Aircraft used: PMDG 738
Live weather: on
DETAIL
Being one of Northern Sky’s earlier Alaskan airports, Yakutat has no terminal interior but its sole maintenance hangar does feature full internal modelling, plus a resident DC-3 static.
Like most Alaskan airports on the famous ‘Milk Run’, Yakutat’s terminal is akin to a large wooden shed. It’s well detailed, as you’d expect from NSS, and the ground textures both airside and landside are excellent. There is a cafe-cum-shop-cum-motel landside that’s particularly well done, plus a number of other peripheral buildings and structures. There is very little modelled away from the terminal area but this presumably reflects reality.
Typically, all textures are very high-res.
PERFORMANCE
Anyone who’s read my other reviews of NSS airports will know that they’re not kind to the Xbox and PAYA is no exception. In fact I’d say it’s one of the worst, given the size of the place and a lack of a terminal interior. That’s not to say you can’t fly in and out successfully, but it doesn’t take an awful lot to trigger black screens and, ultimately, crashes. Drone use definitely not recommended, unless for a very brief spell, and even too much taxiing around using external view can lead to trouble.
VERDICT
PAYA doesn’t have the ‘wow!’ factor of some other airports in Northern Sky’s Alaskan series — likely because there’s no detailed terminal interior and the place in reality is very sparse — but as with the majority of this dev’s sceneries there are some unique touches here, such as the full hangar interior and metal mooring rings on the apron (used to tether lighter aircraft during storms).
Unfortunately it’s deja vu with NSS scenery, in that it weighs heavily on the Xbox’s more limited hardware. Yakutat isn’t unusable by any means but, considering the size of the airport, it’s certainly disappointing. There are larger, more detailed airports in the series than are a little better in the stability department.
If you are going to buy and use this airport, you’ll need to take care when using any view that’s outside the cockpit.
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