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Review: Orbx - Fresno Yosemite International AirportBy Andrew ParishHaving been given the opportunity toreview Orbx's Northern California scenery,it made complete sense to take on a review of their newly releasedFresno Yosemite International Airport. At least it did until, beingneither a Fresnan, a Californian nor an American, I realised that Iknew even less about Fresno than I did about Northern California whenI started on that adventure! So, treading a path that is becoming increasingly well worn, Iembarked upon a process of research into the subject matter at hand inthe hope that it would provide some insight, and perhaps a structure,to the review that I was about to undertake. And I wasn't disappointed with where that path took me... A Bit Of HistoryPresent day Fresno Yosemite International Airport started its lifeas a military airport in June 1942, just six months after the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor. It was named "Hammer Field" and the field,with its longer 7200 foot runway (the present runway 11L/29R) and ashorter 5000 foot east-west runway (07/25) was used as a trainingfacility for the Fourth Air Force which was responsible for thedefense of the Southwest and Lower-Midwest regions of the US. After the end of the Second World War, it was dismissed as amilitary facility and handed over to the city, which embraced theopportunity to develop the airfield into a commercial facility withconstruction starting in 1946 on the north-eastern side of thefield. Until then, Chandler Field, just 2.4 km west of downtown Fresnowas the destination for commercial operations but it was becomingoutgrown by increasingly larger airliners. In 1948, the newly named"Fresno Air Terminal" - the origin of the IATA and ICAO airportidentifiers FAT and KFAT respectively - opened, with TWA and Unitedmoving their San Francisco and Los Angeles flights from Chandler Fieldto the new facility. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-15.jpgFigure 1 - Chart of Hammer Field, 1945 - from http://www.militarymuseum.org In the 1950s, the military in the form of the California AirNational Guard returned to an area on the southeast of thefield. Shortly afterwards, in 1956, the 11R/29L parallel runway wasbuilt on the south side of the original. At the same time the original11L/29R was extended to its present day 9340 feet and the east-westrunway decommissioned, although parts of it remain visible today. Development of the airport as a commercial facility continued inaround 1959 with new construction on the south side of the field, andwhilst they have been through a number of facelifts and renovationssince, it is this these buildings that remain the basis of today'spassenger terminal. Present DayThe name "Fresno Yosemite International Airport" was adopted in1996 with the aim of increasing the number of international flightscoming to the city. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-14.jpgFigure 2 - The sign welcoming visitors to Fresno Yosemite International Aiport Despite the name change, the airport failed to attract theinternational flights for almost ten years until Mexicano Airlinesstarted its international service linking Fresno with Mexico City. Atthe same time the airport petitioned for its designation of FAT to bechanged because of the negative implications, but this request wasrefused by the FAA. Today, Fresno Yosemite International Airport serves almost twomillion passengers a year. Its location makes it the primarycommercial airport for the San Joaquim Valley, and the Yosemite,Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. In addition to its commercial operations, it remains and has becomehome to various military and government organisations ranging from theCalifornia Air National Guard and the California Army National Guard,through the US Forest Service and California Department of Forestry,to police departments including the California Highway Patrol, theFresno County Sheriff's Office and the Fresno Police Department. Looks like there's going to be plenty to see then... InstallationWhilst it is possible to manually download the product and installit, by far the easiest way of installing the scenery package is byusing the Orbx Central tool - a free download from the Orbx website. Once the product has been purchased online, it appears on the'My Products' tab of Orbx Central and is available for download andinstallation. The process for this can be as simple as clicking abutton to start and accepting the defaults. You'll need to download acouple of dependencies from Orbx Central to fully enjoy the scenery:the Orbx libraries which contain a number of generic scenery objectsused by Orbx sceneries, and Stairport Sceneries' "Scenery AnimationManager" which Orbx uses for the animated jetways that are starting toappear in increasing numbers of its airport scenery packages, andwhich they're distributing through Orbx Central. The installer inserts the required entries into X-Plane's sceneryconfiguration file simplifying the process for those who are reticentto do it themselves, and on my X-Plane installation the entry was putin an appropriate place requiring no tuning afterwards. Orbx Centraldoes offer the option to skip the automatic update of the sceneryconfiguration file though - allowing the user to make the editthemselves. There's no manual for the scenery - to be fair, none isrequired. The configuration options, accessible through Orbx Central,are minimal, offering the user the option of including or omittingstatic aircraft in the installed package. I selected "With staticaircraft" - more to see! /images/reviews/yosemite/orbx-fresno-yosemite-08.jpgFigure 3 - Fresno scenery configuration options The airport package is described by Orbx as being "designed forTrueEarth Northern California". From what I was able to determinethough, the non-airside differences were predominantly related toroads overlaid on the default scenery, and differences in some of thebuildings to the southwest and northeast of the airfield. For thepurposes of this review, I elected to leave Northern Californiaenabled in the belief that the typical simulator pilot investing inthe Fresno airport scenery package is already likely to be using theunderlying regional package. First ImpressionsUltimately, the aim of any scenery package, whether it be a massiveregion or the smallest of airports, is to replicate the realworld. These days, there are plenty of resources available online foreven the most ardent armchair pilot to be able to do that! The most accessible test for comparison is a simple "satellite"test - comparing the overhead view of the scenery to any one of thewidely available satellite maps. The results were ratherimpressive... /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-09.jpgFigure 4 - An aerial view of Fresno Yosemite International Airport - Northern California enabled Allowing for variations in colors of textures, the similaritybetween the satellite photo and the X-Plane overhead shots isstriking. As one would reasonably expect, just about everythingclearly visible on the satellite image appears in the scenery -whether it be airside or not. Buildings, runways, aprons, taxiways andother objects are all there. Zooming in more closely to examinefeatures not immediately evident from altitude reveals that road,runway and other surface types and markings match closely and, at theextreme, even cracked taxiways appear in the same place as theirreal-world counterparts. So far, so good! Making It More RealAttention to detail is the differentiator between a good airportand a great one though, and the reputation that Orbx has in thisrespect preceded the scenery I was looking at! Abandoning satelliteimages for online photographs and other roadside imagery as the basisfor comparison provided me with the opportunity to examine buildingsfrom a more conventional angle. Focussing for the time being on the distinctive passenger terminal,the exactitude that has been directed at the modelling of sceneryobjects in the package comes to the fore. The building is of courseimmediately recognisable, but 'recognisable' doesn't quite cut it. Onclose inspection, the lines of the steel and glass construction appearrounded as opposed to jagged, the windows of the main part of thebuilding are transparent rather than being a texture, and thetexturing on the remainder of the building is as precise as you'll seeanywhere. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-10.jpgFigure 5 - A view of the ramp - people, vehicles and other 'furniture' adding to the realism These comments could apply to any building that you might choose tolook closely at around the airfield - and there are plenty ofthem! The static aircraft on the ramp also add to the sense ofrealism. All of them - from what I could ascertain from the airport'sonline departure boards - relate to actual airlines and aircrafttypes. To fit in I parked up on stand 17 in an A320 painted in Sam deFreyssinet's Volaris 'Juan' livery. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-05.jpg Figure 6 - On the stand at gate 17 with the FFA320 in Sam de Freyssinet's Volaris livery - airway extended and engaged/images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-16.jpg Figure 7 - A night view of Figure 6Another invaluable addition to the ambiance airside is theinclusion of various items of airport related moving traffic. Fueltrucks, baggage trains and various operational vehicles are controlledthrough Marginal's GroundTraffic plugin which is included as anintegral part of the scenery package installation. In the case of the main terminal concourse, even the interior hasbeen modelled - including the redwood tree mural on the back wall. Forme, and it might be my installation, I found the interior a littledark until the lights came on and, try as I might, I couldn't see myaircraft on the ramp from the waiting area by the gate. Force of habiton every commercial flight I've ever taken I'm afraid. Grief! Am Ireally looking for a simulated aircraft from the inside of a simulatedbuilding? /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-04.jpgFigure 8 - Inside the main terminal building at night No arguments on the "attention to detail" front then. A Look AroundA plan to start at the passenger terminal and work clockwise aroundthe airfield had hatched whilst researching the airfield, and it wastime to put the plan into action. Given the various organisationsoperating from the airport - and my having opted to include staticaircraft in my installation - I was looking forward to this. Having spent a little time airside already, I elected to start atthe front of the passenger terminal. Front and center, just as it ison the real terminal, is Raymond Rice's 1961 mosaic. People aremilling around outside just as they would if they were getting readyto take a flight. Road markings are accurate, and most of the signs -even down to the ever more prevalent "No Smoking" signs - are whereyou'd find them on the terminal. The only thing that might make itmore realistic is the mad rush of cars that seem to be found droppingpeople off in front of the departure gates at any airport and the bagsand luggage carts that accompany them! /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-06.jpgFigure 9 - Entrance to the Passenger Terminal That I'm looking at the outside of the terminal in this level ofdetail though speaks volumes about the meticulous approach that Orbxhas adopted in its reproduction of the airport. Even the smallestfeatures are included. The tower is immediately recognisable - and there's a ratherinteresting static aircraft parked in front of it. N4692A was aLockheed SP-2H Neptune which was operated by the Minden AirCorporation on behalf of the U.S. Forest service. It was reportedlydamaged beyond repair when the nosewheel collapsed when making anemergency landing at the airfield in June 2014 and stood there for aperiod after that unfortunate event. I can find no trace of it onmodern imagery or in recent photos or videos taken at the airport soits inclusion is a bit of a mystery! /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-01.jpgFigure 10 - The tower - with Lockheed SP-2H Neptune N4692A parked in front - to the left of the GA apron Moving northwest, whilst remaining on the south side of therunways brings you to a substantial GA provision, comprising multiplehangars of varying shapes and sizes, and a plethora of static aircraftreflecting the bustling real-world GA community. Clearly identifiableamongst various hangars and other buildings are real-world FBOs intheir own distinctive buildings. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-03.jpgFigure 11 - GA Apron looking towards the tower, with Signature Flight Support's distinctive FBO in the foreground Continuing on the clockwise journey around the perimeter trackpassing the thresholds for runways 11R and then 11L brings us to thebase for the California Highway Patrol. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-13.jpgFigure 12 - The California Highway Patrol base Next stop as we head southeast down the north side of the airfieldis the facility belonging to the California Army National Guard, andit is here that we first find hardened bunkers and then an apron wherea number of Blackhawk helicopters are stationed. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-18.jpgFigure 13 - The California Army National Guard We then pass the cargo apron and the Airways Golf Club beforecoming to a large apron which old maps suggest was the location of theoriginal passenger terminal before the new facility on the south sideof the field was built. These days, the apron is home to RogersHelicopters and the SkyLife Air Ambulance Base which AmericanAmbulance operates in partnership with Rogers, and the apron ispopulated with a raft of helicopters and other aircraft types operatedby the two organisations. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-07.jpgFigure 14 - Cargo Apron, the Airways Golf Club, and the original passenger apron Tucked away behind this apron outside of the airport perimeter isFresno Fire Station No. 10, and here again there's more evidence ofthat attention to detail with the fire trucks parked outside clearlylabelled as being appliances belonging to Fresno YosemiteInternational Airport. Operating as a pilot in X-Plane, you'd likelynever get close enough to these trucks to be able to read the writingon the side. You might however expect them to be located on theairfield at the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Stationlocated to the left of the tower! /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-12.jpgFigure 15 - Fresno Fire Station No. 10 A little further round, we arrive at the home of the Fresno AirAttack base owned and permanently staffed by the US Forest Service. Itcame as somewhat of a surprise to me, living in a seemingly eternallywet part of the world, that the air base responds to an average of 100calls per year pumping half a million gallons (that's almost 1.9million litres) of fire retardant a year. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-02.jpgFigure 16 - Fresno Air Attack Base Finally, heading round to the southwest side of the airfield,passing the thresholds of runways 29R and then 29L, we arrive at theCalifornia Air National Guard facility, home to the 194th FighterSquadron of F-15C Eagle aircraft which forms part of the 144th FighterWing of the 1st United States Air Force. Most of the aircraft aretucked away below protective sunshades. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-11.jpgFigure 17 - 194th Fighter Squadron / 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard From The AirIt's easy enough to sit around on the ground looking around at allof the eye candy, but for many pilots, the first time they see anairfield properly in the context of the space around it is in the air,so it was time to fire up the trusty Warrior for a couple of quickcircuits. /images/reviews/yosemite/t/orbx-fresno-yosemite-17.jpgFigure 18 - Present Day Fresno Yosemite International Airport No surprises I'm afraid. The airport fits seamlessly into thesurrounding Northern California scenery in which it sits. It simplylooks the perfect part from the air although and whilst it'sinevitably going to provide you with all of the cues that you're goingto get flying into the airport in the real world, it's my view thatthe best place to appreciate the significant effort that has gone intomodelling the airport is with both feet or, if you prefer, all yourwheels on the ground. The Future...At the time of writing, the airport, like many others, is busyplanning its next expansion. In the case of Fresno, thescenery-changing plans add several new features, including amulti-storey car park and new gates and terminal facilities supportedby the addition of an upper level to the concourse. Construction isdue to start in early 2021 and be complete ready for the peak 2022travel demands. Only time will tell as to whether the upgraded facility will formpart of a future product upgrade from Orbx. In the meantime though,it's an impressive reflection of the current state of the airport. I'm pleased to be able to report that the scenery has lived up tothe expectations I sat down with before embarking on this review, andthose that developed whilst I was planning it. There are a couple ofanomalies I've found on my tour but if this is your local airport, oneyou fly into or plan to fly into regularly, or simply a place you wantto experience without leaving your PC, then this is a 'must have'addition to your scenery library. I don't think you'll bedisappointed. Andrew Parish Purchase Orbx - Fresno Yosemite International Airport Review: Orbx 2W3 Swanson Airport Review: Orbx Skagit Regional Airport Review: Orbx Orcas Island Review: Orbx EGPH Edinburgh Airport

/images/notams/notams20/orbx0529.jpgKFAT Fresno Yosemite International Airport is out now for X-Plane11 - Enjoy the perfect flight sim gateway to Yosemite’s impressivenational parks! Featuring an impressive level of quality, Fresno YosemiteInternational Airport is the perfect place to experience a variety ofpiloting opportunities. Key FeaturesDetailed rendition of Fresno Yosemite AirportQuality texturing with PBR materials throughoutInteract with the airport with SAM jetways and marshellersAtmospheric night lightingCustom static F15 and Blackhawk modelsInterior modelling of the main terminalOptimised for great performanceDesigned for TrueEarth Northern CaliforniaSource