This scenery requires Flight Simulator 4.0 for the IBM, Microsoft Aircraft and Scenery Designer, and scenery disk SD-7. MIA airport information is listed below, following the scenery description.
Here's a tour using some of the new additions as landmarks to show what's been added. Make sure SD-7 has been loaded and these files have been copied to your FS4 subdirectory. Crank up the "Miami, FL - Biscayne Bay" mode from menu #1 which will put you in the Piper Archer II over the Biscayne Flats just south of Cape Florida. The small buildings in the foreground are "stiltsville" houses built on pilings.
Head north toward the cape, and you'll see the Cape Florida lighthouse ahead of you, and my small sailboat "Gretel" heading out the channel to your left.
After passing the lighthouse, get on a heading of 018 and head north until you see the breakwater at the entrance to Government Cut on your left. Turn left and fly down the cut at around 500 ft. and you'll see a cruise ship docked at Dodge Island on your left, and the small ramp for Chalk's Seaplane service on Watson Island to the right.
As you continue west and reach the mainland, look for the Orange Bowl stadium ahead of you. Fly over it and continue W/NW to the airport. After a look at the airport, head over to Hialeah Racetrack, visible to the north of the airport. Don't fly too low or you'll scare the flamingos!
From the racetrack head due east, back out to Miami Beach. When you reach the sand turn right and follow the beach to the south. You'll pass a section of Hotel Row, with the Fountainbleau Hotel near the south end (3 buildings, the center one curved), and the Eden Roc next to it to the north. If you look carefully you might see a surprise for the tourists out in the water slightly to the north of the hotels.
Other scenery added: The causeway over to Virginia Key and Key Biscayne including the Marine Stadium and the Seaquarium dome, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables south of the airport, and Vizcaya museum - the pseudo Renaissance mansion on the Bay just south of where the causeway connects to the mainland.
Note that both the Orange Bowl and Hialeah racetrack use windsocks as scenery elements so they won't look right if wind is activated. With all this chamber of commerce stuff in the scenery, I couldn't resist adding Mt. Trashmore, the big garbage landfill near the edge of the Bay visible on the horizon to the southwest. Us daysailors use it as a navigation landmark so I guess it qualifies as local geography.
The 3 SD-7 runways for MIA have been covered over and replaced by new ones at the correct location and heading, with outer and middle markers placed according to the IAP plates. Distances shown for the markers are from the runway threshold, the ILS is placed at the distance marker (single pair of stripes) on the runway.
Rnwy Heading Elev. Size (ft.) Lighting
9L 90.2 deg. 9ft. 10502 x 200 End lights, ASLF-1, VASI
27R 270.2 deg. 9ft. " End lights, MASLR, VASI
9R 90.2 deg. 9ft. 13002 x 150 End lights, MASLR+strobe, VASI
27L 270.2 deg. 9ft. " End lights, MASLR, VASI
12 122.3 deg. 9ft. 9355 x 150 End lights
30 302.3 deg. 9ft. " End lights
Rnwy ILS freq. Markers & DME distance
9L 110.3 MM 0.6nm
27R 109.1 MM 0.4nm OM 4nm
9R 110.9 MM 0.4nm OM 4nm
27L 109.5 MM 0.5nm OM* 4.6nm
12 108.9
30 111.7
A fuel box is located at the south edge of the terminal.
NAVAIDS ADDED:
The COOK non directional beacon (CKK - 365 Ch) was placed 3.4 miles west of the airport beacon on radial 150 from the Miami VOR (SD-7). FS coordinates are N 10355.4258 E 19598.1289.
* A non directional beacon was added at the outer marker for 27L for the KEYES LOM (248 Ch).
The existing SD-7 VOR's were left alone, and the Biscayne Bay VOR (BSY 117.1 Ch) has been included in the scenery - it's the small platform in the water at the north end of the Biscayne Flats, near the sailboat.
DESIGN NOTES
The reference point for airport location is the airport beacon shown in the IAP airport diagram and area sectional. It's represented in the scenery by the center of the old control tower on top of the terminal complex.
The beacon was positioned in reference to SD-7 navaids by 1) finding the beacon on the Terminal Area chart, 2) triangulating from the BSY and FLL VOR's, 3) triangulating from the MIA and FLL VOR's, and then 3) splitting the difference between the two points, which was about 3500 ft. Buildings and runways were measured out from the beacon in reference to the 1:24000 USCGS topo map for the area (HIALEAH, FLA 1988).
Addition of runway lighting, VASI, etc. was done selectively in order to keep the frame rate manageable. That's why there's no VASI or lighting on runway 12/30, or strobes for the east end runways. The terminal is missing an additional 2 concourses on each side toward the east, and the large building next to the control tower at the western edge of the airport is actually a cargo handling complex of individual hangers and warehouses. Taxiways are generalized.
Prevailing winds are easterly, so approaches are usually to runways 9L and 9R at the west side of the airport, which operate simultaneously. The approach that will give you the best frame rate near touchdown is from the east to runway 27L, since you won't see the terminal as you near the threshold.
I'll probably update and modify this scenery in the near future - stay tuned. Please send any comments, and corrections for MIA in particular to me on Compuserve addressed to: Mike Barrs 72070,2434
