Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Quesnel CYQZ in British Columbia, Canada

File Description:
Quesnel is around 65 miles south of Prince George, at the junction of the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers. It has a population of less than 10,000 and is reliant on the timber industry and tourism (hiking, canoeing, fishing, hunting) in the surrounding area for it's income. The date for this scenery is, once again, around 2010. The airport is on the northern edge of the town and has a runway of 5,500 feet aligned 13-31 with PAPI at both ends. Because of the surrounding terrain runway 13 has a right hand VFR circuit. Parking for GA aircraft is organised by the Quesnel Flying Club in a grassed area adjacent to the concrete and asphalt apron. Also adjacent to the apron is the extraordinary terminal building, and next to that is the comparatively very ordinary building that houses the flying club. There are the usual airfield and plane maintenance buildings, and at the southern end of the runway two private hangars. There is also a Fire Base housing personnel that either drive from the base or fly by helicopter to deal with local forest fires at ground level. The AI included here is for Central Mountain Air and GA. I added to and adjusted the CYXS AI so that there are GA flights between CYXS and CYQZ, so just replace your current CYXS AI with this new one. Please email me if you find faults, such as a plane without textures. Note my newish email address at the end of these notes.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Prince George CYXS in British Columbia, Canada

File Description:
Prince George is centrally located in British Columbia, mid way between the border with the USA in the south and the northern border with the Northern Territories, and around 100 miles west of the eastern border with Alberta. The town now has a population of around 74,000 and is regarded as the province's northern capital. It is at the meeting point of the Fraser and Nechako rivers and the crossroads of highways 16 and 97. It started out as Fort George in the early 1800's when a trading post was established by the Northwest Company,serviced by paddle boats on the rivers. The railway arrived in the area in 1914 and growth continued, albeit slowly due to wars and the financial collapse of the 1930's. Timber and timber products were and still are the mainstay of the area, along with a military and governmental presence. The date for this scenery is around 2010. I have made some new buildings from memory and the available information online. They are not totally accurate reproductions; for instance I know that the terminal building is brick faced and also has parts that are stone (or metal?) faced, but where? So I used brick everywhere. The control tower is also brick faced, but is not exactly the right shape. The airport management team have continued to grow the activity and services provided with the result that flights and passenger numbers continue to increase. The 15-33 runway was lengthened to the south, (in the period 2003 to 2005) from the original FS9 scenery 7,400 feet to my updated 11,450 feet with central lighting and ILS at the northern end. This made it the third longest runway in Canada. At the same time a loading/unloading cargo area was created with professionally run storage and also a large scale refueling storage. If DHL want to refuel their 737 then they can do so without making prior arrangements. The AI included here is for Air Canada Jazz and an Air Canada 737, Westjet 737 and Dash8, a helicopter company that is based there, Pacific Coastal, Central Mountain Air, and GA. The range of airlines and planes reflects the "northern capital" status of the town.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
FS9 Fort St John CYXJ in BC Canada

File Description:
Fort St John is close to the border between British Columbia and Alberta, around 40 miles north-northwest of Dawson Creek. The airport was originally a Royal Canadian Air Force base, associated with the wartime construction of the Alaska Highway. The airfield was part of this construction effort and the wartime ferrying of planes to Russia. It is currently named "North Peace Regional Airport", or "North Peace Airport"; apparently there has been no final decision? The date for this scenery is around 2006. I was given an old video tape cassette which was filmed on an uncertain date, but which had to be before the terminal building was renovated in 2007 and totally changed in appearance. The only way to view the video was to play it in the camera and watch it on a small screen. After I had completed everything except the buildings I started to view the video to establish the building appearances and within an hour or so the camera died. It was so old there was no way to repair it, so I then made some new buildings from memory of the video and what was available online. I also used some that I had already made for other scenery but which were similar. I may replace the terminal building that is in this version with a build of the new one, as I know this one is not a very accurate reproduction. The replacement, if I do it, will be towards the end of this year. The AI included here is for GA, Air Canada Jazz, and two helicopter companies that were (and still are?) based there. One is at the western end of the apron and the other is at the eastern end but separated from the apron. To gain access to the taxiways and runways (so that all airport users follow the same procedures, for safety reasons) the eastern end helicopters just taxi across the grass. The helicopters are used for maintenance trips to the oil and gas fields in the surrounding area. My screenshots show Westjet at the terminal; this is because I have later Canadian AI installed, while the AI included here is only for the time around 2000 to 2010, when Westjet were not flying to Fort St John. The airport is square in plan, with the apron running along the northern side and two runways forming diagonals. The two runways are 11-29 (6,882 feet long and 200 feet wide, with ILS at the 29 end and PAPI at the other) and 02-20 (6,684 feet long and 200 feet wide, and with PAPI at each end). The eastern side taxiway that runs north-south is not used. The western side taxiway is in use but only as a race track for cars. Please email me if you find faults, such as a plane without textures.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Missing Texture message Bell206B

File Description:
There have been a report of an FS9 messages popping up requesting the texture "Bell 206B" to be added to the a scenery texture folder; unfortunately I was not told which scenery. This is probably to do with my transfer of all FS9 files from one laptop that had died to a new one. Presumably "all" wasn't quite what I achieved. Please do NOT leave a message attached to the scenery posting! Email me for something like this. If you get the message put this folder in the texture folder of whichever scenery you are directed to. I stress that I mean "THE FOLDER" and not just the contents of the folder.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Missing Texture AS 350 Blackcomb

File Description:
There have been some reports of FS9 messages popping up requesting the texture "AS 350 Blackcomb" to be added to the Homer texture folder, or to the Medicine Hat texture folder. This is probably to do with my transfer of all FS9 files from one laptop that had died to a new one. Presumably "all" wasn't quite what I achieved. This message seems to appear after installing Fort Nelson scenery, but that is probably just a coincidence and Fort Nelson probably has nothing to do with it. If you get the message put this folder in the texture folder of whichever scenery you are directed to. I stress that I mean "THE FOLDER" and not just the contents of the folder.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Anticosti Island in Quebec Canada

Images related to this file:

• anticosti_island_qc-1.jpg
• anticosti_island_qc-2.jpg
• anticosti_island_qc-3.jpg
• anticosti_island_qc-4.jpg

File Description:
Anticosti Island is in the Gulf of St Lawrence, around 25 miles off the Quebec mainland coast. It is some 40 miles wide and 130 miles long on an east west axis. There are few urban areas and only one that can be described as a small town, namely Port Menier at the western end of the southern coast, with a population of under 1,000. There is a ferry service to the harbour. The airport, Port Menier CYPN, is around 3 miles northeast of the town, with an asphalt runway aligned 11-28, 4,875 feet long and 150 feet wide with PAPI at each end. In 2010 (the approximate date of this scenery) a gravel runway was still visible at the eastern end of the field. This was no longer in use by 2010, except perhaps by small planes on skis in the winter. The island, with its small population, small urban area, and no industry other than logging, has as a result a mainly undisturbed wildlife population. This has made deer hunting and fishing the main tourist activities, with one company (called Safari) having an exclusive licence to exploit large areas of mountains and rivers. Planeloads of hunters and fishermen are flown in on chartered Nolinor Aviation planes, landing at CYPN. There are a further two airfields in the eastern end of the island, and in 2010 Rivere-Aux-Saumons CTH7 had a 5,500 feet gravel runway, linked by road to a lodge area at the mouth of the river. This is the only lodge area that I have been able to locate, but there are others. To the south Riviere Bell CRB5 had at that time a gravel runway that was 3,000 feet long. This has been lengthened since then and both runways were recently (2021) asphalted. If you find an error email me please, and note that my email address has been changed to rogwens at Gmail dot com. The reason I am posting this now is that I discovered that my original post ended up in MSFS Original Aircraft instead of in FS2004 Scenery. Ooops!

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Fort Nelson CYYE in British Columbia, Canada

Images related to this file:

• fort_nelson_bc-2.jpg
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• fort_nelson_bc-4.jpg
• fort_nelson_bc-5.jpg
• fort_nelson_bc-6.jpg

File Description:
Fort Nelson is close to the Peace River in the northeast corner of British Columbia, around 70 miles from the northern border, 90 from the eastern border, and 80 miles east of the Rockies. The wartime construction of the Alaska Highway actually started from Fort Nelson, as there was already a road from Fort St John (which is close to Dawson Creek) north to Fort Nelson. The airfield was part of this construction effort and after the wartime ferrying of planes to Russia it was used by the US Army Air Force and then by the Canadian Air Force. Fort Nelson flourished with the oil and gas exploration of the 1950's and the following years, and this continued to grow until the collapse of the oil price in 2014. The town of Fort Nelson became the capital of the Northern Rockies Regional District when it was founded in 2009, and as a result the official name of the Fort Nelson airport is the Northern Rockies Regional Airport. The date for this scenery is around 2016, by which time the economic fortunes of the town were in decline. Five times per day flights by Central Mountain Air were starting to be reduced in number to the current (in 2022) one per day and none on Sunday; in the AI included here there are two flights per day. The main resident users of the airport are four helicopter companies, the helicopters presumably used for maintenance trips to whatever parts of the oil and gas fields that are still in use in the surrounding area. There are two runways, the main one is aligned 03-21, 6,400 feet long and 200 feet wide, with ILS at the southern end and PAPI at the northern. The second runway (a narrower rebuild on a previously existing runway) is aligned 07-25 and 77 feet wide, and is without any lights. These are the alignments as per the original build of FS9 and not as per the approximate 2016 date of the buildings; I had a problem at a very late stage in making this scenery which prevented me from continuing with some final details. On YouTube there is a series of posts by Angle of Attack showing the preparation and then the flight of an old Cessna 172 from Homer to Oshkosh for the installation of modern instruments. Interesting for me as they visit or fly over airfields I have made (Homer, Merrill, Tok Junction, Burwash, Silver City, Haines Junction, Watson Lake, Fort Nelson, and Grande Prairie) but in the winter so it all looks very different.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Medicine Hat CYXH in Alberta Canada

Images related to this file:

• medicine_hat_ab-1.jpg
• medicine_hat_ab-2.jpg
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• medicine_hat_ab-4.jpg
• medicine_hat_ab-5.jpg

File Description:
Medicine Hat is a town in south Alberta, beside the South Saskatchewan River, and around 180 miles southeast of Calgary. Originally a railroad town, and in fact still served by the railway and now also by the Trans-Canada Highway, it is currently mainly known for the large natural gas fields in the area. As Rudyard Kipling said, Medicine Hat has "all hell for a basement". The name of the city is a translation of the Blackfoot tribal name for the eagle tail feather headdress worn by tribal medicine men, and it was curiosity about the name that first got my attention. The date of this scenery is not 2010, as is usual for my scenery; it is more like 2015. The terminal building has been extended and improved, the apron around the two large southern hangars and the large rental hangars behind them is still visibly new, and the tie-down parking places on the grass accessed off one side of the old taxiway are in place and in use. The airport is now (2015) not in the busy usage that it experienced in the second half of the 1900's and old taxiways and a runway have been left to decay and large old hangars have been demolished. Hence the visible remains. The current runways were rebuilt (on top of the existing as foundations) and are 03-21 with 4,990 feet of lit asphalt 150 feet wide with PAPI at both ends, and 09-27 with 2,885 feet of lit asphalt 100 feet wide. The two newish hangars to the south are a helicopter operating and maintenance company with a flight training school based in the adjoining offices (light grey buildings) and an FBO in hangar and offices (dark grey). Further buildings have been erected since then, and some existing ones have been reclad (eg. light grey now, in 2021, has a light blue roof). I have cheated in one respect. In reality, the edges of the airport have been gradually utilised for various purposes, such as workshops, storage sheds, factories, etc, with access from the surrounding urban roads. As I have almost no information regarding their appearance I decided to leave the airport area as it was originally built, rather than incorporating buildings that I know are false. I admit that this was also the laziest solution. The scenery includes a grass strip 3 miles to the south of Medicine Hat, namely Schlenker CFZ3. It is the only airfield I have come across where the fences are not around the edge of the airfield, they are instead around the runways and apron. I presume this is so animals can be left to feed off the grass in summer. The AI includes flights by Air Canada Jazz.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Burwash CYDB in Yukon Territory Canada

Images related to this file:

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• burwash_yt-2.jpg
• burwash_yt-3.jpg
• burwash_yt-4.jpg

File Description:
Burwash Landing is a very small village in the Yukon Territory, Canada, situated amid the Rocky Mountains at the northern end of Kluane Lake and some 30 miles from Silver City. The airfield, called just "Burwash" in the Nav Canada listing, is 2 miles northwest of the village and adjacent to the Alaska Highway. The runway is 5,000 feet of lit gravel aligned 10-19 and 130 feet wide, with VASI at each end. The date of this scenery is, as usual, around 2010. There is a company based at the airfield called Rocking Star Adventures, which is engaged in the same activity as the other companies at Haines Junction and Silver City, ie taking tourists around the glaciers of Kluane National Park. The park is very imressive from the air. The Ai was included with the Haines Junction post.

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Silver City CFQ5 in Yukon Territory Canada

Images related to this file:

• silver_city_yt-1.jpg
• silver_city_yt-2.jpg
• silver_city_yt-3.jpg

File Description:
Silver City is a ghost town in the Yukon Territory, Canada, amid the Rocky Mountains and around 35 miles northwest of Haines Junction. It is on the southern end of Kluane Lake and in the Kluane National Park and this probably explains it's (minimal) survival after what appears to have been the shutdown of mining for silver. There is little information readily available. The date of this scenery is, as usual, around 2010. There was no recent regular service by Yukon Air North or any other airline, and the primary user of the airfield adjacent to the lake is a company called Icefield Discovery Tours. Their activity is probably very similar to the company at Haines Junction and involves trips to the National Park amid mountains and glaciers. There is also another organisation at the airfield, the Kluane Lake Research Station of the Arctic Institute. They have four buildings there but it is unclear how much aerial activity they generate, or if in fact they fly at all for their work. The runway is 3,000 feet of unlit gravel, aligned north-south. This post will be followed by Burwash, which is at the far northwestern end of the lake. There is no video of the Silver City airfield on Youtube, and it is not the most exciting airfield in the world, but the location is enough in real life for a visit to be made. On YouTube there is a series of posts by Angle of Attack showing the preparation and then the flight of an old Cessna 172 from Homer to Oshkosh for the installation of modern instruments. Interesting for me as they visit or fly over airfields I have made: Homer, Merrill, Tok Junction, Burwash, Silver City, Haines Junction, Watson Lake, Fort Nelson, and Grande Prairie. But they fly in the winter so it all looks very different.