Sim-wings expands the “Canary Islands professional” series by the third-largest island of the Canaries. The Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria which serves as a stopover on flights between Europe and South America as well as a military air force base has been recreated in a high level of detail. It is the busiest airport of the Canaries with 13,092,117 passengers and 118,554 aircraft movements in 2017.
The entire volcanic island features a high-resolution height mesh and colourfast aerial images. The airport buildings are modelled in high detail and come with interior decoration, while the ground layout is based on recent data from the real airport. The military area is included as well.
The virtual airport of Gran Canaria comes with functional windsocks, PBR materials for some surfaces, and optional SODE-animated jetways. Via the included config tool the scenery can be adapted to run great on one’s own system.
In addition, the default scenery of the “El Berriel” airfield has been modelled as the “El Berriel light” version so that it looks and works very well.
Features:
Highly detailed Gran Canaria Airport scenery with Gran Canaria Island
High-resolution aerial image for the airport and island of Gran Canaria, extensively colour-corrected for true aerial colours
Detailed ground markings based on recent charts of parking stands
High-definition height mesh with 5 m resolution for the entire Island
Autogen buildings and vegetation at all parts of the aerial image area
Extremely detailed Gran Canaria airport buildings with interior designs at apron side and infrastructure buildings
Complete military area with highly detailed hangars and buildings
Detailed animated jetway models (CTRL-J), SODE jetways available as optional download
Functional safegates at all gates, no need for any other add-on to get working VGDS
Functional windsocks
Pre-rendered self-shadowing (Ambient Occlusion) at buildings
Animated vehicle traffic on the apron and around the airport
Detailed AFCAD. Actual nav data and approach procedures (Airac 1906)
Extended configuration tool
Straightforward installation: no changes to default configuration necessary. No SODE needed for full functionality (despite for optional SODE jetways), everything is programmed using SDK features
Optimized dynamic lighting (can be turned off per area via the config menu)
Optimized 3D runway lighting with automatic activation/deactivation based on time of day and weather conditions
Use of PBR materials for ground water effects and windows (can be switched off to use of normal P3D v4 materials)
Enhanced default scenery of "El Berriel" GCBL - "Lite scenery"
Configuration tool will automatically recognize which version of Prepar3D is used
An absolute work of art what SimWings has done with the Gran Canaria airport. Modelling at the airport is extremely detailed, and the texturing looks very convincing including the PBR elements. I especially like the colour palette used at this airport, and indeed all over the island. Very true-to-life looking, one can see that extra care was given to an authentic color of the photo real imagery. And there's full autogen coverage up to the very top of the island.
Good use of SODE for windsocks and jetways, and great and accurate runway-, taxiway-, and apron lighting! Furthermore, the amount of detail work that has gone into all the ground markings is possibly the best in the industry, I love it!
Also nice: VDGS at the correct parking spots without the need of GSX. Oh and overall the modelling and texturing is detailed everywhere you go, not just around the main terminal, like many other developers do it. Accuracy and detail everywhere.
Some small improvement requests as well as issues with the AFCAD file have been brought to the developer's attention, and it was promised to be taken care of in an update. SimWings updates its sceneries regularly, so I'm confident this one will arrive soon.
But even without this update, this airport is easily the best add-on scenery in the region, highly recommended!
I never thought that Gran Canaria would have a vfr-suitable scenery. I have not been able to check every single detail but honestly, as an ATPL student in Gran Canaria I feel like this scenery is very close to the actual terrain. The airport is very nice, and I am surprised that even the terminal interiors are modelled.
Ich muss sagen, alle meine erwerbten Scenerien von Sinwings haben mich begeistert. Die Liebe zum Detail ist wahrlich zu spühren. Lange habe ich auf eine aktuelle Gran Canaria Scenerie gewartet...5 Sterne für eine wirklich beeindruckende Nachbildung. Danke dafür.