U.S. Airports 1. Published by Aerosoft. Reviewed by Hugh Garlick.
U.S. Airports 1 is a compilation of four highly detailed airports that have been developed and sold by FlyTAMPA as separate add-ons. The cost of the compilation works out much cheaper than buying them separately. Each airport is currently priced from FlyTAMPA at $21.50 whilst the compilation of all four airports published by Aerosoft, San Francisco International, Miami International, San Diego Lindbergh International and Tampa International, costs Euro 39.95 (USD $43.19). This is very attractive to those contemplating buying these airports as it would cost $86.00 to purchase them separately.
As Chris Hickman, stated in his review in the December 2004 issue, FlyTAMPA was awarded the coveted Vflight award for Best Scenery Designer. Martin Brunken has proved to be worthy of this award with the continuing production of some excellent airports, each one extending the boundaries of detail, both in texture and appearance. Apparently Martin produces these sceneries by himself which is a tremendous achievement considering the quality of his work. For those who have purchased PC Aviator's Mega Scenery USA Martin has provided seamless integration as he has also done for FS2000 and FS2004 scenery. Built with GMAX the scenery provides for optimised performance. The scenery blends in with the surrounding scenery and does not have that unrealistic abrupt edge to it. A glance at the screen shots on the FlyTAMPA web site shows clearly the integration.
The airports have been developed over many months and incorporate unique terrain and paving renderings, docking attendants at gates and provision for use with ProjectAI, MyTraffic or UltimateTraffic. I like the option that Martin has installed to remove all static aircraft when using the AI programs, thus avoiding confusion with the AI traffic. All these airports have been rebuilt using a unique new terrain and pavement rendition technique for the runways, taxiways and aprons. These airports no longer look 'spotless' and 'new', as they often are in add-ons but look as real and 'used' as they are. Numerous static and animated objects make them come to life. Safegate Docking Systems or attendants await the aircraft at all gates. Taxi signs and night lighting round off a perfect illusion. At Miami the user can also land on the elevated Helipads, at San Diego he can attempt challenging approaches over the city and the Parking Garage building, Tampa sees the seasonal changes representing Florida's wet and dry seasons while San Francisco International waits to be discovered (reviewed separately in the December 2004 issue).
Installing the scenery was easy, loading direct from the CD. A menu is presented asking for: the MSFS edition used, details you want installed and then by clicking on the install button, the scenery is loaded into MSFS. An update of the list of scenery files takes place, saving the need to link the scenery to the MSFS program or enter the textures. Like me, I expect you can remember the lengthy procedure we had to accomplish in days gone by and what a mess many people got into by placing the wrong files into the wrong directories.
The scenery has a very extensive range of static and dynamic objects that bring the airports to life. Catering trucks, fuel trucks, pushback tugs, staff, signs, shuttle trains, monorails, cranes, roads, 3-D trees, bridges, private cars and a variety of well presented aircraft (optional), boarding gates, lights, hangers, offices, hotels and much more, even boats that ride the waves. These are only to be discovered by a walk around or paddle (i.e. using ActiveCamera or pottering around with crash disabled with the cockpit in 'full view').
Aerosoft recommends at least a 1.8 GHz Processor but requires much of the display options on MSFS to be turned down. Personally I would not advise simmers to take this option, as many of the features and buildings will not be visible. The CD case has written on it a system requirement of a PC with a 1.5 GHz Processor or higher, 256 MB RAM, 3-D graphics card with 64 MB memory, CD-ROM drive and 200 MB free memory on hard disk. For the review I am using an AMD 2.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Geforce 4 Ti4200 with AGP8X, MSFS 2004, and Windows XP.
The CD comes with a printed manual of 40 pages in two languages Dutch and English. Also a printed booklet of 61 pages of NACO/FAA airport charts which includes those for SIDs, STARs and airport diagrams. The charts are printed at full size, are clear to read, and very welcomed, when today we are often required to print are own from a website or a Jeppesen CD. Gone are the days when we used to get large books of charts within Flightsim packages - I still refer to my old ATP books and those manuals written by J. Rafferty and Jonathan Stern when I need taxiway details. (Apologies for digressing - it frequently happens when I am speaking to old friends).
San Diego
San Diego International Airport Lindbergh Field (KSAN) is located three miles Northwest of San Diego, California. Founded in 1928, the airport was first called Lindbergh Field in honour of Charles Lindbergh. During World War II U.S. Army engineers improving the runway to accommodate the heavy bombers being built by the local aircraft manufacturers. Currently the airport is the busiest single-runway commercial airport in the U.S.A. with nearly 600 arrivals and departures each day, despite operations being restricted between 23.30h and 06.30h.
As we have come to expect from Martin Brunken, the detail of the buildings and the many features are brilliant - whilst I have not been to San Diego airport, I am told by others that it represents the real airport very accurately the real airport. Providing only one runway it is a unique airport for its size and also provides a thrill every time you approach to land on runway 27 crossing the main road with moving vehicles and passing over a garage. Martin has included Terminals 1 and 2, Commuter Terminal, Jimsair FBO and cargo ramps. South across the road from the airport is an unusual feature is the Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS), including hangers, pier, boat ramp and ships. When starting a flight with the Cessna 208 Amphibian you can use the ramp to get into the water or cross the road to get from the hanger to the runway. If you are a seaplane enthusiast you can use the pier where there are several boats moored and rocking in the waves!
It was in 1927 that Charles Lindbergh took off from nearby Rockwell Field in the Spirit of Saint Louis to make the historic first transatlantic flight. If you want to emulate that flight you have the Ryan monoplane amongst the historic aircraft in FS2004, Lindbergh flying via St. Louis, New York, and Paris.
Tampa
Tampa International Airport recognised, as one of the top ten airports in the world is centrally located on the West Coast of the State of Florida facing the Gulf of Mexico. The airport dates back to 1952 and is designed in a wheel and spoke pattern with six satellite concourses that are connected to the main terminal building by above ground monorail shuttles. In 1985 more than 30,000 spectators came to see Concorde, which visited Tampa to promote a non-stop service between London and Tampa. Currently the airport services approximately 16 million passengers and 600 daily flights.
Michael McAlpin, a keen photographer, who lives just a few miles from Tampa International, tells us that this scenery is very close to the real airport, right down to the authentic highway signs leading into the main terminal. Raymond James Stadium is faithfully reproduced as are other nearby buildings. The night scene is magnificent and the lighting is superb.
Miami
Operation started in 1928 with the first scheduled flight, a Pan Am twin-engine amphibian aircraft taking off from the airfield when it was still named "Pan American Field". The now defunct Eastern, Pan Am, and National Airlines had headquarters based in Miami. Today approximately 1500 flights arrive and depart Miami International each day, with almost 100 scheduled airlines and 40 non scheduled airlines. Airline diversity at Miami tops that of any other airport in the Western Hemisphere. It is no surprise Miami International boldly calls itself "Hub of the Americas". Most of Miami's international traffic is operated by Latin American and Caribbean airlines, but most major European airlines also offer direct flights to Miami. Spanish Liberia even has its own hub at Miami where flights from Spain connect to Latin and Central American destinations including Guatemala, Managua, San Salvador, Panama, and others.
Miami International is one of the five major hubs for American Airlines in the United States. With more than 230 daily departures (including American Eagle) and servicing 73 non stop destinations, Miami International is American Airlines' busiest hub for International Destinations, with almost 50 routes to Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. Currently operating from three concourses (C, D and E), American Airlines plans to move into its new "MIA Super Concourse" by the year 2005.
Miami International ranks number one airport in the United States for international freight as well as number five in the world for total freight. With over 30 cargo carriers there are more non stop cargo flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than NY John F. Kennedy, Orlando, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta and Tampa combined. Continually increasing passenger numbers and cargo throughput have lead to an extensive, U$ 5.4 billion expansion program for Miami International, which is to be implemented over the next eight to ten years. Without major Improvements in capacity, the FAA has estimated that Miami would experience over 20.000 total hours of annual delay through the year 2004.
Miami’s "Master-Plan" was initiated in the early 1990's, but a variety of large and small-scale construction projects have been part of life at MIA for more then three decades now. The recently opened runway 8/26 represents a significant step in the ongoing construction efforts, with the new runway expected to improve Miami's capacity by 25%. Martin has reproduced this well with cranes, building materials, mechanical equipment, and scaffolding.
Inevitably as often the case with scenery design is can easily be out of date by the time it is released and there are no updates as yet. Aerosoft have promised that updates will be provided in the future as and when it is economical to justify. The 'new' runway has been completed at Miami there now being no 9L or 9R, 9L is now turned into 8R and 9R turned into 9.
San Francisco
Mills Field, the precursor to San Francisco International Airport, opened in 1927 on a cow Pasture at the western edge of what is now San Francisco International Airport. Overtime the Airport expanded eastward into the bay on landfill, doubling its original area. In 1931 Mills Field was Renamed to San Francisco Municipal Airport and in 1948 it was renamed San Francisco International Airport. San Francisco International Airport is located 13 Miles south of San Francisco and along with Oakland Intl. and San Jose Intl. it is one of the three major airports in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco Bay Area, sometimes Referred to as "The Bay Area", is a metropolitan area that lies along the San Francisco Bay in Northern California and has a population of over Seven million.
Today San Francisco Intl accommodates over 50 airlines and has flights to destinations throughout the Americas as well as Europe, Asia, and Australia. San Francisco Intl also is a hub to United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world after American Airlines. San Francisco International is an extremely busy airport, with only 60% of the flights being on time. Delays are most significant under bad weather conditions, when only one of the four runways can be used. The Airport has therefore created an expansion program that includes several runway reconfiguration proposals. San Francisco International has been under continuous expansion through the decades. One of the latest projects to be completed was the new international terminal that opened in 2000. The international terminal is the largest International terminal in North America, and the largest building in the world built on base isolators to protect against earthquakes. The former international Terminal (2) was closed in 2000 and is currently under renovation.
Conclusion
U.S. Airports 1 contains some of the best renderings of airports for MSFS currently available. Not only are they realistically detailed but are also not frame rate killers. On ultra high display with dynamic scenery on UH but without AI and clouds, I get 9 fps. With medium high, I get 20 fps. But as you might expect with everything on high and with all shadows, it falls to 6 fps (See the spec of my computer). The airports are full of ground handlers, cars, trucks, freight containers, buses, safegate docking systems - all uniquely textured giving a very real feeling. I think this scenery is a dedicated piece of work. At a price of under Euro 10 per airport, this package is very good value and its quality is excellent. I can highly recommend it.
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