| The Palm Beach County Airpark Airport (A.K.A. the Lantana Airport) is located six miles south of West Palm Beach. It was originally built in the 1940s for civil defense against Axis submarines patrolling along the Florida coast and was one of the original bases of operation for the Civil Air Patrol, which is still operational from this base.
Today, it’s a popular field for flights to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, flight schools, and serves as an overflow for Palm Beach International Airport (KPBI).
This update is focused on making current and flight accurate version of the airport, which has gone though some significant changes in the past few years. While it’s not currently a towered airport, I put considerable effort into making sure MSFS’s AI should work.
Improvements:
- Added the 3 missing helicopter pads.
- Reduced tree heigh on approach to runways 10 and 4.
- Corrected taxi names to match what is in use at the airport. Thanks to Stellar Aviation for helping get the correct names! This data does not exist on any published charts.
- Updated taxiway signs to match the airport.
- Updated surpport lighting to approximate where it is located on the airport. I also added in some localized glow to simulate the normal light pollution in the area.
- Corrected the location of the beacon tower.
- Rebuilt apron textures to match the airport.
- Updated taxiway parking to reflect the recent changes at the airport.
- Added hangars to approximate the airport’s layout.
- Removed the existing windsocks and added the correct windsock location. Unfortunately, this reduces the windsocks from 3 to 1 but it is accurate to the airport. It's mostly in the center so I find it easy to find.
- Removed excess tire marks from the runways since the airplane traffic at this airport comprises smaller airplanes.
- Updated all PAPI lights to the correct type (2 light PAPI), location, glide path, and size.
- 10/28 4.0 degrees
- 16/34 3.5 degrees
- 4/22 3.0 degrees
- Updated a local VFR landmark, the Boynton Beach water tower, with a similar model included in the sim’s base scenery.
- Cleaned up satellite ground artifacts.
- No taxi lights or signs on the asphalt!
- Reconstructed the airport entrance.
- Added new car parking lot along the south perimeter.
All scenery objects are part of the base sim. So, at this time there are no custom hangars or buildings.
I would greatly appreciate feedback from anyone familiar with this airport or that finds any bugs/issues so that they may be corrected!
Patton222
Looks really good! This the local GA airport in my area and have driven past it many times, although I've never visited it in person. It's also the where the Goodyear blimp is based when it's in the area.
michail71 2 month(s) ago
Thanks! You are close on the blimp, that is down at the Pompano airport. The Pompano airport has a very similar layout. It's close enough you can see it from pattern altitude at KLNA. I was going to tackle that one next but FlightFX has a custom modeled one in the works that looks beautiful.
Justicier 1 month(s) ago
Pompano is where I am currently undergoing training in an airline academy. I have tried doing some flights from there in MSFS but there's just too many things wrong with the AI's extrapolation of it for it to be enjoyable. The FlightFX work in progress looks fantastic, but I have to wonder how much more time there will be in its development... they announced it over a year ago so I hope it hasn't been abandoned. If you do decide to work on KPMP, even if it's just to get the taxiways labeled correctly, I'm sure it would be much appreciated! 😊
michail71 28 day(s) ago
It's tempting! It must be irritating to see all the wrong stuff with the airport looking familiar. While it makes for amazing coverage the AI gets a bit wrong from what I'm now learning.
I'm wrapping up development on the Shuttle Landing Facility (KTTS) and then will probably add a few touches back to this airport.
I'm looking forward to the FlightFX KPMP airport! I think they finished the blimp but I don't know how far along they are.
dvlcreations
Terrific job! Layout looks great....Working in Blender myself which will just make the sim even better! Plans to up date all my airport over time....I agree with you about the SDK...getting better all the time but still a work in progress...I have some light points in my projects which creates some very nice night lighting effects...Keep up the good work!
michail71 2 month(s) ago
Thank you! I think I'll need a little break time before I try Blender. 😊
dvlcreations 2 month(s) ago
i took a month away so i could not be distracted with the SDK..i think a break is a great idea!
Electra225
Thank you for your effort. Much better than default. Still checking it out.
michail71 2 month(s) ago
Happy you like it! When I load up the original now for test comparison it just feels all wrong.