  
• LSGG vs. EGLL vs. LSZH: LSGG is surprisingly strategically located in relation to other European cities. Based on previews, I think FSDT LSGG is better than UK2000 EGLL. Which one would you prefer, especially since the third version of Heathrow will soon be released?
  
• WSSS (VTBD, WMKK have similar comments): I really love the design and environment around Singapore, but the closest major cities are slightly too far away. Basically, while I like the design and immediate surroundings better than I like Hong Kong, I still feel that the latter is more suitable for my purposes.
  

I would pick VTBD, TNCM, TJSJ, MMUN or MMCZ. TJSJ and MMUN are favorites because you can have quick access to the US, all of the Caribbean, South and Central America

While I like a lot of these suggestions, I prefer to find a base elsewhere, due to my unfamiliarity with the area, culture, and landscape.

 

In the US: KLAS, has quite a good default rendition, plus there's FSDT's airport and (if you really want that) the Aerosoft US CIties Las Vegas, which adds some more buildings to the town. Furthermore you got freeware Blue Sky Scenerey coverage for a large part of Nevada, Arizona and California. THis leads me to the next plus of LAS: You have KSFO, KLAX and KPHX within a few hundrets of miles, which would fit your wishes. There are addons for all three airports, which I hear are very good. You also have Area 51 and Edwards AFB for military ops, and with Blue Sky Scnery you hvae a wonderful view when doing some slower GA flights.

For Europe: I myself usually fly out of Vienna, mainly because it's the closest airport to where I live, that has a good addon airport (by FlyTampa). Here I have the possibility to do either some short flights to Innsbruck or Venice as well as some longer flights to London, Tirana, Rome, Athens or Moscow Sheremetyevo (for all of which exist either free- or payware addons). It also gives you the opportunity of flying some quite thrilling approahces, such as the one to Innsbruck as well as to some altiports in the French alps (Alpe d'Huez, Courchevel etc.) for which Milton Shupe's DHC7 is a really great aircraft.

KLAS is strategically located, but I think I would prefer KLAX or KSFO because they are also closely related, but are by water. I care less about military operations than I do about commercial aviation operations.

 

FlyTampa Vienna was the second (and latest) payware airport that I purchased. Vienna is beautiful and excellent (as is the Wiener Philharmoniker!) and I was able to make ultra-short touring flights from Bratislava to Vienna, although I do not own the new Taxi2Gate scenery. One benefit of choosing Geneva or Zurich is that I will be able to utilize Vienna as one of my destinations.

 

Why limit yourself? Enjoy all that FSX has to offer.

I understand that there are so many places worth visiting, but many places are very poorly represented in FSX. I prefer to stay in regions with high-quality FSX counterparts. I would also like to stay in regions that I have been to in real life and that I am familiar with. Plus, going from one place to another a few thousand miles away is not always realistic. I like to take off from the airport I previously landed at.

 

PS: You said you need a plethora of good international airports close together, and yet you do not mention Europe at all. There is no other continent that is better covered, with good international airport sceneries, than Europe, in FSX.

Did you not see that I mentioned London?

 

I am currently based at RJBB (Kansai) as it has some great interesting SIDs (including a corkscrew departure) and STARs. The FSX default version is missing the 2nd runway that was activated in 2007, so I am using a freeware model.

 

Frame Rates are excellent in Japan in FSX, so I am enjoying the NGX with some nice OPUS weather.

I really like Japanese airports, since many of the international ones are built on reclaimed land. Which payware scenery packages are you using, if any?

 

Are you using some sort of airline simulation like Air Hauler that charges fees? I'd imagine the likes of KSFO and KBOS charge pretty good fees whereas smaller airport don't charge as much. So, for example you may not want having a Cessna landing at KSFO with $1,000 worth of cargo only to get charged $500 for landing fees.

I do not use Air Hauler.

Did you not see that I mentioned London?

 

Actually I noticed that after I had replied. But the reason why I missed to see it in the first place still stands:

 

You mention you want an airport to be "in the middle" of many international airports at a radius of max 800nm. This means that London is a poor choice as it is at a "corner" of europe. It would be more logical to pick a more "centralized" airport for example like (in random order) LOWW, LSZH, EDDF, EDDM, EDDS, EDDL.

 

KLAX vs. KSFO: I like the layout of KLAX as much as I like KSFO. Both have their benefits and drawbacks (while KLAX is situated closer to many other international airports, this may result in some flights being too short!). Basically, it is a matter of which scenery is better—FlightBeam KSFO or FSDT KLAX—in terms of both performance and quality. What about KBOS vs. KJFK in comparison with this pairing?

 

For me flytampa KBOS is not good on framerates (the only flytampa scenery with such behavior for me), and the whole New York area, even in default scenery, is very-very heavy on framerates. On the other hand, both airports on the pacific coast perform very well here, so I would pick among them.

 

LSGG vs. EGLL vs. LSZH: LSGG is surprisingly strategically located in relation to other European cities. Based on previews, I think FSDT LSGG is better than UK2000 EGLL. Which one would you prefer, especially since the third version of Heathrow will soon be released?

 

LSGG and LSZH are very close to each other and are both very good (note I have Aerosoft's LSZH not FSDT's).

 

As of Heathrow, Aerosoft's one is not good.

 

On the other hand, all UK2000 sceneries I have (EGKK, EGCC, EGAA) are excellent. You might want to consider their Gatwick instead of Heathrow.

 

I would also like to stay in regions that I have been to in real life and that I am familiar with.

 

While I like a lot of these suggestions, I prefer to find a base elsewhere, due to my unfamiliarity with the area, culture, and landscape.

 

Then perhaps you could outline the areas, cultures and landscapes you are considering so that we can discard the rest, and be better able to help you.

 

I would also like to stay in regions that I have been to in real life and that I am familiar with.

 

I really like Japanese airports, since many of the international ones are built on reclaimed land. Which payware scenery packages are you using, if any?

 

For FSX, payware Japanese sceneries simply do not exist.