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
• medicine_hat_ab-3.jpg
• 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.