Verticalsim has recently released their rendition of St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (KPIE) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, serving the Tampa Bay Area with a yearly average of 2.5 million passengers as of 2023.
Construction started in 1941 and was acquired shortly after by the United States Army Air Forces to be used as a training base.
It was returned to the County after the end of WW2, renamed Pinellas International Airport. Its current name only came to be in 1958 because Pinellas County was not a very attractive name from a tourist standpoint, according to the airport manager (people didn’t know where it was).
The administration spent $22 million on heavy renovation work in 2009, which included larger gates, jetways, new plumbing, and overall modernization.
It’s an operating base for Allegiant Air, which flies to a wide range of destinations. Sun Country, Minneapolis’ local airline, also flies to St. Pete seasonally.
The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with an up-to-date ground layout, LODs for optimization, a simple terminal for optimal performance, custom static models, custom taxiway signage, high-resolution PBR texturing, custom aerial imagery, an official GSX profile, and more.
It’s available on Contrail for roughly $16.99, requiring at least 1.76 GB of free hard disk space to install.
Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!