OCALA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - JIM TAYLOR FIELD
Developed by DREE CS for FSX and FS2004
A review by John Allard
March 2009

Introduction
Having never reviewed scenery before, I’m on new ground here, but in a way it’s familiar ground too – the scenery that is.

My good on-line friend Dree (Andre Boot, of the Netherlands) has recently stepped off on a new phase of flight simulation – creating airport scenery. Dree is an interesting character – a very active flight-simmer and a merchant sailor who has lots of time available when he’s not at sea and a fair amount of time while at sea, though with no connectivity to speak of (text only, and only one or two connect times per day) during those voyages.

Beginning while we were both active with Cargo Pilot and later during AirHauler testing, Dree became adept in re-paints of FSX aircraft (and my FS9 Boxwings PC-12) and then began branching out to the creation of custom freight terminals for his various cargo bases. Those became more and more elaborate and realistic looking over time and it was interesting to watch his skills and his suite of design tools grow.

Recently, while he was wondering aloud in the AirHauler test forum which airport to model next (…well, you can’t test ALL the time), I quickly suggested our local air patch here in Ocala, Florida, KOCF. I offered to send annotated photos of the airport environs as needed to help him get it right. He quickly accepted and the game was afoot. Over a few weeks, with the help of Skip Tucker, a fellow member of the Ocala Flight Sim Club and RW flight instructor, and with the cooperation of Wayne Middelton, the KOCF Operations Manager, we fed Dree well over a hundred marked up hi-res photos (through an ftp site) of airport buildings and details. We also obtained and passed on a digital image of the airport’s official Signage Plan document, which showed every airside sign in its proper orientation and location. Several of the airport structures are recent construction and were not shown on the Google Earth depiction of KOCF. As for the stock buildings in FS9 and FSX, to quote Dree, “pfffttt”.

We began by creating a building index from a marked-up Google Earth image, assigning each structure a unique code by which we could refer to it easily and adding those that were missing from the satellite shot. I also created and sent a couple of CAD representations of the more unique buildings whose basic layout was not obvious from the photos and GE image – one in particular is a very odd Hexagon-hangar.
 

With all that as raw material, Dree has created an accurate model of KOCF - (Ocala International Airport – Jim Taylor Field) in two separate versions, one each for FSX and FS9. The FSX version includes photo-realistic scenery around the airport.

Ocala is an uncontrolled field (for now – see below) with two runways in an “L” configuration, or I guess more accurately, a “7” if you’re approaching from the south. The main runway is about 7,000 feet long. There’s an ILS for runway 36 and a VOR on the field. There’s also an LOM (co-located Outer Marker and NDB) for runway 36. It’s a busy GA field and a biz aircraft hub, but has no scheduled air carrier service.

Dree’s KOCF is a finished product and is available now at Sim Market. See the end of the review for links. As a resident of Ocala and an aviation buff who never misses a chance to drive by or stop in for a look-see or a photo or lunch at the Tail Winds Café, I can tell you that Dree has done a very accurate job of modeling Ocala’s airport. It looks good and it’s very well done. No one who’s been here will fail to recognize it.

Among the unique things to be found at KOCF are a pair of horse loading ramps, one white, one blue, that sit conspicuously near the terminal apron. They look a lot like the old air-stairs, but with cleated ramps instead. Dree has modeled those contrivances and they stand ready in his scenery. The Ocala area is a hotbed of horse breeding, training and sales activity – considered second only to Lexington, Kentucky among US thoroughbred horse–oriented places. Horses are a big deal here. Freighters, usually 727s, fly in and out frequently with long-faced but pampered passengers of the equine persuasion. Those are the largest AC we typically see here.

Details
Every airport building, large and small is represented, down to and including a couple of maintenance sheds near the base of the beacon tower. Among the more recognizable items are the Sheriff’s Department Aviation Unit hangar and their adjacent Airport Operations Center building, Landmark Aviation’s FBO admin building and attached hangar and the small but unique KOCF terminal building, including their sign out front on 60th Avenue. In all there are over 30 buildings on the airport and all are modeled in both versions.

There’s a jellybean hidden in Dree’s scenery too – not enough to qualify as an Easter Egg, but a nice hidden touch that includes some of the original annotated ground level photos we sent to him. See if you can find it when you’re here next time.

There are ample parking spaces defined in the scenery layout, including a few in front of some of the open T-Hangar stalls. Several of the larger hangar doors are open and you can taxi inside and park there if your AC is not too large. There is very attractive night lighting with supporting textures too. He’s included plenty of ground vehicles and a few static AC sprinkled around.