The Story Behind Flightgear Default Airport, KSFO (And also MSFS & X-Plane)

So while having some time to myself and flying around KSFO (San Francisco International Airport) region I thought to myself; is there any significance to using KSFO as a default airport for Flightgear?

Although there is not any official reason as to why KSFO was chosen as its default, here's what I got when I asked & searched around:There are probably some requirements for an auto-startup airport to make a good impression to newbies in flight sims, which is having good scenery of built-up airports, city objects, great landscape features.


KSFO, or San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, easily meets just such requirements. Surrounded by hills on one side, and a water feature (bay) on the opposite end, and some buildings and bridges. So no matter which part on the runway you spawn, you will see some features and details as visual eye candy. KSFO also offers some fairly advanced challenges for relatively new users, such as having terrain & structures to avoid during take off or landing, but still has the open water landing approach perfect for people attempting their first landing.

A short flight into the skies and a few turns in the correct direction and the world famous Golden Gate bridge will greet the new user, piquing his or her interest to go closer for a look, and there's also the famous Alcatraz island and various other landscapes / structures to buzz around and experiment with flying.

And once the user gets the hang of it, start flying to the other plentiful nearby airports around it, like KHAF (Half Moon Bay) or KOAK (Oakland International) both of which are just a really short hop from KSFO.

So, KSFO as single auto start place is a very good choice, for the first time users to experiment, and the place is literally full of other airports and airstrips to go to all within a short time.


What about MSFS's Meigs Field?

I don't know if you're old enough to remember the first few versions Flight Simulator, or even the Meigs Field, but the original MSFS's startup airport uses Meigs as its default starting airport. 

Although there wasn't an official reason ever provided by Bruce Artwick, the creator of the original Flight Simulators in the late 70s & early 80s, people surmised that Meigs was chosen partly because Bruce was from Chicago, and also Meigs is a very beautiful airport jutting out into the lake surrounded by a marina with boats, yatches (although none of those are depicted in the original simulators) and world famous buildings.

In fact it was probably a no brainer choice as the default back then, as upon startup on Runway 36, the first recognizable thing you will see after take off is Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, and with nearby Chicago O'Hare International Airport & Midway International Airports to fly to.

It was a beautiful airport, but alas it didn't last. In 2003, the through a combination of some political madness, some post 9-11 panic and other reasons unfathomable to me, the Mayor of Chicago destroyed the airport by bulldozing the runway with large X's on it, even stranding some planes that are still parked the airfield.

What about X-Plane 10's Seattle-Tacoma International - KSEA?

 Well I can't find any info on why KSEA was chosen as the default start up airport in X-Plane, but it was a nicely detailed, nicely modeled airport, with an odd runway that slopes upwards so your horizon is shortened quite a bit. The scenery in X-Plane is also odd in that it comes with "built-up" data generated at random based on how the roads are and how likely a buildings are placed.

 Because I only had the X-Plane demo for a while, I don't know too much about X-Plane other than I love the demo, it has great visuals especially the lighting.

 X-Plane apparently also changes their default every version. In version 9, it is at LOWI - Innsbruck, Austria. In version 8 it was at KSBD - San Bernardino, California, USA.

Swapping Out Generic Glider Model for Multiplayer

The default Blue/Yellow glider, used in multiplayer for unavailable aircraft.

 In Flightgear multiplayer, users whose plane models that you don't have will show up in the world as a generic blue & yellow glider to indicate that other players are there, with a plane model that you do not have. These gliders will represent the direction, and pose of the multiplayer planes in real time.

 There are several problems I have with that.. for one thing, it detracts ever-so-slightly from t he multiplayer experience - imagine if ATC asks for you to look out for traffic nearby, and you see this blue-yellow low polygon thing zipping, or hovering through the air. Certainly not visual candy.

  You can actually change the model from the generic blue and yellow glider to whatever model you like.

In the preferences file "preferences.xml

< default-model type="string">Models/Geometry/glider.ac

You can search in the Models folder for an .ac file that you may fancy, for example, replace it with Models/Aircraft/rafale.ac, and all the mp aircraft will show Rafales, improving the experience.

 Personally, there's still something that bugs me and that is, helicopters. If you change the model to a Rafale for example, and one takes off vertically, it also makes it off somewhat. Also, if there is an ATC in the area, they are also represented by these models on top of the tower, then you have a Rafale, or whatever fixed wing aircraft hovering on top of the tower, which looks odd.

 My personal preference is to use the UH-60 helicopter;

change the code from

< default-model type="string">Models/Geometry/glider.ac

to

< default-model type="string">Models/H-60.xml

and you get a UH-60 model, complete with running engines and spinning rotor, and this bumps up the realism a little bit more. In multiplayer, you will have these UH-60s zipping around in the air, hovering or just making those slow movements for those users who use helos, and they will look (almost) totally authentic. The only difference is that some of them take off like a plane down the runway but otherwise, you have a UH-60 hovering over a tower (ATC), it looks totally fine and believable!

Don't remember what aircraft this was supposed to be.

This is supposed to be an Airbus 330-300, an aircraft I haven't downloaded.

A "Clipper". Over MP, it's a UH-60.