CYVR Vancouver..OMG....Heaven!

[spilok 1,132]

I guess if I wanted to picture what "Heaven" would look like.....I would like to think it looks like where I flew this evening in FSX! I decided to try flying my Piper Saratoga in a place I've never flown before. I clicked on CYVR (Vancouver International) and just did a quick VFR all around the airport within 20 miles radius. The sky, the mountains in the distance, the city, the roads, the water. Just UNBELIEVABLE. I can't imagine anything more beautiful that I've flown in FSX.I've never personally been to Vancouver, but if you live there, I'm sure that you inhabit one of the most beautiful places on Earth.I am using FEX, Ultimate Terrain, and Cloud Nine. I downloaded Real Weather and flew just before Dusk.I've got to go there in person. Just wanted to share my experience. Try it if you haven't yet.

[Guest MikeWilson]

I don't have Ultimate Terrain (or Cloud Nine) - if you turn these addons off, does it still good?I've had a little fly around Vancouver and it looked ok, although the city was a tad flat with my settings :(

[Guest]

The Vancouver+ Payware scenery is AMAZING! it covers 30,000 square kilometers in this kind of detail:http://sio.midco.net/FTP4/vancouver2.jpghttp://sio.midco.net/FTP4/vancouver3.jpghttp://sio.midco.net/FTP4/vancouver8.jpg

[Guest Lennyt]

The area is beautiful with or without those addons if you crank up FSX in the scenery section. I have everything maxed there except autogen one notch down from max, water 2x and large radius. Beautiful. I am using ASX and XGraphics. I have UTX for the US but not Canada (I had UT for US/Canada for FS9).HP Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 Mhz 3 gig ddrII ram, 8400 GS 256mb, 640gb hd

[phoenixphire 50]

Agreed, Vancouver+ is an exceptional add-on if you love to fly in Van. Even though I mostly fly heavies this is the one area where I fly low and slow. I live in the area and have flown in the area in small aircraft and it is truly amazing. Thanks for sharing your experience, I wish there were more posts like this. Brings me back to the simplicity of enjoyment.

[doc1956 0]

>I wish there were more>posts like this. Brings me back to the simplicity of>enjoyment. I absolutely agree with you and this post definitely has made me look again at Vancouver in FSX. I have actually been to Vancouver on 4 previous occasions (in real life that is) and it is a lovely, picturesque city! Hmmm, I am saving for FTX, GEX, PMDG, Airliner XP and Airsimmer A320 but I am off to look at Vancouver + again.Paul

[byork 2,258]

Vancouver is heaven on Earth.... when it's not raining that is :-)Bryan

[Guest Calb]

If the civic strike continues much longer, Jon will have to issue a patch for Vancouver+ to show the overflowing dumpsters.CalCYXX

[gary_canuck 0]

Cal, you do have a great sense of humour but there is some truth in it. :-rotor GaryCAM3

[Guest YEGspotter]

>Vancouver is heaven on Earth.... when it's not raining that>is :-)>>Bryan> Agreed, 100%. Unfortunately, it rains, most of the time. YVR is also one of the most beautiful airports I've ever been through....cheers

[Guest jshyluk]

CYVR is one of those rare airports where the "airport improvement tax" actually goes to improve the airport. I've been to Rome, Frankfurt, Toronto, Washington DC, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, LAX, and a few others. No other airport comes to mind that has so much and such beautiful CULTURE on hand. There are many, many museum-quality art pieces all available for public enjoyment. CYVR is a complete joy to walk around in. Calgary comes in second, as far as civic art is concerned, in my opinion.If you like CYVR in FSX, try some of the local airports out for size: Boundary Bay, Abbotsford, Victoria, Squamish... all of those make great places to visit with a Cessna Skyhawk on a lazy day of VFR flying. Be sure to explore Indian Arm, False Creek, Stanley Park, Mount Seymour, Burnaby Mountain, the Pitt River, Hope, the Delta Superport, Active Pass... the list goes on.And you know what? I would consider Vancouver to be a botched job as far as default FSX scenery goes. It's too flat, Stanley Park is not green enough, downtown is all over the place, the sub-urbs are mixed-up, half the bridges look wrong, there's strange pools of water in Port Coquitlam, and a "Mystery Corner" in False Creek that I've featured in my reviews. Considering that a) Vancouver is almost always at the top (or at least top 3 to 5) of the world's most liveable cities, and :( we're Redmond, Washington's closest largest Canadian neighbour, I would have expected the FSX secenery developers to not make so many mistakes with this beautiful city. For the longest time, MSFS always put an 80-storey high-rise in the middle of Surrey. It turns out they were trying to model the tower of a large cement factory out in the boonies. At least this got fixed. That, and the Alex Fraser Bridge was finally fixed in FS9... don't get me started on all of the MSFS mistakes in Vancouver and the GVRD...Okay, considering all of that above, the Vancouver scenery still looks great, and is what I would consider one of the showcase regions of FSX, if not the real world.Jeff ShylukSenior Staff Reviewer, Avsim

[HUSSAR 261]

>"For the longest time, MSFS always put an 80-storey high-rise in>the middle of Surrey. It turns out they were trying to model>the tower of a large cement factory out in the boonies. At>least this got fixed."Hi Jeff,Gee you really know your way around Vancouver, are you taliking about the black tower... yeah they sure got that wrong. And I work for Lafarge Cement which owns that preheater tower (420 feet), we are located about 2 clicks west of the Alex Fraser bridge. It is right along the path to CYVR RWY 26L and 26R and I understand that pilots refer to it as Cape Canaveral. The plant was included in the Vancouver+ addon by Jon Patch and Holger Sandman. They sure did a beautiful job, I mean the entire lower mainland, not just the cement plant. Hehe.Cheers,

[Guest AC777_LR]

Yup, rains way too much here!

[gary_canuck 0]

Come on, you folks, that's not rain ---- it's liquid sunshine :-violinGary

[Guest jshyluk]

Yes, that's it, the LeFarge plant. LeFarge, the name you need to think of is "LeFarge" for all of your concrete needs. That name again: "LeFarge" (not an ad placement for LeFarge!).The LeFarge factory (thanks for reminding me of the name!) is indeed a great landmark for VFR flying in Vancouver. I didn't know it was called Cape Caneveral, though. If you are heading south on Knight near Marine Drive, I think, or using the East-West Connector, or even if you are on the very south edge of Burnaby, this monstrous construction rises out from surrounding fields like a massive rocket tower. It reminds me more of Baikonur than the Cape, but the name is great!I once sat in a Bell Jetranger (in older MSFS), hovered, and counted the storeys of the Black Tower -- the bizarre skyscraper that got plonked in the middle of the fields. I remember at least 80 storeys, maybe the number was bigger. It does line up with YVR, and so does the Alex Fraser Bridge, referred to as "The Goal Posts": pretend you are a Canadian football, fly between the big posts, and you're nearly lined up with your runway. Of course, the new Shangri La building (no joke) is set to become Vancouver's tallest high-rise. It's just over 60 storeys tall at completion, at around 650 feet tall. It's not that Vancouver has an inferiority complex or anything, we just like tall buildings in the right places. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff Reviewer, Avsim