Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery
Homer PaHO in Alaska US

Images related to this file:

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

File Description:
Homer is a mainly GA airfield with rows of open air parking, but it also has scheduled flights, a terminal building, a long (for GA) runway of just under 6,700 feet that is 150 feet wide and aligned 03-21 with VASI on both ends and ILS on 03. So I think we can refer to it as an airport. Plus, at the time of this scenery (around 2010) there were three newly completed hangars on the north apron that I was told were for three companies, Bald Mountain Air service, Maritime Helicopters, and Pathfinder Aviation. I do not know which was for whom, but all three companies are in the helicopter and/or plane charter business. The south apron has a number of hangars and other buildings along it's length, starting at the western end with Smokey Bay Air that has an old control tower on the roof, then the Fire Station, and then Homer Air. I am not aware of who owns what after those first three, except that at the far eastern end there are several garages etc for the airport maintenance equipment. Next to the airport at that end there are a number of boat maintenance companies with boats pulled out of the water; this could not be well replicated due to the airport elevation above the sea level and a misplaced road. The nearby Beluga Lake 5BL float base is also included here, with some AI. The lake height above sea level has been adjusted to cope with too many cliffs intruding into the water; this is an annoying FS9 habit. The Homer scenery is as close to the actual airport as I could make it, while coping with inaccurate coast lines and roads, and grassed areas that could not all be modified for reasons that I will not bore you with. The Spit is a major scenery feature next to the airport, and I have added to this to provide some boats, docks, and nearby buildings etc. Small planes use the adjacent gravel taxi path instead of the runway when back-tracking to take off on runway 21. They only go as far as the path takes them and then u-turn onto the runway and take off. By the way, this airport's AI will function at its best if the prevailing wind makes 03 the runway in use. And I will eventually stop writing 03 and just call it 3, as the US, alone in the world, does not put a zero in front of 01, 02, 03, 04 etc. Just one other thing to note is that all access to the runway is from taxiways A and B; there was (in 2010) no access to the extreme western end of the runway as the taxiway there is marked as out of service pending a needed resurfacing. If you find an error email me please, and note that my email address has been changed to rogwens at Gmail dot com.