40,000?

[andyjohnston.net 617]

A couple of versions back (was it FS-2000?) Microsoft told us that the sim now included all airfields in the world, some 20,000+ of them.  We've been told the new one will have 40,000+.  Why the difference? Have that many new airfields sprung up in the last 20 years?

[Dominique_K 10,137]

The new terrain is constructed from aerial/sat imagery, it automatically carries all the visible airports. The past iterations of the sim had a totally reconstructed terrain of coarse textured LC maps on which selected airports were pasted. That would be the most probable explanation. 

[Bottle 663]

In one of the X019 interviews, the MSFS lead stated, "about 48,000 airports".

[JPStudios 4]

6 minutes ago, Bottle said:

In one of the X019 interviews, the MSFS lead stated, "about 48,000 airports".

There is so much more information on what is an airport now...

There are a lot of airports in the world. Some are small grass strips, some are mega-airports...

And sometimes there are more secluded areas, and some stuff isn't recognized as an airport officially.

It's hard to get a nice and correct number, air travel has grown drastically.

[bonchie 2,305]

FSX was always missing airports. 

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Half of them will be rough grass and dirt strips. There must be thousands of those across the world.

[Bottle 663]

23 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Half of them will be rough grass and dirt strips. There must be thousands of those across the world.

Probably greater than half I would imagine. It's hard to quantify because it depends on what definition is being used. Perhaps Asobo have used some sort of criterion such as; 'recognisable purpose built/maintained strip of land that will allow aircraft to land and take off'. I can imagine that  definition giving a number like 48,000. As more criteria are added (e.g., includes navigation aids, paved surface, pained markings, etc.) the numbers in each category will drop down markedly.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

Last time I updated the real world airport database for one of my apps I counted 42103 distinct ICAO codes. 

Best regards

[Dominique_K 10,137]

40 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

Last time I updated the real world airport database for one of my apps I counted 42103 distinct ICAO codes. 

Best regards

Knowing that it is the other 5,897 which are really interesting to takeoff and land. 

[DadJokeCinema 145]

They added all the airports discovered in the Inner Shell of the hollow Earth, obviously.

[fppilot 4,360]

I know right off seven airstrips that do not have ID codes.  One is a private neighborhood with a grass strip and all 8 homes have hangers.  I also know of other strips, grass, dirt, and even paved, that are on American farms.  I believe I read that there are over 41,000 airports in the world but only like 17,000 with ICAO codes.   I have wondered if the 41,000 includes helo pads such as on hotels or hospitals.

[fs4fun 366]

I'll be impressed if they have, for example, Linkwasha Airstrip in Zimbabwe (19°7'33"S   27°12'3"E).

[Jeff Nielsen 1,385]

There's actually still a lot of airports that don't have ICAO codes.  Many of those we fly in to as a private operator.  Some of these airport are fairly well known also.  S25 is one of those here in the states.

[fakeflyer737 991]

31 minutes ago, Jeff Nielsen said:

There's actually still a lot of airports that don't have ICAO codes.  Many of those we fly in to as a private operator.  Some of these airport are fairly well known also.  S25 is one of those here in the states.

Same thing in Canada. Im a PPL and I can tell you of 4 places just in my local area (Class D control zone)  that dont show up in the CFS. There are so many out there. 

[in2tech 588]

Which makes for an interesting question? My brother lives in the "country" and at one time a FedEx pilot had a grass strip he made for his Cessna 172 type airplane. Is this an airport? If indeed it is not in the MSFS 2020, I would like to create it one day if possible. I mean it wouldn't have an ICAO, and just might show up in the new MSFS 2020 when I go to fly over my brothers house, which I am for sure going to do 🙂 Very interesting!