Let’s be honest, we had a rough start into MSFS 2024. But once it worked, it was an awesome experience! For a virtual tourist like myself, who explored the world in MSFS 2020 for more than 1400 hours, it is heaven on earth… or rather above earth! And now I want to fuel my new obsession with this sim by starting my first exploration project.
But where to go? I decided to ask an AI - which is apparently sensible to do in our age. First, I let it explain to me how medium and large cities are being classified. Then I asked for a framework to classify cities in my home country Germany. And - as I love following roads as people might know - I asked it which German highway passes the most medium and large cities on its way. Genius, right?
So here we are - on Bundesautobahn 3 (Federal Highway 3). I marked several checkpoint cities on the way, but I’ll also take pictures of pretty sights in between. Enjoy it!
Table of Contents:
001 - Introduction / Deelen to Langenfeld (no link required, read on!)
002 - Langenfeld to Elz
003 - Elz to Aschaffenburg
001: Deelen to Langenfeld
The moment I entered the Federal Republic of Germany was also the moment I officially entered Highway A3.
I think I saw this scene, but in the Suez Canal, not in North Rhine Westphalia!
First checkpoint city hit - Duisburg. Took a short deviation from my course to fly along the Innenhafen (“interior / internal harbour”).
Second checkpoint city also crossed off the list - Duesseldorf, known to most of you propably due to its busy airport.
After touching down on Segelflugplatz Langenfeld - despite not being a Segelflugzeug (“glider”) - I just had to get out of my AN-2 and take my first first-person outside-the-cockpit picture. Here’s to many more!
Love this. Great choice of aircraft, too!
002: Langenfeld to Elz
I just could not resist to do another flight today, even if it is pushing midnight already. So here we go - onwards along Federal Highway A3!
This time we reached most checkpoint cities in short succession as there are many medium and large cities along the banks of the Rhine - like Leverkusen, a former industrial colony founded in the 19th century to supply the ultramarine factory of Carl Leverkus with workers.
Well, this should be self-explanatory as most people do know this church. This is our second checkpoint city Köln (or Cologne) with its famous cathedral - the “Kölner Dom”.
The last checkpoint city for today is Bonn, the former seat of government of the Federal Republic of Germany from its conception in 1949 up to the reunification in 1990.
Leaving the Rhine we made our way east along Highway A3 as it moved up into the Westerwald mountain range.
Just had to take this shot as it was a pretty impressive sight we came across. This is the “Tongrube Christel” ("clay pit ‘Christel’ ") near Nomborn.
Finally, after another ~140km flight we touched down on Flugplatz Elz near the town of Limburg an der Lahn.
003: Langenfeld to Aschaffenburg
Quick morning flight along A3, covering three more checkpoint cities on our way east.
Today’s first checkpoint city is Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse. Yes, I said we would leave the Rhine behind, but I forgot that we’ll meet it again one more time.
I must say, I’m impressed, because flying past Frankfurt Airport was a laggy mess in MSFS 2020. Here, it was smooth without any framerate dips. The city itself is pretty, too, although almost every bridge across the Main had a glitched freighter stuck to it. It was kinda funny, though!
The last checkpoint city out of three was Offenbach am Main, basically an extension to Frankfurt on the southeastern Main bank (although I guess people from Offenbach will protest).
Sadly I had to touch down soon after finishing the three Hessian checkpoints due to a schedule I forgot about. At least I managed to cross over into Bavaria and land at Verkehrslandeplatz Aschaffenburg near Großostheim.
