IOM Scenery

FS2004 Isle of Man Scenery

Design

This island scenery was a challenge as it involved a redesign of the whole island. Coastline redesign was essential before any further island work could be completed because of the awful default coastline and the proximity of the airports (especially Ronaldsway) to the sea. Once completed the airports were added at Jurby, Andreas and Ronaldsway.

The island strongly benefits from having a good terrain mesh to produce the hills that are sadly lacking in the default scenery. LAGO and VisualFlight.have both created excellent meshes for the whole of the UK - and a good resolution mesh must be considered one of the essential FS2004 add-ons. Note that the Visual Flight mesh is very high definition - much more accurate than any other payware or freeware meshes.

The second major development in the UK has been the release of the VisualFlight photographic scenery. I cannot speak too highly of this as it replaces the fictitious country scenery in FS2004 with true, accurate photographic textures - as you can see in the screenshot above.

I have  created separate versions of the scenery for VFGM and non VFGM scenery users. The latter is basically the same but with an airport polygon and suitable excludes to trim away some of the excess autogen buildings.

Content

The scenery features:

1. A fully revised and accurate Isle of Man coastline. 
2. Isle of Man scenery objects - including trams, follies, towers, shipping, piers, Laxey Wheel, masts etc.
3. Detailed airfield scenery for Andreas, Jurby and Ronaldsway airports.
4. AFCAD files for all three airports.
 

Scenery Information

Island
There are quite a few objects to explore around the island, some of them animated. The lighthouses flash correctly regarding timings but do not show correct sequences. Langness should send two short flashes every 30 seconds but the result was just one long flash and so I limited all to a single pulse..

Jurby
Jurby has an operational Tower frequency of 125.30. Runway 08/26 is in use and is 4200ft long - BUT it has a public road running across the runway so beware of the displaced threshold and the fence across the runway.

Andreas
Andreas has no runway markings as it has only recently become active. Only two of the three runways are operational (12/30 and 06/24), the third runway has agricultural buildings on it. I have given Andreas a fictitious Tower frequency of 123.45.

Ronaldsway
Ronaldsway is shown in great detail and may slow frame rates down if AI is also in use. All airfield signs are correct as are the apron stand markings. Terminal buildings are accurate representations but most of the southern airfield structures have yet to be made in GMax. The AFCAD adds the new ATIS frequency of 123.875.

Both ILS frequencies are the same - 111.15 for 08 and 26. The RWY NDB has been repositioned to the south of runway 08/26.

Note: Be careful with 08 approach as the ILS is offset by 3.75 degrees north of FAT. The localiser is situated on the grass to the south of the runway so an ILS approach will be both offset and will take you through the runway centreline at about 2nm from touchdown.