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Cairns International: Flying Adventures


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Thanks for all the wonderful feedback so far, we all greatly appreciate the kind words.

As we draw onto short finals for Cairns Intl YBCS, I thought it would be good to showcase the scenery in different contexts. One of the key enticements that drew me to this project 18 months ago was the great versatility such an area holds for simmers of all descriptions. Cairns is a hub of aviation of all varieties - as well as being a major international airport, the airport is home to a vibrant general aviation sector; it is the departure point for charters up into Cape York, PNG and many south-western Pacific islands. Alongside a seaplane base at Cairns Marina, there is a heavy helicopter presence around the city, primarily looking after tourist flights out to the Great Barrier Reef.

Today, we take a spin around the city and reef in the trusty default Jetranger. Being a strong member of the ORBX beta team, Ryan Mason has had a few words in my ear to ensure that the eggbeater crowd is well catered for. Aside from the chopper facilities at the airport itself, there are four seperate dedicated helipad locations dotted around the scenery.

Departing from Barrier Aviation at YBCS

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Overview of the GA ramp

[img width=1151 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_2.jpg

Passing Cairns Base Hospital - modeled in high detail (and with 7cm helipad featured)

[img width=1151 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_3.jpg

[img width=1130 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_4.jpg

[img width=1015 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_5.jpg

[img width=1015 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_6.jpg

Cairns Esplanade helipad - the last stop before heading out to the reef

[img width=1156 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_7.jpg

[img width=1015 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_8.jpg

Overflying Green Island (with helipads) - we won't stop here today as this isn't our destination.

[img width=1015 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_9.jpg

Departing Vlassoff Cay

[img width=1146 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_10.jpg

Arriving back at YBCS - we have 6 helicopter statics placed around the scenery.

[img width=1015 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_11.jpg

Finishing up at the GBR Group hangers - note that the trolley is landable (as requested by Ryan!)

[img width=1156 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Eggbeaters_12.jpg

Stay tuned!

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This looks amazing!

How do you think Cairns would go on my low-end PC? To give you an idea, I have no trouble flying around PNW near Seattle (with my appropriate FSX Go! profile of course!) (actually no issues with any of my adds). Just that this looks too hard to resist (all that nice water to tease a scuba diver! ;D).

Also, are there any pontoons/moorings etc  out on the reef to fly to? One might get a few helo and float plane trips going!

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Thanks guys, getting close now  ;)

How do you think Cairns would go on my low-end PC? To give you an idea, I have no trouble flying around PNW near Seattle (with my appropriate FSX Go! profile of course!)

I don't run anything particularly fast myself (see my laptop specs below), and at the end of the day I design scenery that runs respectably on my own computer. Your agn slider will be the decisive slider for this scenery, and of course a well-balanced use of the control panel settings. I find performance on my machine to be similar to YMML v2, and if you have your setup tuned to get decent performance out of Seattle, you shouldn't have any problems at YBCS.

Also, are there any pontoons/moorings etc  out on the reef to fly to? One might get a few helo and float plane trips going!

Not for RTM unfortunately (aside from Vlassoff and Green Island). It is something high on the to-do list, but unfortunately we just ran out of time. I'll definitely be considering a patch to include this at a later date though.

Landable, but they've got to be way to close to the hangar for landing!?  :o

It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't dangerous, right? ;D(isn't that the reason people fly helicopters anyway?)

Cheers,

Jarrad

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For our next adventure (and something quite different), today we bring the B767 in for a quick turnover at Cairns Intl. Given the dramatic scenery, approaches straight over the city (when using rwy 33), and interesting noise abatement procedures, YBCS has always been a favourite airport amongst tubeliner simmers. These shots show the scenery in a slightly different light to the previous set; enjoy.

On finals (Rwy15) over the Northern Beaches suburb of Yorkey's Knob

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Detail shot of Holloway Beach and NDB

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Short finals

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Detail shot of high-definition custom runway textures

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Note ground-detail brickwork and Russ' human models

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Spotter's view

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From the other side

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Implementing noise abatement procedures, those with a keen eye will spot the WW2 Catalina Memorial

[img width=1020 height=700]http://fullterrain.com/orbxauteam/westsim_uploads/screenshots/Tubeliner_10.jpg

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Cheers,

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Breathtaking images... I stayed in the appartement building at the right-hand edge of the next to last "Implementing noise abatement procedures..." picture a few years ago and am really looking forward to not only seeing the procedures from the ground (or rather the balcony), but flying the indeed quite interesting maneuvers over this stunning scenery myself. The problem will most probably be, that all I´ll do is circle again and again, not wanting to leave... The scenery supplied so far was always quite nice - but the regrets when leaving were not too great =)

Cheers

Mallard

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