Introduction

Having recently reviewedKatoomba Airportfor Microsoft Flight Simulator, I thought it was time to check outanother budget scenery, this time Pickens County Airport by LandingArea Scenery Design, a new developer in the world of flightsimulation.

This little scenery caught my eye, not just because of its lowprice, but because the screen shots and location both looked inviting.

Having now spent the last few days flying in and out of PickensCounty Airport, what was my overall opinion of the scenery? Well,read on and find out...

The Airport

Pickens County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport inPickens County, Georgia, United States. It is located 2 nm (3.7 km)southwest of the central business district of Jasper, Georgia. As perthe FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009-2013,it is classified as a general aviation airport.

The airport covers an area of 137 acres at an elevation of 1,535feet (468 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 16/34with an asphalt surface measuring 5000 by 100 feet (1524 x 30 m).

For the 12-month period, the airport had 30,660 general aviationaircraft operations, an average of 84 per day. At that time there were83 aircraft based at this airport: 78 single-engine, 3 multi-engine,and 2 helicopters.

Installation

After purchasing the scenery from the FlightSim.Com Store, I waspresented with a zip file to download. Weighing in at just over500 MB, it was quite a large download for such a relatively smallscenery.

With this task completed, it was then a simple case of placing thenewly created scenery folder into the "Community" section of my MSFSdirectory and that was it...job done.

Walkabout

Starting in the air, the above subheading seems to be a bitmisleading, so let's call it the initial flyaround.

From above, the scenery looks very good as you can see a mix ofbuildings and hangars situated around the runway. These are highlyrepresentative of its real-life counterpart, so I was suitablyimpressed. As for the runway itself, fly a little lower and thetextures are generally good with suitable weathering effects beingpresent. However, one thing that caught my eye and which detractedfrom the overall attractiveness of the textures, was the veryclear-cut edges of the runway itself. Here I thought they were fartoo abrupt and would therefore benefit from some kind of blendingtechnique.

Moving on, and the highlight of the scenery is the small (buthomely) wooden airport building used as the main operations hub.Walking up to the picket fence and then up the steps, I couldn't helpbut be impressed by the level of detail on offer...after all, we aretalking about a scenery which costs just over £5!

There is outdoor seating present and even a drinks machine on offer(if you have change). Had I not been so busy, I could have happilyjust sat there and watched the sun go down...perhaps next time.

Other buildings located around the airport include numerous hangarsfor GA aircraft and a few small maintenance facilities. These allseem to be accurately placed, and whilst not as detailed as the mainairport building, they still work well and look the part.

There are a few static aircraft present, but when compared toGoogle Maps which shows seventeen aircraft at the airport, I feltthere weren't really enough shown. One thing missing from the sceneryis people. Try as I might, I couldn't find a single person (and I canshout, trust me), which was a shame because I feel it would have addeda bit more character and life. Perhaps the developer could look intoadding some people in a future update?

Night Lighting

I wasn't really expecting anything special in terms of nighttextures, but truth be told, I was pleasantly surprised. With the sunlong gone below the horizon, I was most impressed with the mood set bythe night lighting on the main airport building. On a warm summernight, I can just imagine sitting here taking in the sites and soundsof the...crickets!

Away from the main building, and you'll find night lighting at mostof the hangars and maintenance facilities and whilst not up to thesame standard, it still looks good.

Performance

For the most part, performance was very good when exploring thescenery on high and ultra settings, but I did notice that on both,there was a degree of lag when flying over grassy areas. I can onlysurmise that this was due either to the high level of grass detail onoffer or that I was hitting my VRAM limit. Which one it was, I cannotbe sure, but it in no way spoiled my overall enjoyment.

Conclusion

When thinking about this scenery, one must take into considerationthe price first and foremost. Is it worth parting with yourhard-earned cash? At a purchase price of just £5 (at the timeof writing), it is true you are not going to get a stunningmasterpiece in which every attention to detail has been painstakinglyafforded, but what you do get is a delightful little airport with justenough character in which to call home. For the price, I really don'tthink you can go wrong with Pickens County Airport, and if thedeveloper updates it with the changes mentioned, then it truly is oneto explore and enjoy.

Felicity Smith

Purchase Landing Area Scenery Design - KJZP - Pickens County Airport for MSFS