I sometimes have to look twice at photographs to make sure they are not from X-plane 11. To me 11 looks absolutely stunning!
2 Likes
Some of the scenery I have picked up recently is absolutely stunning and makes for some very nice screenshots.
Corfu by FlyTampa covers the whole island, which is surprisingly big if you fly around it in a helicopter. There is plenty of detail to explore around the airport, city and port, but there are also towns and villages to discover inland, with some nice varied terrain. Highly recommended and well worth the admission fee.
Bella Coola and Stewart, both in British Columbia, created by Beti-X. Both are in visually stunning areas, nestled in valleys with mountains all around. They blend in with the stock scenery at the edge of coverage very nicely. The areas are heavily forested and look fantastic, especially if you add a little rain and mist into the mix. The two airports are about 240nm apart, which makes a hop from one to the other quite doable for most GA aircraft.
OrbX’s Nantucket, and the Minuteman Airport/Plumb Island are also really nice and fairly local to each other. Throw in MisterX’s freeware KBOS and you have plenty to explore in the Boston area. You can also add the free Heron’s Nest, which is not too far away.
Those are my recent favorites when it comes to almost photo-realistic scenery. I am also using Ultra Weather XP 2.3 which gives you some nice clouds and lighting, as well as the ability to tweak the color of the water to best fit the current location. I have put XEnviro on hold for a bit until it matures a little more.
2 Likes
Me too. I don’t know what happened; it seems like the previous version was better. Also, I’d like to see custom weather added as an option.
I don’t know whether X-Plane’s depiction of real world weather is correct or X-enviro – but they don’t match when I switch between the two.
Awesome screenshots, by the way.
1 Like
Very nice. The airplane that launched thousands of careers.
I just got Xplane 11 to look good. Maybe cos I got a decent puter now. At any rate, I am checking this thread out and drooling. Uhmmm Im wondering what scenery and weather to buy first…
It launched mine…! Lots of memories in that airplane…
Pump up the volume, and put it on repeat! It’ll stop when you admit what you know!
I picked up the VSkyLabs SF25 Falke Motor-glider while it is on sale. The Falke has a personal connection for me because it is the first fixed wing aircraft that I ever flew in. I was an Air Cadet at the time, and I remember being very excited to get the chance to fly . It was a fairly quick 20 minute hop from RAF Chivenor in North Devon, UK. Several years later I found myself posted there when I joined the RAF.
So here are some shots of the Falke in it’s stock livery at Royal Marines Base Chivenor as it is now called. Sadly the RAF moved out in 1994.
The cockpit is pretty basic, but looks great in VR.
The aircraft has a main center wheel with pogo’s on each wing, kind of like the U2.
It is a very docile aircraft (perfect for teaching young cadets how to fly). It seems very frame rate friendly (there are no complex systems to bog things down) and gives a great VR experience. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but I just had to add it to my virtual hangar.
The Falke, known to the Air Cadets as the Venture.
7 Likes
With all of my sim time going to the DCS Hornet lately (and who could blame me?), X-Plane had been collecting a fair amount of virtual dust. But with guys like @PaulRix and @BeachAV8R going on about bush flying to exotic and remote landing strips, not to mention EuroFOXes (Avid C clone) and motor-gliders, my resistance crumbled.
What to do but fire up X-Plane and… oh well, an update needed, which broke some of my controller assignments, rearranged my custom scenery.ini, and dictated that a lot of add-ons needed reactivation. OK, that’s what I deserved for neglecting the hanger. While I’m at it, there were updates for my two favorite bush planes, the Soul Made Sims Beaver and the ASDG (may be out of biz already) Super Cub.
Making right of all of this took and hour and a half, but in the end well worth the effort.
Each of us has a sweet spot, hot button, or go-to aircraft and scenery if you will, and for me it’s tooling around the PNW in a Dehavilland Beaver, especially from Soul Made Sims. Full disclosure, there is a Shade Tree Beaver also offered in the org store, that includes a turbine version, and which might be superior. I can’t remember why I picked the SMS offering. But I do know that the sound, look, and feel are sublime to the point of making it necessary to my bush spiritual well being.
Could it be the smell?
Anyway, a few screens from a little jaunt departing from our beloved Bella Coola, SkyMaxx 4 Pro and Real Weather handling the environmentals. Nothing that you haven’t seen before, but here it is. Chip in his happy place.
One more, the outstanding Just Flight Turbo Arrow out of Stewart BC.
3 Likes
Sms is superior to stma.
I’m afraid to fire up xplane because it’s been sitting dormant longer for me than you.
1 Like
You have the right beaver (I hope that’s the first time you’ve heard those words). The SoulMade one is definitely “better” than the STMA one. I do like STMA’s Husky though…so there’s that…
1 Like
I agree…
“Nice Beaver!”
(God rest his soul.)
The PNW and in particular, B.C is fast becoming my favorite region to fly in. It’s just beautiful and with Bella Coola, Stewart it is very hard to beat. I flew the EuroFox out of Stewart last night and headed North up the valley found just West of Stewart. A short time later I was over a very convincing glacier, so I landed there before firing up and heading back to the airport. It was a very relaxing little jaunt, pottering along at 100 knots, taking in the view (in VR of course), with the sun shining and nobody shooting at me.
Seeing your DH Beaver, I realized that a long time ago, I had purchased the same one soon after getting XP11. I ended up deleting it because it handled terribly. I just looked on my dot org account and there was a XP11 version sitting there waiting for me to download. I didn’t know they had updated it. Needless to say, I’m downloading it right now!
Edit: That was a lot of fun now that the airplane is flyable!
1 Like
I like that Cub!
It’s pretty awesome. Although it seems relatively squared away, the publisher has gone UTC (unable to contact) for a couple of months, and their support forum has closed down. Still, it’s unquestionably a blast to fly. If you decide to take a leap, the mags and starter are by your left elbow. Must prime the engine before starting and manage temps and rpm during ground ops. Also, it’s GTN650 aware, if you own that.
2 Likes
A couple of approaches into TFFJ RW 10(St. Barts) in the ASDG Super Cub. No wind to test the supposed optimistic glide ratio. Not my best flying for sure.
2 Likes
A short flight from Bella Coola down to the Machmell Fisheries airstrip and lodge.
We are going to fly down there in the VSkyLabs EuroFox:
Bella Coola is a wonderful little airport. I highly recommend this scenery if you don’t already have it.
After takeoff we head straight out to the West, following the valley.
Soon we reach the coastal inlet, which will eventually lead you to the ocean.
We come to the first major fork in the fjord, and make a left turn to the South.
Now heading South, we keep on trucking to the end of the fjord.
The scenery in this region is stunning. Definitely on my bucket list to visit someday.
At the end of the Fjord, we continue South, following a very picturesque valley.
Eventually, the valley opens up and we get our first glimpse of the Machmell Fisheries site.
A quick flyby to survey the area…
The landing strip looks clear.
I should be concentrating on the task at hand, but the scenery is so stunning…
Turning final…
We have arrived!
Some scenery shots at the airstrip…
There is a lodge a short distance from the airstrip, but the EuroFox can’t land there, so a quick helicopter flight is in order. The lodge is in a small forrest clearing. I had to hunt around a bit before finding it.
There is a small landing platform out in front of the main lodge.
Making out approach to the platform/pad.
Easy does it!
Shut down on the pad.
I would have been more than willing to pay for the Machmell Fisheries scenery. I’m amazed that it is available for free. I’m very much looking forward to their Quatam River scenery!
Links to PropStrike Studios and for the Bella Coola scenery on X-Plane.org
12 Likes