I don't know why Fargo got photogrammetry hehe - it's a rather small town compared to larger cities in the USA.  Anyway I've been here many times when I attended UND in Grand Forks, ND.  Fargo is home to the NDSU Bison as well.

First off I wanted to showcase this incredible livery done by John Terrell - https://flightsim.to/file/40353/p-51d-mustang-moonbeam-mcswine-n51vl

Also I wanted to showcase this lovely rendition of Fargo "The Barnyard" KFAR - really nice freeware:  https://flightsim.to/file/55176/hector-international-airport-fargo-north-dakota

The airport itself fairly busy - just shy of 100k ops in 2021.  It's a class D airport with TRSA (meaning approach/departure services provided unless you opt out).  It's also less than 100 miles from KGFK, home of the UND Fighting Sioux (or whatever they're called now - I refuse to change the name of my alma mater) - and home to a massive worldwide aeronautical training program.  So anyway, a lot of aircraft will fly south to Fargo for instrument approaches, pattern work etc etc.  Learjets and F16s used to fly out of Fargo with the ND Air Natl Guard... but now they only launch MQ9's.  Fargo is also somewhat famous from the movie Fargo (and tv series).  Also the city is home to the Red River of the North.  Yes, the river flows north which is rare in the USA.  Unfortunately this area is also prone to heavy flooding (google image search 1997 red river flooding - affected Fargo and Grand Forks).

I departed runway 18 at KFAR and made a counter clockwise tour back to the left downwind, turned my base to follow an ERJ (under my gear in the pic), and parked at the jet center for the day.  Please Enjoy!

P51 from the Reno expansion pack.  (13 USD if you already have Premium Deluxe).  It's not the greatest rendition of a P51 (nothing near A2A) - but I found it still enjoyable - and this paint is gorgeous.  It's worth the 13 bucks for the 3 planes you get.

far1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

The colorful buildings are the northwest campus of North Dakota State University

far2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Departing SW

far3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

I-29 leads north to Grand Forks

far4 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

The horse park and also part of the NDSU equine study

far5 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Looks to be remnants of an old grass stripe just ahead

far6 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

D54 West Fargo airport visible in the background

far7 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Sprawling burbs and apparently a land owner who did not want to part with their homestead...  (although current satellite image shows a golfcourse hehe)

far8 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Bank to the east

far9 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

I could go for a civie cockpit but this one was done up so nicely by John

far10 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

It's such a narrow river but the land is so flat that the floods are devastating - this one isn't the Red - it's the Sheyenne River.

far11 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Anheuser Busch elevator

far12 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

The Red runs through the main green area in the photo - the heart of city.  There are now dikes built along the river which do protect the citizens unless the flood waters are very high.

far13 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

We're back on freq with Fargo tower on the left downwind RY 18

far14 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Number 2, runway 18 cleared to land

far15 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

far16 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

far17 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

S turns across the taxiway for visibility.

far18 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

far19 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very complete tour. Quadrupled my knowledge of ND for sure. 🙂

Very nice - thanks for sharing!!!!!

Excellent! 🙂 

13 hours ago, John F said:

Very complete tour. Quadrupled my knowledge of ND for sure. 🙂

Haha yeah ND is usually the state of boredom for most people...  but it's actually very scenic the further west you travel.  I also met my wife there 🙂

6 hours ago, Erv Moore said:

Very nice - thanks for sharing!!!!!

You're welcome.  A little off topic.  I see you have a Aero and a G2 - is the Aero worth the cost?  I've got a G2 and it's okay but outside of the sweet spot it feels like I'm on 720i - and is hard to read glass gauges especially.  I have a 4080.

1 hour ago, Alaska738 said:

Excellent! 🙂 

Much obliged!

Delightful shots Ryan.

Hey, that paint reminds me of the blue nosed you know whats lol. Great job as always Ryan. The first and last time I was in Fargo, I was driving from Minot AFB to Atlanta after receiving orders to Barksdale AFB

I see you have a Aero and a G2 - is the Aero worth the cost?  I've got a G2 and it's okay but outside of the sweet spot it feels like I'm on 720i - and is hard to read glass gauges especially.  I have a 4080.

Regarding the cost of Aero, first I am new at VR. Started with Oclus for about two weeks which sold me on VR but was not happy with it, went with G2 which was a plus but still not pleased with VR. So, I have over 70 flight hours on the Aero - very happy camper. The software is solid, very user friendly. With my system, I can be in VR within minutes of firing up the computer. The guys on Discord (VR flight sim guy, OpenXR Toolkit & varjo) are outstanding with great information. I can't believe I have not tweaked the flight sim in over 40 flight hours - I'm a tweaker always looking for more improvement. For me, the answer is Yes! With over 70 flt hrs, cost of headset is down to approx $33 per flight hour. Sorry for long answer. Good luck!!!

Good looking P51, loving that paint scheme!

Darryl