If you are looking to complete your Southern California region with nice small airports especially for flying on PilotEdge, then this Riverside airport is for you!
For people that don't know Rising Dawn Studios yet, this KRAL Riverside airport will be the second scenery made by Peter Suranyi. This airport is expected to be released in 2019.
The first airport released by Rising Dawn Studios for X-Plane 11 was Half Moon Bay (KHAF). This public airport since 1950, is located South South West of San Francisco International Airport and located right on the Coastline VFR transition route of the San Francisco Bravo airspace.
In addition to the very high resolution textures (30 cm to 60 cm per pixel), this airport was the first to feature for X-Plane 11 (as far as I know), animated trees and power lines that move along with the wind to enhance the realism of the overall scenery.
I did a review of that aiport here.
KRAL - Riverside
Ideally located in between Charlie airspaces (below the first shelf of Ontario Charlie's airspace, near March Arb and John Wayne Charlie's airspaces) and the Los Angles Bravo airspace, this airport is a nice place to fly to and from and train your airspace transitions and navigation skills in a generally quite crowded area on PilotEdge (and obviously in real life too).
While writing these lines, the aiport is still under development and all the screenshots come from Peter's thread that can be found on this forum if you want to follow the development. Peter regularly posts pictures of his on-going achievements.
First, it is worth mentioning that along with Riverside airport, Rising Dawn Studios will provide without affecting the sale price, the "Los Angeles Landmark pack" that features a detailed Santa Monica pier, the Los Angeles buildings and other typical landmarks that make Los Angeles so great for VFR flights. "This pack is also fully compatible with US West Real Life by Slai - which is an excellent addon by the way" said Rising Dawn Studios. The author also pays a lof of attention to the optimization of the scenery. I'm hoping that this airport will run as smoothly as Half Moon Bay does to fully enjoy a beautiful and a highly realistic place.
From the screenshots below (featuring Reshade/Sweetfx preset and Forkboy's orthos) the famous Hollywood Hills and its sign from which one can see the beautifully rendered 15 tallest custom modeled buildings in LA down town.
The observatory has also been modeled and will be an easy to spot visual reference point during night VFR Flights.
The Los Angeles Convention Center (aka E3) is also represented and if you want to admire it, you will have to follow the famous Interstate 10 until the intersection of the Santa Monica and Harbor Freeways.
The recording studio and the Los Angeles port area have also been featured.
Based on the pictures, the representation of the runway, squared and rounded runway/taxiway signs (including runway remaining length just like in real life) and 3D vegetations are stunning with a huge attention to details with day and night ligthing.
I'm personally in love with the 3D grass: I've never seen such rendition of grass in X-Plane 11 so far except maybe in PropStrike Studio sceneries. Peter working with PropStrike Studio would give the dream team in my honest opinion :)
To give you an idea, it took 2 weeks to make the grass and same amount of time to make the runway/taxiway signs! It's worth waiting for the scenery isn't it?!
The author has also included some Easter eggs, like the (fully functional) clock that can be seen in the opening part of one of Peter's favorite movie mainly filmed in the Los Angeles area (can you guess that movie?). There are other Easter eggs to help you guessing that movie.
Riverside Air Service, the biggest FBO at Riverside airport has been reproduced and is as real as it gets based on real life pictures I've seen...proof below:
If you need fuel or some spare parts to make some repair aftesr a rough landing? Not a problem and take the time to admire the amount of details. This airport is one of those that is also worth exploring in free camera mode. The digital wall clock in the hangar is functional too!
Those buildings are a piece of art!!!
The textures of the runway and taxiway and the asphalt of the parking area look really great too. I like the fact that unlike other sceneries, the junction between the runway and the taxiway is not a straight line but has some irregularities just like in real life.
Guys, you won't be forgiven if you land without lowering your landing gear:
Even the warning sign (giant "GEAR" letters) is reproduced!
The control tower is just speechless:
T-hangars are highly detailed too!
You need a flight school? :)
Other hangars completed during this summer by Rising Dawn Studios
Hand placed trees (+10,000) and surrounding of the airport. Rutland park estates makes me want to move in Los Angeles area!
Limo is waiting for you for a wine tour:
Lately, RD Studios revealed the pictures of some of the static aircrafts including a commemorative Air Force C-53 D-Day Doll.
At last but not least, these screenshots will give you an overview of how it will look like flying to LA down town thanks to the "Los Angeles Landmark pack".
So I don't know if you will buy KRAL Riverside when available, but I surely will!!!
Many thanks to the author for sharing those screenshots with us all along the development and for the tremendous work and efforts he puts in this incredible scenery...I'm looking forward to flying it.
TIPAH