Flight simulator depicts Glacier Park International
Any Flathead Valley resident or visitor who HAS taken a flight out of Glacier Park International Airport knows the breathtaking views that come with the descent. Usually, those views are confined to whatever side of the center aisle a passenger is sitting on, but now anyone can see first-hand what that view is like from the cockpit.
Turbulent Designs, a U.K.-based firm that creates flight-simulation software, has created a virtual recreation of Glacier Park International Airport. The firm specializes in recreating airports with particularly fantastic scenery for home flight simulator enthusiasts and for those training for a pilot’s license.
Greg Jones is the technical director with Turbulent Designs, and he said the process to recreate such a detailed, high-quality replica takes a lot of time and money. It took three members of their team around five months to complete the project, turning Northwest Montana’s airport into a 3.4-gigabyte file that can be downloaded anywhere in the world.
The company is able to create the software using mostly publicly available satellite imaging.
The company finds that satellite imaging is often more effective than images someone could obtain from being on the ground, especially given the high security at major airports.
Once they acquire suitable satellite imaging they recreate the environment for five seasons. Summer, fall, winter and spring are included alongside an additional “heavy winter” mode, which includes particularly severe snowstorms.
“Prior to starting the project we accumulate as much information as we can about the airport, including photography, charts or Google street view images, that we will then use for reference in order to begin producing 3-D models,” Jones said.
Jones said the company expects to sell about 1,500 copies of the Glacier Park simulation in its first year.
He said they sell the most packages to the United States, but per capita sell at similar rates in the U.K. and Germany. The package is on sale right now for about $27.
“Flight simulation enthusiasts tend not to restrict their flying to their real-world location,” Jones told the Inter Lake. “A large part of the attraction is the ability to fly anywhere in the world.”
He said determining which airports will sell the best and have the most readily available imagery are the biggest factors in determining which hubs they virtually design. The GPI creation includes views of Lake Blaine and the Flathead National Forest.
The company has also designed U.S. airports such as MBS International in Freeland, Michigan, KIDA Idaho Falls Regional Airport and Big Bear City Airport in San Bernardino in Southern California.
Turbulent Designs was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Havant, a city near Portsmouth just off the English Channel on the southern coast of the island.
More information can be found at www.turbulentdesigns.co.uk.
A video showing footage of the company’s recreation of Glacier Park International Airport can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=LuOSgsBjyrg.
Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.