Locher, Sarentino, Corvara, Badia, Italy, Northern Hemisphere
There exists a Lochness Monster of sorts, though it is not in Scotland but in the Italian Dolomites about ten nautical miles or so north of Bolzano. Instead of being water borne, it is very much a land locked entity set in hard, unyielding granite.
The airfield to which I am referring is Locher in Corvara, Badia, a small privately owned sloped mountain strip fit only for decently powerful bush aircraft piloted by fruit and nutcase pilots. It is located at hight altitude along a narrow one-way valley, and it is short and steep.
Do watch the following YouTube clips which show off this airstrip in its best possible light, but mind that you watch closely because shortly I will show you where to find excellent freeware scenery for both FSX/P3D and X-Plane.
Mind you, it's not how I first saw the scenery, as my view was rather more upside down and skewed rather alarmingly towards Switzerland, which isn't all that close, on account of the bump that I hit during my takeoff roll, the operative word here being "roll".
Takeoff at Locher:
Locher Landing Guide:
The airfield’s apron is set apart from the grass meadow which doubles up as the runway, and can be found along a short raised sloping track. There is an underground hangar too, and all of these features are present in the freeware sceneries.
If you watched the approach guide, then you’ll have seen the church to look out for plus the myriad of treacherous powerlines that merrily criss-cross the valley at several distinct points before you get to the strip itself. You’ll be pleased to know that these too are present.
If you are ready for a day out in the Italian Dolomites, then read on to find out where you can find the scenery.
FSX/P3D:
AVSIM
Do read the installation guide, as airfield, photoscenery, and mesh is bundled together in the single download. Do pay particular attention to copying "detial1.bmp" from your FSX/P3D installation into the Locher texture folder, as well as ensuring that your mesh is set to 2m.
X-Plane:
XPFR
So, what do you get for your effort?
For either platfom, you will end up with spectacular scenery that has been worth every second invested in downloading, installing, configuring, and admiring it.
The XP version has one or two more features, but both are true to life and as "good as it gets" renditions of the Locherness Monster.
I hope that you enjoy this as much as I nearly did!
