Veteran Orbx developers Tim Harris and Ken Hall have announced they are bringing Catalina Airport to Microsoft Flight Simulator. Known as “The Airport in the Sky”, Catalina Airport (KAVX) sits on the island of Catalina just off the coast of California. It sees a range of traffic frequent the airport thanks to its unique location and extremely scenic views. The airport was built by the Wrigley family of Chicago and enabled aircraft to land on the island.
Whilst Tim and Ken originally developed the airport for FSX/P3D, they both took a fresh approach to the airport building the vast majority of the airport rebuilt for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The new buildings have higher texture resolution and made using PBR materials. Also included is detailed ortho imagery for the island and Avalon Harbour area making those flights even more realistic. The pair has also included new 3D people across the island and new points of interest, including the Casino Ballroom, Pebbly Beach, and a detailed rendition of Avalon Bay.
A large number of screenshots of the airport in action were shared on the Orbx forums and you can view a selection above.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this and let you know once we learn of a release date.
Features
- Complete overhaul of the ESP classic
- New building geometry and texturing to benefit from the modern MSFS game engine
- 30cm ortho coverage of the airport and Avalon Harbour area
- Numerous POIs including the Casino Ballroom, Pebbly Beach, USC Wrigley Marine Science Center and Two Harbours
- Unique 3D people models
- New custom vegetation