“Gateway to Mount Everest” and “World's Most Dangerous Airport” are certainly the most commonly used attributes for Lukla – an airport that seems out of this world.
There are airports that are higher (see Tingri included in this add-on). There may be airports that have a shorter runway or an even worse upwards slope of the runway. Others have a mountain wall at the end of its runway. What makes Lukla standing out is its combination of all those factors in one single airport!
Not enough thrill for you? Count in weather as a factor. No navigational aids. Limited documentation of approach and takeoff routes. An uncontrolled airpace with fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
Bring your engines (and brakes!) to their limits by heading up the valley to Syangboche, a bumpy airstrip located even higher and surrounded by rocks high above a steep valley. Or try to find a helicopter that can reach helipads at these altitudes or even land at the Mount Everest basecamp, located right next to sharp glacier pinnacles between rock outcrops.
This package is a successor to "Lukla X – Mount Everest", one of our most popular sceneries of the past decade that has won many awards – among them the Simflight Award. This new version is a completely new development setting the bar even higher, coming with much more content than the previous version.
Features:
- 5 highly detailed airports with all buildings and clutter objects like vegetation, people, animals, vehicles and more:
- VNLK Lukla
- VNSB Syangboche
- VNPL Phaplu
- VNKL Kangel Danda
- VNRT Rumjatar
- 7 generic airports with details like tower positions, ground layout and thrilling hand-edited terrain:
- VNKD Man Maya Khanidanda
- VNBJ Bhojpur
- VNTR Tumlingtar
- VNRC Ramechhap
- VNJI Jiri
- VNTJ Taplejung Suketar
- VNLD Lamidanda
- 12 helipads, most of them at very high altitudes
- A whopping coverage area of 200x200 kilometres
- Detailed hand-edited mesh terrain
- More than 366 thousand cultivation buildings
- More than 60 million (!) individually placed trees in their respective vegetation areas (e.g. shrubs in the alpine areas, tropical trees in the valley rain forests)
- A hand-edited and geo-referenced combination of satellite imagery with higher resolutions around the core areas
- Modelled points of interest like hanging bridges, stupas, etc.
- Detailed mesh with rock and glacier outcrops around Mt. Everest Basecamp making helicopter landings there as challenging as they really are
- Extensive manual with custom made maps and airport charts
- Free bonus: Semi-fictional to-be-build large “Tingri Airport” north of Mount Everest
- CON: Not a single airport with a flat runway
