Mile High, Idaho (the first two airstrips)

In the late 1940s, three airstrips were constructed at Mile High by ranch owner William Williams. The most well-known airstrip, still in use today, is the third and final one (available here (hangaraddons.com)). The first and second airstrips overlooked Big Creek on the opposite (south) side of the property, close to the ranch house. The year 2000 wildfire obliterated all but one of the ranch buildings (the springhouse being the single strcture that's still standing), as well as most traces of these other two airstrips.

Version 2 is a completely new add-on, designed almost from scratch (the only objects which haven't been moved or deleted are a couple of horses and a wolf!). The changes I've made to both runways came about after hand placing a considerable number of pine trees along the seasonal stream bed between the two airstrips, and moving the ranch house uphill to its correct position (closer to the spring).

First airstrip:

• N 45.145412665, W 115.010148078
• Code: IDMH1 (fictional)
• Elevation: 5587 feet
• Runway 02/20: 343 feet x 30 feet dirt/grass, gradient 14.5 %

The first airstrip has been relocated to the bowl just below the ranch house, which is in better agreement with historical information. There's just enough room to squeeze in and out of the 340 ft runway using a slightly offset approach/departure path to avoid a couple of troublesome pine trees (possibly taller than when the airstrip was last used, sometime in the mid-1980s). It's not an easy airstrip: suitable only for Super Cub type planes, and a go around from short final would likely be almost impossible. Although it's short, if you can overrun the runway a little on landing then it shouldn't be a major problem (although the upslope gets a bit steeper).

A little way to the west, my original first airstrip (from version 1) is still available for use, if desired, featuring faint runway threshold markings (select parking position 3 to begin at the top of this airstrip). With a gradient of 31 %, this alternative runway is excessively steep.

Second airstrip:

• N 45.143877989, W 115.010645725
• Code: IDMH2 (fictional)
• Elevation: 5685 feet
• Runway 04/22: 812 feet x 30 feet dirt/grass, gradient 26.0 %

Given the first airstrip's limitations, construction began on the second airstrip. In version 2, I've rotated the airstrip by a few degrees anticlockwise to achieve a better line, plus I've made it much less variable in gradient. Although it's slightly shorter than version 1, there's less risk of getting airborne prematurely on departure. With an average slope of 26 %, poor go around options, and crowded by trees in its lower half, it's another questionable location for a runway, hence it was abandoned in favour of the third airstrip.

It's unknown whether a plane ever landed on this runway, although it has been considered for use in recent times as it would permit greater payloads than the third airstrip can offer. Some fresh ground work would be necessary to adequately smooth the surface, but in the meantime you can have a go in the simulator!

I've added fictional runway threshold and edge markings because the airstrips would otherwise be very difficult to make out, especially as they're in the 'Who would build a runway here?!' category.

Optimised for use with Bijan's Seasons Enhanced 2024.

The old horse-drawn plough object is taken from The Deadly 3 by the late Mark "Milo" Taylor, a highly recommended collection of three challenging nearby airstrips. You'll only see the plough if you own this add-on. It's used without permission, so I will remove it if I receive any objections.

Further information:

• Bound for the Backcountry by Richard H. Holm Jr.
• If anybody has any further information on these two airstrips, then I would be very interested. I'm still not 100 % sure that either airstrip is in precisely the correct position.

Simulator annoyances:

• Only one of the runway starts works as intended. A long-standing bug. Thankfully, it's usually the end with the highest elevation that works. This is also the reason why I've used a separate add-on folder for each airstrip in v.2.
• The simulator draws the visible ground level at slightly inconsistent heights (both on separate flights, and at diferent times on the same flight), therefore some scenery objects can appear just above or below ground level.
• When starting from parking positions on non-level ground, the character sometimes appears almost underground. If this happens, enter then exit the aircraft, and the character should then be correctly placed for your exterior inspection.
• I've attempted to remove all the airport services from these airports (or at least the majority of them); thank you to Grey Skies Simulations (flightsim.to: GreySkies). You may also want to lower the number of static aircraft and characters etc. under Settings > General > Graphics > Advanced Settings.

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