Recently, I spoke to Edson Soriano, head of Parallel 42 (//42) and we spoke about their sceneries and how they create them. For my interest, I decided to try them myself to see how they stand out and bring more detailed information about them to the community. I was overwhelmingly surprised, and I am fairly certain you will be, too! So follow me and let’s take a look at their 42XX sceneries. Firstly, I’d like to thank Edson for this wonderful opportunity and for providing me with four different sceneries.
This is not going to be a typical review of various products, but also an insight into the work behind them, see what those sceneries are and what is their business model.
Table of Contents
Review Content
Together, we are going to take a look at four different sceneries, provided by Edson from Parallel 42. Those sceneries are the following;
- 42BC Bush Plane Campout
- 42BH Bluffers Hill
- 42MG Mr. Goodbar
- 42HV High Voltage
Please be aware that the Kitfox I am using is also by Parallel 42 and is not the subject of the article, even though I am going to talk about it a little.
What Do The Sceneries Represent?
All of the airstrips I mentioned are located near Red Bluff, Tehama County, California, just north of Sacramento. Whilst it might at first glance look that they are fictional locations, and to be fair, many people think that’s the case, after further research and discussion with Edson I found out that the airstrips exist in real life. As they’re not used for normal operations, many people don’t know about them, and they’re written down on a map not many people have access to.
I was becoming more engaged with this topic. I started looking around, on Google Maps, and the internet in general. Below this block, screenshots showcase the airfields in real life.
All of the airstrips are designed for bush flying, and we can even see them in some videos by Trent Palmer, who’s also an owner of #FreedomFox and a close partner of Parallel 42. The more I thought about this, the more things started to snap into place, like a puzzle.
What My Operations Looked Like
The airstrips are suited for bush-flying activities, so I made no exception. Well, I couldn’t because the airfields are best fit with STOL aircraft. I heard somewhere on the TV that it’s not good to crash your aeroplane into a hill because you can’t slow down.
That’s why I was using Fox2 STi with Rotax 915 engine, it is a light aircraft with wonderful STOL capabilities and in addition it is really fun to fly with.
Occasionally, even my long-time aviation friend joined me on my numerous adventures in Tehama County. Edson mentioned that this is well-suited for the multiplayer experience, too, so we took advantage of it.
42BC Bush Plane Campout is the main hub of all of the airfields. It is the largest, can host the most aeroplanes and is the easiest to take off from and land on. So we were usually starting our adventures from there, gradually exploring most of the airfields in the area.
42BC Bush Plane Campout
Featured in Trent Palmer’s video, 42BC Bush Campout technically represents the main hub for bush flying in Tehama County. By its size, it is the largest of all four airstrips I had the opportunity to look at, yet, it still offers a challenge to all pilots.
This airstrip features seven stands for your STOL aircraft to park. I highly recommend using STOL aircraft everywhere here, though. There’s quite a short runway, and before you know it, there is a hill right in front of you. Flying in the other direction is also quite risky, there’s a cliff, not a big one, but it is there.
Speaking of technical features of the scenery, there is a lot of detail, despite it being quite an empty airfield. There is a shed with a campfire nearby, a fence around the airfield and some rocks that you should be aware of. A friend of mine flipped his aeroplane over one of them because he didn’t pay attention. While it was funny, I do not recommend performing this action in general.
Textures are sharp and vibrant with a lot of detail in them. It seems that there is also PBR rendering, thus, we can easily determine between a wooden stick and a rock. Static aeroplanes and tents nearby are well-detailed, too. Static planes even have 3D interiors with detailed cabins and gauges.
The runway is visibly marked by white dots on the ground, and there is also a windsock, which you can’t take for granted at bush airfields.
Lastly, 42BC Bush Campout also seems to include another airfield within the package, 42CG, Cone Grove Cabin, which I found during my flying, it also features a shed and a lot of more minor details.
42BH Bluffers Hill, A.K.A. Flip Your Kitfox Here
Bluffers Hill had to be the most difficult to land out of them all. It is again, wonderful, cozy, small scenery with impeccable details. However, you have to be really careful what you’re doing with your aeroplane here. Let’s say that my skills weren’t enough, and I flipped my Kitfox here for the first time ever.
The airstrip features a nearby pond, in which we can find people swimming and hanging around. There are three different campfires, around which we can find some more people.
Furthermore, there are aeroplanes parked, or flipped over, here. There is already one flipped-over included in the scenery, and mine because I can’t handle an STOL plane.
Bluffers Hill is located the westernmost out of them all in Tehama County. It is located on a hill in quite rough terrain and a flight from Bush Campout to here took me around 20 minutes over Red Bluff city. Again, its nature is calm and the surroundings are all filled with forests and mountains in the background.
The runway is uphill and is very tough to land at. It is not marked in any way, so you have to look for grass that’s ran-over, and that is the runway. There is also no windsock, only tents, campfires and aeroplanes, all of them in wonderful detail, with vibrant textures.
There is also a hideout called Hillbiilly Weeds near this airstrip which you can easily locate using either G1000 or if you are fancy enough, yourself.
42MG Mr. Goodbar
Mr. Goodbar is for me the second-best scenery out of the four. It is located near Sacramento River, and taking the approach to this airfield by it is simply spectacular, yet challenging. I loved getting down low over the river and over the trees to get to this airfield. It looked awesome and my adrenaline also was rushing quite a bit.
Even though it is not as challenging as previously mentioned Bluffers Hill, it has to be one of the most beautiful sceneries out of all of them, with plenty of detail and a lot of life in it. There are fishermen and campers to be found all over the place here, making the vicinity of this airfield appear very active.
Again, you have to find the magic in small details, which overall Parallel 42 does nicely. There are tents, parked aircraft, fallen logs, and calm, foresty surroundings.
42HV High Voltage
Lastly, my personal favourite, 42HV High Voltage. Why is it my favourite? For its intense approach and wonderful surroundings and how alive it is. It is a privately owned farm strip with cattle roaming around and fences surrounding it, for obvious reasons.
What I usually loved to do, was steep approach through the power lines, just going above them, cutting the power and slowly flying under the power lines and then landing at the airfield. It was really fun and exciting, especially with such a dynamic plane as Kitfox, as I am mostly used to airliners.
Unfortunately, I found this airfield to be most buggy as well. When flying under the power lines there seemed to be some sort of airflow glitch, and quite severe turbulence occurred to me at least twice. Lastly, the ground on this airfield is quite buggy, too, and there was an invisible terrain within it, making it especially difficult to take off.
Despite that, 42HV High Voltage offers a wonderful forest environment in Tehama County.
The airfield offers a portable windsock and a fence at the end of the runway, so you have to be careful when approaching not to flip your plane on it. According to the feature list, there are even some easter eggs, such as a hidden bear, which I was not able to spot.
Again, textures, models, and details are well-done and there is always something to look at, despite it being a small airfield. Lastly, I also noticed the sounds of cattle and the powerlines, which even further added to the immersion.
Thoughts and Opinions on The Sceneries From My Perspective
Honestly, flying bush planes instead of big airliners was in my opinion a break I well deserved. It has a certain ring to it to fly slow planes into difficult airfields like these and I definitely can recommend such flying operations. Me and my friends even had a good laugh when we flipped our planes over, which you definitely won’t experience with airliners.
It is genuinely wonderful how Parallel 42 can bring so many details into such small and normally empty fields. Creating something out of nothing is a talent this hobby genuinely deserves and more people should know what their sceneries have to offer.
Once you can’t take a look at a huge, 3D detailed terminal at an international hub, you start to appreciate smaller things here, like rocks, windsocks, people wandering around, and even campfires, sheds or food cans, if that is your thing. It gives you a different perspective on this virtual world.
So if you are like me, and are probably having a little enough of stereotypical airliner operations, this is definitely for you. The sceneries are set at reasonable prices for what they offer and it is a huge, yet pleasing change from big aeroplanes. Experience-wise, as well as from the perspective of the quality of the sceneries, I can recommend trying them by all means.
Exclusive Insight to the Development with Parallel 42’s CEO
I also had the opportunity to interview Edson with several questions I prepared for him. In this section, we are going to get an exclusive insight into how the development in Parallel 42 goes and what we might see in the future.
Q: During my research, I noticed that most of your work, such as the Kitfox and your Scenes, are inspired by Trent Palmer’s videos. How did you come across him, and how did your partnership start?
In the early days of MSFS, our only product on the platform was The Skypark. We were also actively working to make ChasePlane possible at the time, but I’ll never forget the moment that forced us to consider a pivot. Microsoft showed us their displeasure with us working on utilities and reaffirmed their commitment to aircraft and airports.
After the call, Keven and I [Edson] met and thought long and hard about the company’s direction. As both of us enjoyed flights with bush planes on our Twitch, we decided to do something that would make us happy – a bush plane.
We both felt that if we ever did a plane, it would have to be something that has character, like #FreedomFox. I remember thinking there was no way Trent would go for this, but I fired off an e-mail anyway.
We’re big fans of Trent’s content; he loved the idea. He wanted to represent his build accurately and expressed displeasure with prior unlicensed attempts. After a few chats, he felt that Parallel 42 would do it justice.
Q: Many people believe that your sceneries are not based on real airfields, and honestly, I thought so, too. However, you told me that it is not true. Could you enlighten us on how you discovered airfields like these?
There’s a fundamental difference between an airport/airfield and a backcountry airstrip. When you land on public or private land, there are often no marked runways, permanent fixtures or recognized ICAO codes, and the absence of these elements does not make a strip fictional.
Although the ICAO we give them is fictitious, plane camping is real, much like some people like to drive to campsites, many pilots love flying to them. We make that possible in our virtual world with our scenes and Campout Utility.
Some of the most prominent bush flying groups have private databases that mark new spots and they name them, too. We’re privy to this data. We’ve even had bush pilots tell us they use the sim to find new spots to mark!
Q: Before you start the development of an airport, could you briefly introduce us to your research?
Is it exciting? That’s the first question that’s asked. We’re not excited about adding people inside a boring terminal. What excites us is a side-sloped airstrip with cows near the runway that you can hear as you ride the brakes so you don’t hit a fence at the end. We want to ensure that people enjoy a series of emotions at our strips, This emotion varies from chill vibes to pure thrill based on the airstrip.
We then scope it out in-sim and assess whether or not the area has more to explore. This kicks off a game of multiple questions; What are the nearby POI? Would I want to visit here from a nearby airport? Are the mountains a cool sight? Is it a challenging/beautiful approach? What do the winds do there? And more.
Q: After researching via Google Maps, I noticed that most of the airfields are empty spaces with nothing really happening there. However, your sceneries give the feeling that a lot is happening. How do you achieve that with such minor details?
All new scenes start with a Discord channel to collect reference material. We gather this material from as many resources as possible, like Aviation Forums, real-world pilots, etc. For example, in the case of Mexican Mountain, we were provided drone footage from a pilot who had just visited.
From there, we move into a planning stage where I provide what I refer to as a “sketch”, that serves as a rough guide to where assets will land. These include landing, camping and parking areas, which directions planes land and so on. I craft a story to convey the vibes of the strip and then hand over creative control to our Scene Team. They are the true artists who build intimate mini-scenes within designated areas. Our guys are brilliant at fleshing out an idea. A scene must pass the vibe check from every end before release.
Q: What audience do you primarily target with your sceneries and the Kitfox? I mostly fly airliners, but I also found the magic in these kinds of operations.
Magic, that’s a beautiful way to put it! With these products, we target fans of bush flying and open-minded simmers. Look, many people like to file a flight plan for 42 minutes sitting at a gate waiting to be told when to taxi for departure. Nothing but love for these folks. But, there is an equal, if not greater, number of simmers that want to have fun, pure fun. No work, not work fun, not rules fun, FUN FUN. These folks won’t criticise you for using the wrong livery on a plane or flying a non-accurate route.
Bush flying is chaotic and sketchy, and everything commercial flying isn’t. The plane even says EXPERIMENTAL on it, that’s basically a disclaimer! It means getting ready to have fun, and fun is the magic you feel.
Q: Why bush fields? Do you ever want to bring the Parallel 42 touch to municipal or regional airports?
Standard airports generally don’t excite us. They are soulless, in our opinion. But there are a few special ones that pique our interest.
Q: As a developer of these sceneries, what is your favourite thing about them?
The unique thing about our scenes isn’t their individuality. If you look at the big picture, we choose a region and populate it with. a hub and nearby remote strips. We also keep our prices low to encourage users to “collect them all”.
If we think of Bush Plane Campout as a Play House, Bluffers Hill as a slide, High Voltage as monkey bars and Mr. Goodbar as a swing. We’ve built an entire playground.
Q: Could you provide the community with information about the future of bush strips? Will you develop only North American strips or push the boundaries?
The world is big. We’re not bound to any region. There are plans to build in other countries, too.
Closing Thoughts
Imagine this, you are a hardcore airliner simmer and you find yourself in a situation where you need your “virtual vacation”. This is your greatest opportunity. The sceneries are giving a completely different perspective to this wonderful, virtual world that we have created over the last 40 years.
Creating such sceneries with impeccable details is pure art and it was a joy working on such an article. I’d like to thank Edson again with providing me with the needed sceneries for this article, as well as providing me with extensive answers to my questions.
Lastly, Edson mentioned that there is an upcoming scenery called 42SS Sunset Strip. We do not have much more information yet. However, it is also going to be located in Tehama County, California.
You can also take a look at various works of Parallel 42 on their website. To learn more about some of their previous releases, such as Bluffers Hill.
