Orbx Releases Pierce County Airport for MSFS 2024
Quick summary· AI-generated
Orbx's new Pierce County Airport addon for MSFS 2024 includes historically accurate detail and modern visual features like PBR textures and custom night lighting. The addon costs $15.24 and requires 1.99 GB of disk space. The article traces the airport's history from its 1944 founding through its 1979 acquisition by Pierce County and modernization, providing context for the scenery's design. Content focuses on the addon's features and historical background rather than deep technical analysis or comparison.
Excerpt from Threshold
Orbx has recently released their rendition of Pierce County Airport (KPLU) for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, serving Puyallup, Washington, with an annual average of 107,000 aircraft operations.
Its origins trace back to 1944, when local Puyallup businessmen cleared a single gravel landing strip on South Hill along the primary transit route between Puyallup and Eatonville. The restrictions imposed by wartime and inadequate early development left it largely unused and neglected during its first years.
Everything changed in 1949, when John Thun Sr. purchased the property and fully transformed it into a functional airfield, renaming it Thun Field. It wasn’t long until it became a community gathering hub, going above and beyond serving pilots, with drag races for teenagers on quiet evenings and other community-driven events.
In the late 1960s, the airfield was sold to the Puyallup Development Company and subsequently passed among multiple private investment groups and individual owners.
Then, rapid suburban growth in Pierce County brought increased demand for local infrastructure, creating a strong need to preserve the airfield for public and municipal use.
In 1979, Pierce County acquired the airport’s 150 acres for just over a million dollars, funded by the FAA and state grants. Under their helm, the airport got a paved runway, hangar and taxiway expansions, and infrastructure improvements.
The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with an up-to-date ground layout, custom ground textures, performance-friendly optimization, PBR textures, custom night lighting, and much more.
It’s available on OrbxDirect for roughly $15.24, requiring at least 1.99 GB of free hard disk space to install.
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