Aircraft used: LVFR 320, AT7
Live weather: on
I was a little apprehensive buying this scenery as MM Sims’ Liege was pretty bad in almost every way (constant CTDs, poor level of detail). Is this much smaller airport any better?
DETAIL
Fabulous! I’ve never been to the real airport but the terraforming looks spot on, comparing it with actual photos of the place.
The terminal building is beautifully modelled and features high-res texturing inside and out. The interior isn’t as intricate as other airports (including some by the same dev) but what is there looks great — except perhaps at night when a couple of areas of the building look a little too dark.
The ground textures are excellent, both airside and landside. Landside is fully modelled and the hilly nature of this area of the island makes for a lot of bumps, crests and curves as you approach the terminal from town. It all looks rather nice with plenty of signage, foliage and custom cars. There aren’t too many peripheral buildings surrounding the airport (possibly the case in reality?) but there are a couple, such as the apartment block opposite the terminal and the school/playground near the RWY10 threshold.
The only disappointment is the modelling of the rock formations around the coastline — the rocks themselves are actually very well done but they float above the water when you get down low to inspect them.
PERFORMANCE
During initial testing I did get one CTD but I was deliberately attempting to trigger a crash. Since then I’ve done a fair bit of flying here and have the drone out numerous times, with no problems. So it will crash, if you really want it to, but stability is absolutely fine for me.
Framerates are excellent but I think that was a foregone conclusion, given the airport’s small size.
VERDICT
I’ve reviewed quite a few ‘out-of-the-way’ airports recently, this being another. It’s not an airport everyone’s going to rush out and buy but it does go nicely with Asobo’s hand-crafted Pico (the island next door) and IniBuilds’ Ponta Delgada. So if you’re into quirky little backwater airports with challenging terrain and frequently adverse weather conditions, MM’s Horta is well worth picking up. It’s a beautiful little piece of scenery with admirable performance and stability.
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