Kitty Hawk... Le Bourget... Biggin Hill... Muroc/Edwards... Burbank.  

Locations forever embedded within the rich fabric of aviation history.  And in keeping with such hallowed names, Foozle Aerospace is proud to bring you the next installment of NorCal airfield improvements: O28 Willits Municipal Airport, aka Ells Field.

Located in Mendocino County just northwest of Willits CA on a small mountain with an elevation of 2,063 feet, this is where a young 14-year-old Stoopy received his first few crucial hours of instruction in a Cessna 152, N6266T.  The single 2,995-foot asphalt runway overlooks the valley, thus providing visually enticing arrivals and departures.  Currently, this airport is also home to one of the many CalFire Helitack bases in the area, which this scenery aims to duplicate with a functional helipad, available as "Helipad 01" in the MSFS start menu (Scroll to the bottom of the list of parking areas when starting a flight).   

There are basic amenities including AvGas, a pilot lounge and Cessna-sponsored flight training.  This airport enhancement includes custom 3D objects created in Blender to help re-create the unique atmosphere of this airfield.  

Get yourself some good NorCal flying by downloading here:  https://flightsim.to/file/47260/028-willits-municipal-airport-ells-field

Special Bonus for AvSim members who have read this far!  The first person to find and post a screenshot of the Willits Wolverine High School sticker located somewhere in the scenery will receive 100 free points*!!!

Special thanks to:  superspud for his written SDK tutorial available at "the .to", Mamu Designs, Flying Theston and MyPhysicalWorld for their YouTube Videos, the good folks at fsdeveloper.com for their discussion of the Asobo Gitf importer, various Blender youtubers, and my good buddy GregP for testing and inaugurating the finished product with his harrowing derring-do.  😉

Enjoy!
-Stoopy

 

* Points are non-transferable, non-fungible, non-redeemable, non-refundable, completely imaginary, have zero monetary value and are good for braggin' rights only.  Offer only valid for registered AvSim members.  Void where prohibited.

 

Edited January 2, 20233 yr by Stoopy

That's cool!  I will go on the hunt for the sticker lol.

As a disclaimer, yes, I helped test this right before release, but I cannot be held responsible for the overall quality control, as, I'm a bit disappointed that Stoopy decided to completely ignore my recommendations for improvement.  For example, the runway turn-off is clearly way too tight:

 

Similarly, the ground crew are entirely unhelpful, even going so far as to turn their backs on me and refuse to help me park, just because my mains were tearing up their precious grass...or something like that, as I couldn't really hear their grumbling above the roar of my twin GE CF6's.

Aside from those drawbacks, what a fun little airfield! Highly recommend.

Fun fact: if you load up the A310 with no passengers, no cargo and only 2000 lbs of fuel, you can in fact both take off from and land back at O28!  Just have to get those thrust reversers going as soon as you touch down.

 

50 minutes ago, GregP said:

...Similarly, the ground crew are entirely unhelpful, even going so far as to turn their backs on me and refuse to help me park, just because my mains were tearing up their precious grass...or something like that, as I couldn't really hear their grumbling above the roar of my twin GE CF6's.

We appreciate your patience as we work through some of the rough edges of this airport's virtual opening.  Management is looking into stricter sobriety controls for the ground crew and other airport employees, although given the tight labor market and general disposition of the locals it may take us some time to fully address the situation.  Meanwhile please take full advantage of our pilot's lounge and make yourself comfortable - there's cold beer in the fridge.  😁