Solent Airport in Fareham recreated in 'astounding' detail for popular video game Microsoft Flight Simulator

The airport in Fareham has been recreated digitally by Burning Blue Design, a team of flight simulation enthusiasts, for Microsoft Flight Simulator, a video game that has more than 10 million players worldwide.

The 3D model of the airport, which can be downloaded to the game, contains detailed ground markings, runway signs, hangars, and the recently installed 25-meter-tall radar tower.

The team from Burning Blue Design visited the airfield on multiple occasions to take thousands of reference images of buildings, aircraft, tarmac, and hangars.

Jack, a student pilot working with Phoenix Aviation, a flight school based at Solent Airport, said: ‘The level of detail is astounding and is already helping me to prepare for real-life flight training by practicing procedures in the simulator before getting into the cockpit.

‘Burning Blue Design has always impressed me with the quality of their addons for the flight simulator, and I am very happy that they have added Solent Airport to their product line.’

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Formerly known as HMS Daedalus, which was closed in 1996, the airport in Fareham was brought back into existence when Fareham Borough Council purchased the site in 2015. It was officially renamed Solent Airport in 2016.

Local pilots, flights schools, HM Coastguard, businesses, and simulator enthusiasts all pulled together for the airport’s recreation, giving the designers access to their facilities and aircraft in order to recreate them in the highest level of detail.

Mike, the lead designer on the Solent Airport project, said the virtual airport had taken months of work, making it one of the team’s most accurate simulations to date.

The digital designer said: ‘I am delighted to have been able to release Solent Airport and see it is already being very warmly received by the local aviation community. All the airfields that we create are a labour of love, with hundreds of hours of work going into each.’

Microsoft Flight Simulator aims to be a highly accurate physics simulation, which models forces acting on aircraft including ground effect, windshear, and thermal updrafts.

The Solent Airport add-on for the video game is available on Burning Blue Design’s website for £14.95.