KRDU Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Monday afternoon I set up a flight from KGHR Hagerstown, PA to KRDU Raleigh Durham in my Cessna 172 Skyhawk. As it turned out when I got in the air, Washington Center on VATSIM came on and I got to talk to and listen to him as I flew my VFR flight (no flight following was offered or requested). As I got closer to KRDU, to me unheard of on a Monday Evening: KRDU Approach, Tower AND Ground. I had a really fun flight handed over to Approach by Center; Tower by Approach and after a smooth, beautiful landing IMO, handed over to Ground after exiting the runway. Ground gave me taxi instructions and having the Airport Chart Feb 20 to March 20 2025, I found it right away. As it slowly got dark and the taxiway lights came on, I proceeded. All of a sudden there was a problem though, in MY airport that I had downloaded online for Raleigh Durham, the final taxiway into General Aviation Parking was not there. It's supposed to be "Juliet One" and instead the Taxiway Sign says "N2", then "N3" and then "N4". What??? After trying to find "J1", I called Ground, apologized and shut down the sim.

I opened up the scenery file of the uploaded airport and found the AFCAD. I opened it up in ADEx and sure enough there were three N taxiways where the three J taxiways were now. Then, opening up the readme I discover that this was originally made for FS9 in 2006, updated with online information in 2010 as the airport was undergoing major reconstruction. OooooKaaaay! That explains that. Since I have the current airport chart; Google Earth and Google Map, I decided that I would completely update the airport to 2025 configuration and that is what is happening now. The original creator: Ignacio Villegas, listed his email address and I wrote to him for permission to do a simple update to the airport taxiways and the email came back. After an extensive search, I discovered that Ignacio is the designer/owner of Blueprint Simulations. I sent him a Support Request to get in touch but have had no reply to four emails a day apart. I would like to share these efforts which is a considerable update of the airport but won't without his permission because Blueprint Simulations sells which I believe is an updated version of the free one that is online but still nowhere current. I just tried to use his "Contact" email "info@blueprintsimulations.com" which just came back undeliverable just like the one at Verizon.

Has anyone had any recent communication with Blueprint Simulations? Investigating the website I saw that the last post into the FAQ was 2016. I wrote to Ignacio that I hope that he has not been ill and as such nothing recently been done. We have seen that happening here too frequently now in the FS community as we all get older. Post here if you have any information. I am concerned as I am sure you are too. They have been around for a long time and are a good source of airport scenery at a very reasonable price though somewhat dated.

Currently just finished the Terminal 2 adding the gates in ADEx so that they are not only animated with {CTRL}J but also if you have GSX they are replaced with their animated gates and airport vehicles. Ignacio's readme says that he does not do animated jetways or vehicles. In Modelconverter X I removed the gates and the gate numbers off the boards which now are just black rectangles. I will check later to see if I can remove them without removing the sides of Terminal 2.

Now I am creating the new Terminal 1 from Google Earth Screenshots in Sketchup and will detail it and add gates to it as well. The KRDU 2010 did not have either of the new Terminals so only Terminal 2 was done well to use. Terminal 1 was the old Terminal C and no longer there. Will have some screenshots later when completed. I also used the new accurate airline assigned maps from the KRDU website and assigned the airlines to the proper gates. Adjusted the taxiways as well to match the current airport chart. It's coming along nicely IMO.

Terminal 1 is being built on screenshots taken in Google Earth and overlaid in Sketchup. Then, the elevation is carefully checked in Google Earth in perspective and I think it is really coming out well and it will be as accurate as I can make it without having the architectural drawings which I have been fortunate to have had for some airport terminals in the past. I am going to try and detail the ramp as well as it appears with gate numbers and border lines around each gate. Terminal 1 will have the gates assigned to the respective airlines like Alaska Airline as well like Terminal 2. Yabba Dabba Doo as Fred used to say. It's five o'clock here now, for real, not like Margaritaville with "it's five o'clock somewhere"! LOL! For me that's a Pellagrino Sparkling Water having finished my Boles` de Picolat with tiny boiled potatoes.* Did I say I am a chef, too as well as a virtual pilot? Though not a truly trained one. I am a chef like I am a pilot, self-taught. Google is wonderful when you want to discover how to do something. If you want to know what I just had for dinner, click the link or not, it's up to you. It is really great if you like creative cooking.,

https://goodcheapeats.com/catalan-meatballs-boules-de-picolat/

tgycgijoes said:

Terminal 1 is being built on screenshots taken in Google Earth and overlaid in Sketchup. Then, the elevation is carefully checked in Google Earth in perspective and I think it is really coming out well and it will be as accurate as I can make it without having the architectural drawings which I have been fortunate to have had for some airport terminals in the past. I am going to try and detail the ramp as well as it appears with gate numbers and border lines around each gate. Terminal 1 will have the gates assigned to the respective airlines like Alaska Airline as well like Terminal 2. Yabba Dabba Doo as Fred used to say. It's five o'clock here now, for real, not like Margaritaville with "it's five o'clock somewhere"! LOL! For me that's a Pellagrino Sparkling Water having finished my Boles` de Picolat with tiny boiled potatoes.* Did I say I am a chef, too as well as a virtual pilot? Though not a truly trained one. I am a chef like I am a pilot, self-taught. Google is wonderful when you want to discover how to do something. If you want to know what I just had for dinner, click the link or not, it's up to you. It is really great if you like creative cooking.,

https://goodcheapeats.com/catalan-meatballs-boules-de-picolat

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When I clicked on that link I see this:

When I tried that link again in MS Edge blocked again

Unusual I get it so maybe your anti virus ogle it. Just Google the name of the dish and you get all kinds of recipes if you want to try it

Anyone else have a problem and want the recipe PM me. Since this is not a food thread I'll get back to KRDU.

tgycgijoes said:

Anyone else have a problem and want the recipe PM me. Since this is not a food thread I'll get back to KRDU.

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When I right click and open link in private window it works. Go figure. Looks like meatball stew.
Or, in my former Navy days, we'd call the cook Toby Ptomaine and this would of been called his "Mystery Meat" stew.

It is fantastic IMO, NOT a mystery meat meal. I am the only one in my house who likes it but in our family some nights we have four different meals one for each. When I make this or my special meatloaf, I divide it and freeze it which this does so well and then thaw it out on Taco Salad night or something like that I don't particularly care for. This afternoon I am eating one of the helpings of meatloaf I made yesterday afternoon. Now back to KRDU.

Can anyone see if they can contact Ignacio at Blueprint Simulations to see if although the website is there yet, he is ill, I hope not.

tgycgijoes said:

It is fantastic IMO, NOT a mystery meat meal. I am the only one in my house who likes it but in our family some nights we have four different meals one for each. When I make this or my special meatloaf, I divide it and freeze it which this does so well and then thaw it out on Taco Salad night or something like that I don't particularly care for. This afternoon I am eating one of the helpings of meatloaf I made yesterday afternoon. Now back to KRDU.

Can anyone see if they can contact Ignacio at Blueprint Simulations to see if although the website is there yet, he is ill, I hope not.

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I was just kidding you Richard. I am sure that dish is delish. My son came over today, his turn for a Sunday dinner and he made scratch meatloaf.
We take turns each Sunday, My turn next Sunday. This thread could develop into the Food Network.
I thought you already did Raleigh Durham airport. I googled the real one and it looks nice.

First, no offense whatsoever with your comment on the food. I would love to compare meatloaf recipes with your son. If he wants to email me. We've done enough foody here, LOL!

The airport that you Googled is Ignacio Villegas airport if you found it over at Flyaway Simulation or another freeware site. That is the one I downloaded and then found out if you read the README that he originally created it for FS9 in 2006 and then updated it in 2010 for FSX. He admits that he created it with the information he had at his disposal. In either case he did not have any of the information there is now and his taxiways are wrong because of that. Only the Terminal 2 is accurate except for the gates and Terminal 1 is ALL wrong. In appearance it is nice and he put a tremendous amount of effort into it which I wrote to him though still no reply. He did a wonderful job with the information he had at the time. Many free and even payware airports that are old and have not been updated are like that at Flyaway, Flightsim, Avsim or Simviation. When you look at the information about who created it / uploaded it and when you know if it's outdated or not.

If you are going to fly on VATSIM or IVAO you need an up to date chart and an up to date airport. If you are going to fly by yourself then you can use old airports and "canned" atc from the sim and it doesn't matter, just fly for the fun of it. It just depends on the virtual pilot what he wants to do. I know that "I am preaching to the choir" here.

tgycgijoes said:

First, no offense whatsoever with your comment on the food. I would love to compare meatloaf recipes with your son. If he wants to email me. We've done enough foody here, LOL!

The airport that you Googled is Ignacio Villegas airport if you found it over at Flyaway Simulation or another freeware site. That is the one I downloaded and then found out if you read the README that he originally created it for FS9 in 2006 and then updated it in 2010 for FSX. He admits that he created it with the information he had at his disposal. In either case he did not have any of the information there is now and his taxiways are wrong because of that. Only the Terminal 2 is accurate except for the gates and Terminal 1 is ALL wrong. In appearance it is nice and he put a tremendous amount of effort into it which I wrote to him though still no reply. He did a wonderful job with the information he had at the time. Many free and even payware airports that are old and have not been updated are like that at Flyaway, Flightsim, Avsim or Simviation. When you look at the information about who created it / uploaded it and when you know if it's outdated or not.

If you are going to fly on VATSIM or IVAO you need an up to date chart and an up to date airport. If you are going to fly by yourself then you can use old airports and "canned" atc from the sim and it doesn't matter, just fly for the fun of it. It just depends on the virtual pilot what he wants to do. I know that "I am preaching to the choir" here.

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Nah, I googled the real Raleigh Durham airport and liked what I saw. Never did look for a sim version.

When I am finished I'll share it if I ever hear from Ignacio. The reason I am creating/updating it is as I said above about its inaccuracy and age. I am able now to get a lot of good information that was not there 19 years ago in FS9 days; even 15 years ago in FSX days.

I must have done something wrong today and was being punished...I spent all day working on Terminal 1 and at the end of the day when I was studying in "Street View" in Google Earth saw that I did everything wrong. I also didn't make a mistake when I DID note that the view was from 2012 NOT 2024 like the one I saw my mistakes in. I erased all the mistakes, saved my work and will get back at it again tomorrow. A GREAT BIG PHOOEY!!!

tgycgijoes said:

I must have done something wrong today and was being punished...I spent all day working on Terminal 1 and at the end of the day when I was studying in "Street View" in Google Earth saw that I did everything wrong. I also didn't make a mistake when I DID note that the view was from 2012 NOT 2024 like the one I saw my mistakes in. I erased all the mistakes, saved my work and will get back at it again tomorrow. A GREAT BIG PHOOEY!!!

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Well... if at first or second you don't succeed....keep on truckin' for a different result.

Starting out fresh this morning, I am successfully getting the textures right this time more carefully studying the street level views in Google Earth. Here is a caution to all of you Sketchup modelers and prospective modelers. Not every view is current Even the street level when clicked can go back to 2012 Raleigh Airport. Now that the upper level is done, I am going to truy and get textures for the lower level on the street entrance side instead of making windows and doors like I used to do in the past which is frame intensive. One texture on a rectangle works so much better. None of the fs pilots using this are driving an animated cab to let off passengers at the Southwest Ticket Counter. LOL. If you are you will be able to do that just not watch them go into the terminal in GSX2.