xp+10+reviews + new scenery alert + Butnaru’s 2NC0 Mountain Air North Carolina

Posted by chip on July 1, 2012
Posted in: Scenery Reviews. Tagged: . 17 comments

Santiago Butnaru’s sixth scenery project for X-Plane ought to be releasing soon after this is posted, and as we’ve mentioned in previous “sneak peeks” at this effort, it’s a decidedly offbeat choice. Most of his earlier works have encompassed commercial facilities, and even his KTOA | Zamperini Field in Torrance, CA has a distinctly “commercial” feel about it – perhaps due to the Robinson helicopter manufacturing facilities so neatly integrated into the airport & file. That said, 2NC0 feels anything but commercial, and it may well be one of the toughest GA airports you can try in X-Plane.

There are a number of elements coming together at this airport that conspire to make a pilot’s life miserable. First, simply due to terrain (not to mention weather) the airport can be more than a little hard to find visually. Next, variable mountain weather can make your final approach feel more like a washing machine on spin cycle. Sheer drop-offs at each end of the runway – not to mention a roller coaster runway – only serve to add a little extra “spice” to the experience.

Remember this. Sometimes spicy foods are best served with antacids.

Santiago has added trees flowing in the breeze, lots of grass and weeds, and dozens of new condos perched around the runway and surrounding golf course. Club house facilities are expanded, tennis courts are now placed accurately (good VFR check points? – hah!) and the golf course simply looks daunting. Some fairways look as though they could be used for rappelling exercises!

As we’ve noted, this is a fun STOLport, but don’t forget that turbine powered aircraft such as the MU-2 operate in and out of this one too. The facts:

FAA Identifier: 2NC0

Lat/Long: 35-52-07.4080N / 082-20-30.4590W
35-52.123467N / 082-20.507650W
35.8687244 / -82.3417942

(estimated)Elevation: 4432 ft. / 1351 m

(estimated)Variation: 04W (1985)

From city: 6 miles SW of BURNSVILLE, NC

Time zone: UTC -4 (UTC -5 during Standard Time)Zip code: 28714

Runway 14/32

Dimensions: 2900 x 50 ft. / 884 x 15 m
Surface: asphalt
RUNWAY 14 RUNWAY 32
Traffic pattern: left right

Nearby radio navigation aids

VOR radial/distance VOR name Freq Var
SUGr355/28.0 SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN VORTAC 112.20 02W
SOTr086/34.9 SNOWBIRD VORTAC 108.80 04W
HMVr201/35.6 HOLSTON MOUNTAIN VORTAC 114.60 04W
NDB name Hdg/Dist Freq Var ID
ELIZABETHTON 189/27.1 275 02W EZT  . –.. -
HEMLOCK 235/28.2 320 02W BAR  -… .- .-.
DULANEY 125/31.1 263 04W DYQ  -.. -.– –.-
FIDDLERS 293/34.0 391 07W FIQ  ..-. .. –.-
BROAD RIVER 014/36.3 379 04W BRA  -… .-. .-
RUTHERFORD 334/36.5 344 05W RFE  .-. ..-. .
There are no published instrument procedures at 2NC0. Some nearby airports with instrument procedures:
KAVL - Asheville Regional Airport (28 nm S)
KGCY - Greeneville-Greene County Municipal Airport (30 nm NW)
0A9 - Elizabethton Municipal Airport (31 nm N)
KFQD - Rutherford County Airport-Marchman Field (33 nm SE)
KMRN - Foothills Regional Airport (36 nm E)
The file will be available at the Org.store soon, price is still TBA as of this writing, but we’ll update as soon as we have final word on the matter.
Update: the file is now available at the OrgStore, price: 12.95USD.
Recommendations
Hard call here. You’ll no doubt have noted that 99% of all payware scenery add ons for XP are for larger commercial facilities, and if these types of airports are your bread and butter then 2NC0 might not light your fire. If, however, GA OPS in the SE United States are of interest to you then this facility ought to be on your radar. Also, if operating out of challenging airports like Saba and St Barts yanks your chain, Mountain Air ought to keep your heart rate right up there. Needless to say, if you plan to fly in and out of this one in a real aircraft then this file ought to make a useful adjunct to your training regimen.
We do recommend this file generally, but it’s a specialty purchase. Think about what you might fly here, and if you’d like to operate in and out of tough mountain airstrips, before committing to this one.
Bottom line: 2NC0 is a challenge best undertaken by experienced pilots. Newbies need not apply. If you’re up to the challenge, this is a fun file to test your skills at.
– Chip

17 comments on “xp+10+reviews + new scenery alert + Butnaru’s 2NC0 Mountain Air North Carolina”

    • I saw that when I first got Tom’s Mu-2. What a hairy ride. I bet the passengers wouldn’t get on if they knew how much work that pilot had to do! Talk about man-handling!

      Reply

  3. In general, the screenshots look good, and I like the whole concept — maybe some day we will have scenery like that done by OrbX, with lots of nice little touches everywhere, which makes the world alive.

    But I am not sure if I like the look of the grass, esp. on the last screenshot, and also in the 2nd one. It looks … strange. Maybe it is because it’s the same grass texture repeating over and over again, and mostly in the same alignment. Currently it creates the impression that there is a photo and someone has painted some lines with a “grass” brush in Photoshop.

    Maybe, in an update, there could be 2 or 3 different textures for each grass type, and also the alignments could be a little more natural.

    I will still buy that scenery, though.

    Reply