Introduction

I've been meaning to write this article for more than three months. Originally it was going to come out in conjunction with the release of UK2000's EGPE Inverness airport, and I appreciated greatly getting a review copy of that product. Then, I wrote an initial draft, only to see that the UK update for MSFS was supposedly imminent, so I scrapped the draft and waited and waited and waited. Well, at last, the UK update has arrived, and it's time for another KerrSpective, as I reminisce about Highland Memories, and give an unashamed push for UK2000 in the process.

I first experienced the Highlands of Scotland as a teenager, when our family started taking annual vacations at Fort Augustus, on the south point of Loch Ness. Coming from a steel town in the English midlands, the Highlands represented a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. I fell in love with the lochs, glens, and silver seas, and so did my folks. As a result, we relocated from Corby, Northants, up to Fort Augustus in 1979. The Highlands were no longer a vacation spot, they were now home.

I lived at Fort Augustus for about a year and a half before moving south again for career purposes. But, three years later, I was back again. I bought a house in Inverness, on the east side of the city, at Culloden. And bonus, I was under the approach to EGPE, Inverness Dalcross Airport. I remained there until emigrating to Canada in 1988, and you can read about that in my previous KerrSpective on Brampton-Caledon Airport near Toronto.

I have now been away from the Highlands for 33 years. Once again I wonder where the time went. And so, as with the previous article, I am re-living old experiences and revisiting old haunts with MSFS. So just how good a job does Asobo do here? And did the update make it better? Let's find out in this mixture of memory, hangar talk, and review.

UK2000's Inverness Airport

Central to this article is UK2000's Inverness airport, and I've got to say they did a commendable job. I have no problem recommending it to you, especially if you want to spend any time exploring the north of Scotland. Inverness is the perfect base for exploration in the real world, and UK2000's EGPE is the perfect base for exploring in the sim.

Of course, it's not quite as I remember it, but most of my time at EGPE was before the new terminal and other improvements took place. It is however a good representation of how the airport looks now, and for most people, that's what's important.

Is it perfect? No. But the imperfections are relatively minor. There is an issue with the roof textures flashing on three of the buildings, and I am sure the developer will work on that. I also see the wrong types of static aircraft sitting at the small on-site museum, but that might be because no models of the correct types were available. There's also a generic building representing the new hotel that opened a year ago. But honestly, I can live with these things as they do not spoil the overall enjoyment for me.

The best way to showcase the airport is to simply show you in screenshots, and let them do the talking! Just look at the level of detail and you'll know why I am enthusiastic about the product.

In my personal opinion, if you're going to fly in the Scottish Highlands in MSFS, it is worth buying this airport.

Asobo And The Local Area

But what about the local area itself? In reality, this part of Scotland is gorgeous and so full of character. You've got the Moray Firth on which the airport sits, and this opens out into the North Sea. Just a bit further north lies the Cromarty Firth and in between is the area known as the Black Isle. Then, from Inverness you go south to Loch Ness just a few miles away, or west along the Beauly Firth. It's a spot I miss deeply to this day.

When it comes to representing the local geography, Asobo has done a great job. The recent update does appear to have lessened the incidences of water creeping up the hills, and maybe the mesh is a bit more detailed too. In all, when I fly across this area in MSFS, I feel that I'm back home. Maybe that's why I can fly it over and over again and not get tired of it. Just look at the screenshots below:

However, I cannot be so enthusiastic about the way in which Asobo is still representing man-made infrastructure in the region. Before the update, we had to put up with farm buildings looking like apartments, and that does seem to have been scaled back thankfully. But, we are missing so many local points of interest that the job is still only half done. Here's a shortlist of missing features that are so needed to finish it off.

• Fort George
• The oil rigs in the Cromarty Firth
• The Cromarty bridge
• The Kessock Bridge
• Inverness castle
• Castle Stuart
• Eden Court Theatre
• Raigmore hospital
• Inverness cathedral
• More Inverness churches
• Urquhart Castle
• Fort Augustus Abbey
• Fort Augustus lock gates
• and more

While there are indeed representations of these features in MSFS, unfortunately, they are generic autogen instead of the iconic structures they should be. And for me, this is a big disappointment, all the more when I was used to seeing all of these modeled by either ScotFlight or Orbx in previous sim platforms. It sometimes feels like a step backward, or maybe an indication that Asobo had to draw a line somewhere. So, the door's open Orbx. Haste ye back to the Highlands and get the job done.

Hangar Talk And Re-Creating Memories

And now... Drumroll... Let's enjoy some hangar talk! There are several flights that I want to remember, but of these, only one can be totally recreated so far in MSFS.

1. Which way is up?

I used to love poking around EGPE in the pre-911 years before airport fences and security. And so, you'd often find me walking around the edge of the wind-swept ramp, exploring hangars, and generally having a whale of a time with such unbelievable freedoms. And so it was that one day, (rented video camera in hand), I met a certain gentleman with the initials RR.

RR's pride and joy was his Tipsy Nipper (Google it), a diminutive aerobatic machine that he loved to fly upside-down for prolonged periods. He was getting ready for an airshow appearance at nearby RAF Lossiemouth, and when he saw the camera he asked if I'd take some footage of his display to show to the folks on the station. So, no worries, off he went and did his display, and I stayed on the ground to film it all.

Thereafter, he thought we should edit in some aerial footage, and as it happened one of the local Cessna 152's had a red engine cowling just like his Nipper. Also, this particular 152 (G-BDOW) was the Aerobat variant. So, we taped the camera on the glare shield and subsequently flew five or six aerobatic flights over the next week. I truly got to see the Highlands from every possible angle, while even managing to keep my food inside my stomach in the process. It was great fun.

Now, here's what's neat. We do have the Cessna 152 Aerobat in the mid-priced version of MSFS, and it's painted in the same colours as the aircraft we flew. So, (cue music as on my video)... Here ya' go.

2. How low can you fly?

On another trip into the airport, I happened to see a chap prepping a PA-28 Warrior for a flight. On closer inspection, I noticed only two people, and of course four seats. Never slow to ask, I piped up, "Want another passenger?" And within fifteen minutes we were trundling down the runway for a trip over the Black Isle.

Well, I've done a lot of flying over the years, but the next half hour proved to be the most frightening experience I've had in an aeroplane to this very day. So what was it that terrified me?

There's an old adage "Thou shalt not fly low and slow", and this fellow broke both of those conditions. How slow? Just over stalling, and how low? Take a look at this image.

No, we were not landing, we were buzzing the farmhouses, and our pilot was looking in the windows of the farmhouses instead of watching the rapidly-approaching trees in front of our propellor. And then there's this image too...

Those rigs were way too close for comfort, and as we got lower so was the water of the Cromarty Firth. Thankfully, I made it home in one piece, although my wife told me that I was whiter than she had ever seen me after any flight. Years later, I heard an unconfirmed report that the pilot had died in a low-flying accident.

So can I reproduce this flight in MSFS? No. I am of course waiting for the Piper Arrow from JustFlight, but that won't be a Warrior. And how about those rigs in the Firth? They are missing in MSFS too. I therefore cannot reproduce this flight in MSFS. However, courtesy of JustFlight and Orbx, I can refly it in P3D v4.5. So here's how it looks in that older sim platform as I wait for the missing assets to make their way into MSFS.

3. Flying the DC-3

Several years after moving away from the Highlands, I got into the flight sim business when I started Visually Incredible Panels, which later became The VIP Group. The catalyst that launched that business was my DC-3 panel for FS4, and the DC-3 would indeed become a mainstay of our subsequent product line. My thanks to such names from the past as John Kelly, Trev Morson, and of course Jan Visser for their contribution to the VIP DC-3's.

One of our VIP customers turned out to be the chief pilot at Air Atlantique at that time. And so it was that I received an invitation in 1986 to come back to the UK to fly with the airline in both the DC-3 and the Lockheed L-188 Electra. Of course, I was delighted at the prospect, but it got even better when I was told the DC-3 flight would be from Inverness. That trip became a visit back to see my folks and sister too.

I will never forget how excited I was to walk around DC-3 G-ANAF on the Inverness ramp and then to board it for the crew training flight. I even spent some time in the left seat and had a bit of "stick time" before having to give up the seat again to the captain.

My most vivid memory is of climbing out over Fort George. I was in the pilot's seat and taking a ton of video. I'd been looking down the Firth towards the Kessock Bridge, then I filmed the port engine, turned the camera on myself for a moment, and then Fort George came into view and I filmed it too. It was a fantastic flight, and I treasure the memories of course. I wish I had still pictures to show you.

So, can I re-live this flight in MSFS? Once again the answer is no. I look forward to Aeroplane Heaven bringing out their DC-3, but Fort George is still generic autogen. And so I turn again to my trusty old P3D. Thank goodness I did not delete it in anticipation of MSFS coming out last August. Here are a couple of P3D screenshots.

Conclusions

There are many more Inverness flights I could recall. Like the time we diverted to RAF Kinloss on a Dan-Air flight from London because EGPE was socked in. Our BAC 1-11 parked right beside a line of Nimrods! Sheer magic! Then there were several trips down Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, and the cross-country out to Ben Nevis and then further west. But, I will wait until we get more POI structures and a greater selection of aircraft to feature them in an article.

Having said that, I am pleased to fly generally round the region in MSFS, sometimes I can¡¦t get enough of it. And, just now and again, I still pop into P3D. Yes, there are deficiencies in each sim experience and positives in both. But, with every new addon by third-party developers and Asobo's ongoing efforts, MSFS continues to mature into the platform I want it to be.

Kenneth