Discovery Flight - Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

I really enjoy these Discovery flights. I think they are a wonderful addition that quickly allow users who are new to flight simulators discover the joys of flight.

I don’t know much work goes into the creation of these flights - if there is additional custom scenery, for example - but as an avid bush pilot, I’d love to see Torres del Paine National Park included in a future 2020 update, or in the new 2024 sim.

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Sadly all that that part isn’t well done. Several iconic mountains and landscapes are roughly shaped and poorly detailed (I know because I trek and mountaineer a lot in that region since 20 years ago).

The Fitz Roy and and Cerro Torre mountains in El Chalten (pretty near Torres del Paine) are just rough shapes, and the super abundant trees in 2024 aren’t realistic at all. From El Chaltén to Tierra del Fuego (that’s from Argentina’s side), including places like Punta Arenas, they all need a WU (which hasn’t ever been released for South America). I’ll vote because I would really like to see a South America WU which gives a little more credit to this part of the world. Regarding Torres del Paine region and the very own towers, this is the situation:


Poor polygonal detail and rounded mountains 1

Poor polygonal detail and rounded mountains 2


Excessive trees 1

Excessive trees 2


No towers 1

No towers 2

No towers 3

Sadly, the towers just aren’t there. And just to be sure, this was my flight path:

You can see there I flown just beside the Torre Sur, Torre Centro, and Torre Norte. What should have been seen is this:

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@DrinkingGuide84
I flew around the park in 2020 and noticed exactly what you posted in your screenshots. Unfortunately, the DEM resolution has not improved for that region in 2024. At some point I think MS will either purchase a higher resolution (if / when available) for Argentina & Chile - or maybe arrange for over-flights of small areas to collect it - but I think it will be many years before we see it in the product. :slightly_frowning_face:

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Fully agree that there has been no improvements on that area, which is very sad because the Andes is a beautiful multi country mountain range to fly that goes all the way up from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego, actually the Amazonas starts there.

Being the largest mountain range of the world, and the second-highest after the Himalayas (well the Aconcagua is the “training” mountain before going to Himalayas), deserves a better treatment in my very humble opinion.

Some places however are quite cool. If you ever want to land at Cerro Plataforma with a STOL aircraft, it’s quite nice. In this video (at this exact moment I’m linking) you can see the Plataforma top, where some bush pilots have landed several times (Patagonia Bush Pilots). You can see it in winter in this video, in summer it’s the same, but without snow. The pilot passes over the place because six months earlier his engine failed and he crashed in that very same lake.

Sadly in 2024 the area is covered with trees, but you can get the feeling. I’m attaching a PLN which departs from a nearby lake, passes through the Plataforma lake and descends into Cholila. In 2020 the area is more realistic and has also a much better treeline.
SALG LAGO LA ESPERANZA (LAGO PUELO) A SALE (CHOLILA).PLN (7.3 KB)

Nice flights!

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