Portlander Makes Portland: KPDXv2 MSFS Portland International Airport

Bill Womack has been known in the scene since the release of the famous “Tongass Fjords” at Francois “Navman” Dumas’ defunct label “FSAddon” at the latest. Back then, he made it with Holger Sandmann for FS 2004 and FS X. In 2015, Bill founded his label iBlueYonder. He lived in Portland for a long time, so he is a true “Portlander”…

His specialty was small airfields until he released “KPDX HD Portland International Airport” for Prepar3D v4 at FlightBeam Studios (FBS – FS MAGAZIN 2/2019) in January 2019. This was followed by Phuket International Airport at Orbx (FS MAGAZIN 6/2022) and Dallas-Love Airport in April 2023 (FS MAGAZIN 4/2023). At FBS, “KPDX XP11 Portland International Airport” for X-Plane 11 was released in November 2019, “KPDX MSFS Portland Airport” for MSFS 2020 in September 2020, and “KPDX2 MSFS Portland International Airport” for MSFS 2020 in March 2025. Let’s fly to the mighty Columbia River…

Portland

The city of 650,000 inhabitants on the Willamette River just south of its confluence with the Columbia River is the largest in the US state of Oregon in the northwest of the country. Breweries (the city has the most in the USA in terms of population density, especially many so-called “microbreweries”), mechanical and tool engineering and the sportswear industry are economically important. Intel manufactures chips here and Daimler Benz trucks of the Freightliner brand, which is the leading brand on the North American continent. At the port near the city (where seagoing vessels can also anchor) on the Willamette River, the largest amount of wheat in the USA is shipped per year, which was previously delivered by rail.

Portland Airport

The airport is located directly on the Columbia River, around 20 kilometers northwest of the city center in Multnomah County. It is connected to the regional transport infrastructure by Interstate 205 and the “MAX Red Line” tram. https://trimet.org

The two asphalt runways 03/21 (1,829 by 46 meters) and 10L/28R (2,995 by 46) and the concrete runway 10R/28L (3,353 by 46) are available. The 10L and 28L/R were equipped with ILS, the 21 with a LOCALIZER. The closest VOR is BATTLE GROUND BTG 116.60 MHz, about ten nautical miles (NM) north of the airport.

The only terminal was (with some imagination) built in an H-shape. Concourses C and D branch off from the main building to the northwest and Concourses B and E to the southeast. Concourse A was demolished in 2019 and replaced by the expanded Concourse B. The reception building was closed in 2020 for significant modernizations and expansions and the installation of an impressive wooden roof structure. The first construction phase was reopened on August 14, 2024. The construction work is scheduled to be completed in 2026. Concourse E received additional parking positions as part of the work.

As is often the case at US airports, there are no electronic entry aids such as Visual Docking Guidance Systems (VDGS). Aircraft that park at parking positions C8, D6 and D10 between Concourses C and D must be towed into the so-called “Tow Box” on Taxiway E2 after pushback. Only then may they start the engines and move under their own power.

The operating company “Port of Portland” https://www.portofportland.com reports the transport of 17,518,499 passengers and 247,350 tons of air freight and mail with 162,476 flight movements for 2024.

In addition to civil aviation, the Oregon Air National Guard (ORANG) with the 142nd Fighter Wing with F-15 Eagle is present at the site. Their installations are located in the south of the site.

Information

Airport
https://flypdx.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_International_Airport

New Terminal
https://www.pdxnext.com/About
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnoseid/2024/08/19/portlands-pdx-airport-dazzles-with-its-new-timber-roof-terminal
https://www.zgf.com/work/5683-port-of-portland-pdx-airport-main-terminal-expansion

Simulation

Bill Womack worked on KPDXv2 for around 15 months. In contrast, KPDXv1 (15 percent of the objects in this version could be reused for the new implementation) only took six months.

In addition to the airport, which already shows the structural status after completion of the terminal construction work, the access road from the southeast with a Swedish furniture store, a hotel and commercial buildings was also implemented. The “MAX Red Line” regularly serves the airport. The Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, which leads southwest over the Columbia River, was also built by hand.

The approximately 45 jetways are animated and automatically dock to AI machines, which has been tested with aircraft from FS Live Traffic Liveries (FSLTL) https://fslivetrafficliveries.com. The hoisted flags move in the wind and a profile for GSX Pro is included…

The ground markings and signage stand up to random comparisons with current satellite images. Aviatically, everything is correct, the approach lights are correct as well as the other runway lights.

The finished modernized terminal was equipped with the new wooden construction mentioned above. Bill invested around a month in its design with countless polygons according to the motto “as much as necessary, as little as possible”. The terminal and concourses were also furnished inside. Nevertheless, the scenery is performant even with “heavy ships”.

The only criticisms are the rough representation of the ground textures outside the core area of the scenery, which are not really noticeable during the flight, the lack of ground traffic and some terrain unevenness outside the airport. Bill was asked for an update and to place some fire engines in front of the fire station to “liven things up”.

I cannot understand the criticism on a media page on the Internet that the night lighting is not successful (after testing only with MSFS 2020).