Midway Islands for FSX by Hawkeye Sims

By Bill Stack
4 December 2009


Screen shots by Hawkeye Sims

Midway Islands are several islands associated with an atoll in the north Pacific Ocean. The entire atoll forms a large ring with most of the islands along its southern crescent. The largest island, called "Sand Island," has settlements and an active airport. The second-largest island, called "Eastern Island," has no settlements and a defunct airport. There are several smaller islands.

Located just east of the International Date Line, these islands are famous for a decisive victory of the United States against Japan on 4 June 1942, and they were a refueling stop for ships going to and from Asia and the United States during the Korean and Vietnamese Wars. The islands have been under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Interior since 1996, and they are a national wildlife refuge. The entire atoll is a habitat for millions of seabirds and marine life.

Henderson Field Airport on Sand Island is fully FAA certified and kept operational around the clock as an emergency landing strip for many trans-Pacific flights.

These islands should not be confused with Midway Island, Virginia, U.S.A.

Hawkeye Simulations has released a scenery of Midway Islands for Microsoft Flight Simulator X, commonly called "FSX". Hawkeye is a small business operated by CEO Tom Neubauer. "We started in early November and we create scenery to recognize the small airports that you may not think about like Friday Harbor or Fallon City," he said. "And we enhance them so they can be frame-rate friendly, a great place to fly, and lots of detail you can expect from Hawkeye Simulations."

Mr. Neubauer explained to me his reasons for making this scenery: "Not many people recognize the amount of effort and determination the U.S. put into these string of islands so that the Japanese wouldn't expand their empire. Right now the island is only used as a refueling point for commercial aircraft, but 60 years ago, 200 miles north of there, there was one of the first epic battles of the Pacific war...and one of the first aircraft carrier vs aircraft carrier battles ever fought in history."

Midway Islands Location
Screen Shots by Bill Stack

Major Features

Hawkeye Sims heralds the following features in its product description:

Updated version of Henderson Field Airport (PMDY) on Sand Island
A fictional army base on the Eastern Island
A naval armada off Sand Island with landable decks for helicopter operations

PURCHASE FEATURES
Instant download from the Pilot Shop	YES
Installation program	NO
License key required	NO
End user license agreement (EULA) required	NO
Uninstall program included	NO
Manual included	NO

Visual Features

The scenery overall is a good representation of these remote, historically significant islands.

Airport runways, taxiways, aprons, signs, and lighting are more realistic than the very basic FSX default depictions. Concrete apron textures are clearly more realistic than in FSX.
Depiction of Sand Island (the main island) reflects the real-world airport as seen in satellite photos available on the Internet.
Depiction of the Eastern Island is fictional, and the developer is forthright about it. Satellite photos show a defunct airbase with deteriorating runways, taxiways, and aprons and no aircraft or other signs of activity. Everything seen on the Eastern Island in this scenery is fictional (except the sand and trees).
Most scenery objects are realistic for the type of airports and the current uses of the islands.
Cruise ships crossing the Pacific sometimes stop outside the atoll, using tenders to deliver passengers to Sand Island for day visits ashore, according to Wikipedia. Thus, the presence of two large cruise ships in the harbor is not realistic.
Night effects are good within the simulator's limits. FSX does not depict objects at night realistically, and some look absurd, but the developer must deal with the objects that come with the scenery-design packages.

Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Hawkeye Sims	FSX
Comparisons
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Technical Features

FSX Acceleration is not required, but it is recommended by the developer for best results. That's because FSX SP1 and SP2 do not display all objects made with FSX Acceleration.
The developer calls for no special display settings. All scenery objects displayed properly with default FSX settings.
Frame rates are good, even when display settings are FSX default. I flew all around the islands with frame rates set at default and unlimited. They were in the 40s and 30s even when my aircraft was near clusters of scenery objects.
No installation program is provided because there is only one file to add to the FSX scenery library. Instructions in a Read Me text file might be a bit confusing for some users, however. This is how I installed my Midway Islands scenery:
- After downloading the archive (ZIP) file, I extracted the single BGL file directly to the addon scenery folder in FSX.
- That folder on my computer is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Addon Scenery\Scenery
- In the FSX Scenery Library, I activated the scenery.

Airport Equipment	Maritime Vessels	Fictitious Airbase	Ground Textures
Object Details
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Nice Features

Scenes of human activity are very good, even though some are fictitious. The lack of clutter and the negligible effect on frame rates is welcomed.

Hawkeye Simulations suggests flying any type of commercial or military jets to and around the islands. Fighters are ideal for the aircraft carrier, and helicopters are ideal for landing on navel vessels with suitable landing pads.

Mr. Neubauer's prompt reply and straightforward answers to my questions bode well for users who need assistance or would like to offer comments.

Night Scenes

Screen shots by Bill Stack

More Information

Maps of Midway Islands can be found here: on the About.Com website.

Good satellite photos are available from Google Maps.

Information about Midway Islands is available at Wikipedia.

Screen Shots

My comparative screen shots were made with FSX display settings on default because no special settings were recommended. While Hawkeye's scenery was active, I slewed to a good vantage point and snapped a shot, then I moved to another vantage point and/or airport and snapped another shot. After all the Hawkeye shots were made, I deactivated the scenery and slewed to the exact vantage points and reshot the views with FSX default scenery. As a result, all screen shots are exactly of the same views.

Summary

This scenery package enhances the simulation experience at these remote and historically significant islands. My comparative screen shots show how much more interesting this scenery is than the default FSX scenery. There are enough scenery objects to make the place enjoyable while not cluttering the area with objects that diminish simulator performance. The developer is forthright about the fictitious airbase on Eastern Island. All and all, it is well worth the low price.

Bill Stack

Learn More About Hawkeye Sims' Midway Islands Scenery

Bill Stack is author of several books about flight simulation, a regular author in flight-sim magazines, and a contributor to Flight Sim Com. His website is www.topskills.com