KerrSpective 4
Rolling Back The Years With CNC3 Brampton-Caledon Airport Pro For MSFS 2020
By Kenneth James Kerr
When I was a teenager, my dad once told me, “The older you get the faster time goes.” I clearly remember thinking it was one of the daftest things I’d ever heard my dad say, but nearly fifty years later it is amazing how wise and true it has turned out to be.
With the passage of time, and the increasing years, I have discovered not only how time does indeed fly, but also how luxurious it can be to bathe in nostalgia when considering the years that have slipped into history. I talked about this recently when recording my new video course on journaling (HERE), and I also found nostalgia flooding over me like a tidal wave when trying out a new airport in MSFS2020.
Today, I want to roll back the years, and offer the KerrSpective that MSFS2020 is an amazing way to re-live your personal history!
I go back to the year 1988. I was a mere 30 years of age and a very enthusiastic church minister. I’d been trying to set up a congregation of our fellowship in Inverness, Scotland for a number of years, and was ready for a change. That change came when a church near Toronto hired me as their preacher, and my wife and I emigrated to Canada on July 1st of that year.
Our new home was the city of Brampton, sitting just to the west of Toronto. Even in 1988, you could drive from the main mall in Brampton to the very heart of Toronto, and never leave the urban sprawl for a moment. It was a harsh change from the serenity of the Scottish highlands, but I fell in love with it almost instantly.
Within a few weeks we were settling into our new life. I’d bought a car, set up my office at the church building, and we were looking for a house to rent. Of course, I’d spent tons of time already beside the fence at CYYZ (Pearson International) which was only a few miles away, but I’d also discovered the local hub of general aviation. This was the pretty little airfield of Brampton-Caledon (CNC3), and best of all it was five minutes from where we were living.
About two months later, we were moved into our rented place near Heart Lake, I’d got a computer, and had purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator for the first time. It was version four, and it seemed amazing to me as I flew circuits from Meigs Field in those jerky, primitive graphics. And this brought back my appetite for real flying, so I popped over to CNC3, and signed up for lessons. As it turned out, I hated the instructor’s approach, and only did three flights from Brampton, but the memory of flying from that field is still as clear as a bell.
Well, that is 32 years ago now. Yes, my late dad was right. Where have those years gone? So many changes. I have not been a minister since 1989, have changed my whole philosophy of life since then (more than once), and sometimes feel strange when I see “my dad” looking back at me from the mirror as I shave. Sometimes I think the only external thing that’s not changed is that I am still using Microsoft Flight Simulator! So today I’m going to give you an example of using it to “re-visit” the past.
How many of you have already flown over places you lived at years ago? How many of you have found yourself re-living a time that is gone? And how many have shaken their heads when looking at the MSFS2020 scenery, and said “It looks familiar, but man has that place grown!” Heck, this is not a simulator (or game – depending on your bent), it is a memory-machine! A nostalgia-engendering, memory-producing, time-traveling device that defies age, location, and even circumstances. And so I have rolled back the years to CNC3 Brampton-Caledon Airport.
Now available on the FlightSim.Com store, “CNC3 Brampton-Caledon Airport Pro for MSFS” has just been released as the first-ever commercial design by a new name to our industry, Roman Design. Why Roman? That’s the fellow’s first name, and he indeed lives and works (graphic and website design) in the Greater Toronto Area. He started out creating freeware to enhance the GTA a few months ago, and has already put out an improved photogrammetry of Toronto, an enhanced Niagara Falls, and a couple of airports. One of those airports is the “Light” freeware version of Brampton, and it is available to whet your appetite for his commercial version.
I’m not going to go into every detail of the product, that’s not my intention here. Rather, I want to get across to you just how easily the years fell away when exploring both the airport and the area in MSFS2020. It was literally like being there again. Roman has done such an impressive job with CNC3 that he makes that very easy to experience.
My nostalgia started right at the main access road into the airport. I have parked my car here and watched Cessnas taking off many times in the past. I know this place, and it feels like I am there again. Looking down the road, seeing the museum building to the right, noticing the angle of the runway in relation to the road, and then seeing the characteristic red-roofed hangars to the left, this is uncanny. I wonder how it will be when VR comes along?
1. Access road
Talking about The Great War Flying Museum, yes, the building is custom-made, even down to an RAF flag fluttering in the breeze, signage, and the picnic table out front. And on the “active” side of the building you’ll find three WW1-era biplanes for your inspection. Talk about adding detail and increasing immersion. For more info on the museum, click HERE.
2. The Great War Flying Museum
3. Biplanes
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