NORTH CASCADES BUSH AIRSTRIPS 3
Washington, U.S.A.
By James Belk
ANOTHER five tricky airfields in the North Cascades mountains for bush pilots. The highlights in this package are an airstrip hidden behind a dogleg in a narrow canyon, a pair of short sloping strips at the highest elevation yet, a short & narrow riverside strip (bring your STOL machine), and a strip hidden amongst the trees that's so bumpy it's only half-usable. You can use them all on their own, but they're intended as an addon for my first two packages, 'n_cascades.zip' & 'n_cascades2.zip'. You'll also need Holger Sandmann's 'US North Cascades Mountains and Northwest Washington Coast' scenery enhancements and mesh installed. For heads-down 'fun' in the mountains, my sloping or uneven runways are mostly equipped with runway lights and ILS approaches, often with relatively steep glide slopes.
START HERE: Many people had trouble getting Parts 1 & 2 installed correctly. Please take a moment to review this checklist:
i. Read Holger Sandmann's mesh 'readme us_wa_nc.txt' CAREFULLY - this package isn't as straightforward to install as most other addons. BUT...
ii. Don't alter the TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL parameter in the FS9.cfg file. Leave it at its default value of 19 for compatibility with my scenery. Note: some commercial scenery addons can also alter this value during their installation, so it's worth a check. AND...
iii. If you're using any other mesh for the same area (e.g. FSGenesis or FSFreeware), don't remove Holger's mesh file 'mesh_North_Cascades_LOD10.bgl' because my scenery needs it. Also, because of the 'inverse priority' bug for mesh in FS2004, make sure that Holger's mesh is in a lower layer than these other meshes (i.e. BELOW anything else relevant in the Scenery Library, which also includes any Georender airfields you might own; to achieve this, you'll probably need to move the other mesh out of the default scenery folder in fs9 and into a separate addon scenery folder).
ALL OK? CONTINUE HERE:
1. Download Holger Sandmann's 'US North Cascades Mountains and Northwest Washington Coast' [us_wa_nc.zip: 13026kb], and install as per his instructions (but see points i.- iii. above). You might also want to install Holger's 'bcmesh9c.zip' to cover the adjacent area northwards towards Hope.
2. Unzip & place the 'wa5' folder in .\flight simulator 9\addon scenery (or wherever you keep your extra sceneries: in my case, simply c:\addonscenery). It should also be safe to combine the scenery and texture files with those in the 'wa3' or 'wa4' folder if you have Parts 1 and/or 2 of this scenery installed.
3. Place the 5 Airport/Facility directory files ('AF2_K*') from the AFD folder in .\flight simulator 9\addon scenery\scenery.
4. Open up the 'Scenery Library' from the 'Settings' option in the FS2004 Welcome Menu and add the new area, navigating to the 'wa5' folder (or edit the scenery.cfg file manually if desired).
5. Close, and then restart FS2004.
6. In the main 'Go To Airport' menu, select Box Canyon (KBOX), Raptor's Aerie (KRPT), Beaver Pass (KBVR), Pioneer Strip (KPNR), or Pancake Field (KPCK).
7. TURN OFF CRASH DETECTION - it's always to be recommended with sloping runways, but some of the tree macros I've used here (not made by me - blame Arno) have crash detection enabled which would make take-offs and landing nearly impossible.
8. Also, check that what you're seeing agrees with my series of screenshots enclosed in this package; if not, please go back and read through these installation instructions again.
Optimising the appearance of this scenery:
In (Options>)Settings>Display>Hardware, set a MIP Mapping Quality of at least about 6. This will avoid the runway textures becoming blurred at any other than the closest viewing distances. May affect frame rates.
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*** FLYING TIPS ***
*** PRINT THIS SECTION OUT FOR YOUR KNEEBOARD ***
BOX CANYON: The easiest approach is from the North (straight-in ILS available) along a canyon, with the airstrip passing out of sight as altitude is lost. On short final, it becomes necessary to make a right then left dogleg turn to line up with the runway. The more positive this dogleg turn, the better lined up with the runway you will become. It is also possible to make a steep straight-in approach, which avoids the dogleg, however this drastically reduces the available landing distance. The airstrip itself is uphill towards the South, and slightly curved. If the wind is strong from the North, an approach from the South can be attempted, using the 'Lake ILS' procedure [see 'lake_approach.jpg']. I fly the whole thing in the landing configuration, as any excess speed in the latter stages will make the eventual downhill landing pretty marginal. I know we wouldn't be flying in the mountains in strong winds for real, but it's good fun in the sim. Departures should always be flown downhill, but be aware of the curve in the aistrip - if you become airborne just before the bend, then you must make an early airborne turn to miss the trees.
RAPTOR'S AERIE: A high elevation airfield with two basic, but lighted, airstrips. The longer runway, 16/34, is downhill towards the South: land uphill on runway 16 (straight-in ILS), and depart downhill on 34 (landing ruwnay 34 is just about impossible due to terrain). The shorter runway, 07/25, is downhill towards the west: land uphill on runway 07 (straight-in ILS), and depart downhill on 25. Downhill landings on runway 25 are possible, but make sure you're groundspeed is low enough, i.e. with a decent westerly headwind. From here, you can reach my other airstrips at Hermit's Lair (North Cascades, Part 1), and North Fork Junction (North Cascades, Part 2) in a matter of minutes. Pancake Field is a safe, lower elevation alternate that lies very close below.
BEAVER PASS: A longish runway located on a broad saddle, although the Southern half of the strip is in poor condition - very bumpy and the gravel surface has been gradually replaced by grass. The preferred landing runway is 32 since the airstrip is in sight for longer on the approach (IGS available); the displaced landing threshold is marked by cones at the beginning of the well-conditioned, and flat, gravel section (this half only is lit at night). Takeoffs from Runway 32 have the option of using the bumpy grass section as a starter extension, if performance requires: I would recommend starting the roll from the intermediate 'bump', and not using the full length, so as not to encounter this feature at too high a speed. Similarly, the grass section can be used an extension to the runway 14 landing distance, or as an aborted takeoff stopway.
PIONEER STRIP: A short airstrip surrounded by trees, although located at quite a low elevation. I managed to take a Piper Cherokee in there, but it wasn't much fun! Runway 05/23 slopes slightly upwards towards the North East, although there is no line-of-sight between the runway thresholds due to a small hump half way along. Runway 05 is preferred for landing, being slightly uphill, and reached in a few minutes direct from Baker Lake. Turns to land on runway 23 can be made slightly further up the canyon where it branches and is slightly wider. Departures are best from runway 23, being downhill and downstream - any departure from 05 will require an early turn around as the multiple creeks that lead off from this one all slope upwards quite quickly.
PANCAKE FIELD: This place really is as 'Flat as a Pancake' - 2200 feet of flat tarmac. Take a break from the rigours of my other bush strips and stop off here for some AVGAS & a six pack of Milwaukee Best! Very slightly offset ILS approaches are avilable to both Runway 14 & 32, the glideslope being steeper into Runway 32 due to the approach being over descending terrain from Rainy Pass. The 32 landing threshold is also displaced a short distance due to the proximity of the sloping valley sides just prior to the start of the tarmac. Three parking spots are accessible from the middle of the runway, and one more under a covered plane port near the 32 displaced threshold.
(SECRET AIRFIELD: There is another airstrip to be found, not marked on any maps. I was unable to proceed with designing it beyond the initial stages due to a bug in the Ground2k4 program. As a clue, it's located very close to Box Canyon. It's high, short, and go-arounds are impossible. Nice place!)
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MEGASCENERY USA 2005 PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Yes, my airstrips are mostly compatible as far as I know. The mesh, which is very critical for my sceneries, seems to be very similar to Holger's so no problem there. The main disadvantage is that my ground textures don't show up, so the airstrips are only visible by virtue of the edge markings. Another problem is that for any airstrip below the treeline, the lack of my ground textures means that autogen trees can appear on the runways - for this reason, it would be best to turn the autogen density down to a very low level, or off altogether.
* OK, these airstrips are only fictional...but who in their right mind would build a real runway in such places (apart from in France or Idaho maybe!)? I do, however, spend a lot of time researching backcountry airstrips and try to incorporate many of their qualities into my work.
* Get the navaid frequencies and courses from the Map - click on the ILS beams or NDB symbols.
* Ignore the runway length data on the Map & A/FD (apart from KPCK), which are are all listed as just 1 foot for the sloping strips. This is a necessary fiddle to install any ILS beams, which require the definition of a default FS runway (albeit so small as to be invisible).
* I don't recommend using landing lights at night - they assume they're illuminating a 2D surface, whereas my airstrips aren't planar.
* The airfield ICAO codes (K---) are more typical of larger U.S. airports, I know, but I've used this convention rather than local codes like '21W' or 'S86' purely for ease of remembering.
* Choice of aircraft: forget about your C-152 or PA-28 with all but the lightest of fuel/payloads. Use a Cub, Maule, Scout, Helio, or Zenith STOL, for example. For anybody that's interested, I design my airstrips to be within the capabilities of NORMAL performance (i.e. if the engine quits, then I'd end up in the trees) of the RealAir SF-260 with half tanks and 2 pilots (a high performance plane, but it can't fly very slowly - not exactly the ideal bush plane to be honest).
Tom Fica, as always, for getting me started.
Beta testers: Brent Hricziscse, Jun Kazam, Don Lively, and Kevin Yetman. Be sure to download Kevin's 'Scenic Mountain Getaway' scenery from Avsim - located just South of my Tom Saddle airstrip (North Cascades, Part 1).
Tatu Kantomaa of the Finnish Scenery Designers (http://fisd.fsnordic.net) for help with the runway lights.
Scenery developed using Flight Simulator Scenery Creator, Ground2k4, CellGrid2004a, MDLtoBGL, DXTBmp, BGLComp SDK, AFCAD, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Easy Object Designer.
I used macros developed by the following authors:
Arno Gerretsen & Stephen Legg: AG Tree Library
Tom Fica: Yurt, SnoCat, & Wooden Crates
Bob Wening: Piper Super Cub
Jim Jackson: construction cone
Doc George: Tin Shack, & Plane Ports
Paul Clawson: 1946 Cessna 140 & Waco E
Donn E. Bohde: 1980 Cessna 185 Skywagon II, & 1998 Cessna 208 Super Cargomaster (FedEx Livery)
'Captain Slug': Cessna 180 (Wheels)
Original texture Bitmaps used in some of my own macros by Tom Fica, Don Moser, & Doc George; all used with kind permission. If, however, I have violated anybody else's copyrights please let me know and I will take immediate steps to resolve the problem.
This scenery is distributed as freeware, and this readme file must be included with it if used elsewhere. Use these files at your own risk: no responsibility is accepted for any damage you think they might have done to your computer.
James Belk/January 2006
aeryn_sunpk@hotmail.com
jgbelk@clara.co.uk
