Since 2016, every new release of a new stable FlightGear version comes with a new base airport. The release plan has changed from 2 stable releases to 4 stable releases in that year. In 2018, it was decided to skip the 2018.4 release, because the 2018.3 release was delayed by three months and only released in December because some mayor bugs didn't get fixed earlier. Also, it was decided to keep the base airport for all the releases over a year, and only change it with the final, completely bug free release of the year (e.g. PHNL for FG 2018.3). Changing the base airport with every release proved to be a bit too ambitious, partly because much work was needed on PHNL to get it ready for release and three months was just too short to finish that work.
Call: suggest the new base airport of FlightGear!
At the moment the 2019.1 release (initially planned for February 17th) is almost three months overdue. This will probably mean (but hasn't been decided yet) that we will end with three or even two releases this year, thus it is highly desirable that we choose a new base airport soon, so that it can be finished by September to accommodate the stable 2019.2 or 2019.3 release.
Do you know a nicely developed airport in a stunning scenery you'd like to make more popular? Do you want to draw FG attention to your country? Are you involved in scenery developments and want your work to be prominently visible? This is your chance to get involved!
What's needed now?
If you have a good idea for a default airport, please post a short description along with two screenshots (airport terminal buildings and airport seen embedded into the surrounding scenery) below. Once we have a few options (by next Sunday, May 12th at 0700Z), we'll have a poll and pick the most popular result. You can take a look at the previous topic and re-suggest airports that didn't make it yet, but we start with a new list because the previous one is almost two years old.
Desired features are:
* well developed terminal buildings (on par with the other default airports)
* preferably (but not mandatory) the .850 apt format, with curved taxiways, as we want to show what FlightGear is capable of out of of the box.
* suitable for airliner operations
* nice scenery for VFR flights in the vicinity, possibly also smaller airports, ideally developed
* usability (should not need a gaming computer to get usable framerates)
(* possibly working AI traffic)
What'll be needed later?
For the airport that gets picked as the next default, we'd like to see a Wiki page describing the airport and popular VFR activities in the surroundings. Feel free to also share other aviation fun facts of the country with FG enthusiasts.
A general effort by scenery developers to populate the surroundings even more is also not the worst of ideas
Will the development team create better terrain for location XXX if it gets picked?
Usually the holdup for more detailed scenery is not bad intention but just publicly available data - the scenery is usually as good as the data we have permits. So the answer in general is no - we can't do that easily, unless you or someone else takes up this task.
I want to see my home airport featured!
If the airport is already developed, Just place it here!
If the airport is not developed yet, get involved! Just placing buildings in the right places is easy but will have a big impact!
So - let's all help to make FG more international by migrating around the world - show us what's to see in your region, or whatever you found elsewhere in the world!
A general hint: this website, maintained by KL666, lists most (if not all) of the developed airports around the globe that are available through Terrasync, with the ability to filter them on quality level.
This topic will be locked and the poll will be opened on Sunday May 12th around 0700Z. Make sure to post your candidate well in advance! If you have any comments on a suggestion, please, do feel free to react in this topic!