Aerosoft has today released a new scenery, something that we have not seen yet in the Microsoft Flight Simulator community – a scenery covering an area in Antarctica. While one may wonder what is so interesting about flying around Antarctica, others will be excited to make use of their helicopter flying skills and Twin Otter operations when connecting nearby research stations or simply exploring the continent.
The scenery offers a plethora of features improving the immersion of VFR flying around the area in the simulator like custom animated animals accurate to the area, animated boats, animated people, and animated chain vehicles.
Further, for the animals, custom sounds were created for the best audio experience and, you guessed it, immersion. There are also animated icebergs in a larger area around the base which can sometimes block the aircraft on an approach while passing by.
For ideal VFR flying, there are offsite locations and landing strips with custom models present around the area for the user to do some additional exploring and train challenging approaches. This is really a must-have for a VFR flight simmer.
Coverage map 
In case of the scenery coverage, it mainly covers the area of British Rothera. As the product has “Vol.1” in the title, we can expect more sceneries from Antarctica to come in the future. A coverage map of the scenery can be found above, in the gallery.
If you want to purchase the scenery, you can do so through the Aerosoft’s website for a decent price of €12.50 with taxes excluded.
Feature list
- Lots of animation including animals, vehicle, boats and people, including likely the first animated penguins and chain vehicles in flight simulator
- Custom created sounds of animals and vehicles (probably the first scenery in MSFS with sounds attached)
- Coverage beyond the base with stunning glacier cliffs dropping into the sea
- Hundreds of thousands of animated icebergs in a larger area around the base (at times it can be possible that the approach is blocked by a huge iceberg passing through)
- Offsite locations of automated monitoring stations (marked as POIs so you can fly there for regular checks performing rough landings out in the field)
- Offsite landing strips of two British field locations with custom models and improved terrain imagery/elevation data: Sky Blu and Fossil Bluff
- Emergency airstrip location on the glacier above Rothera (alternative landing strip that MUST be used by local aircraft if there are incoming overseas aircraft)
- Carefully crafted landscape to merge with surround landscape – including updated waterbodies
- Special technique used to add wind shear details to the vast white lands on the glacier
- Manual with dozens of pages of inside knowledge on flying in Antarctica, plus flight plans and simple charts
