Ascension Parish Airstrip (As owned by legendary smuggler Barry Seal)
NOT FOR REAL WORLD NAVIGATION - FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY
Contents
The ZIP file contains a private airstrip located in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, USA for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Installation
Unzip the file and place the "blackwaterskies-airport-xb01-ascension-parish-airstrip" folder and its contents inside the Flight Simulator "Community" folder. Upon restarting Flight Simulator, you should be able to select the airstrip from the World Map as usual. It has been given the fictional ICAO code "XB01",
Background
Barry Seal was a legendary smuggler involved in illegal drugs and arms using a fleet of up to a dozen aircraft during the 1970s and 1980s. He is principally known for being involved in the Iran-Contra affair, smuggling arms and people for the CIA and illegal drugs, ostensibly on behalf of the Columbian Medellin Cartel (headed by the infamous Pablo Escobar).
Having been convicted of a number of earlier offences, in exchange for staying out of jail, Seal was forced to work for the CIA, smuggling arms and people for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, and also as an informant for the US DEA against the Cartel.
During his early career, Seal operated out of a number of small airfields in Louisiana, including this one. His principal method was to fly illegal drugs from Columbia in light aircraft such as the Piper Navajo (the Beechcraft Baron would be a reasonable approximation in MSFS). He and his associates would fly from jungle airstrips in Columbia, refuelling in Belize and crossing in to Louisiana between Lafayette and Baton Rouge at night at 500 feet with no lights and using night-vision goggles, hoping to be mistaken for one of the many helicopters servicing the offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The consignments would be dropped in the vast swamp of the Atchafalaya Basin to be picked up by helicopter and transferred to a fleet of cars for onward transport to Florida. Seal was forced to move his operations to Mena Intermountain Airport (KMEZ) when the FBI and local law enforcement became too interested in his activities in Louisiana.
Seal's exploits are the basis for the Tom Cruise movie "American Made". Seal was eventually convicted again but sentenced to only 1,000 hours of community service. Unfortunately he was forced to undertake this in a single Salvation Army hostel which enabled Escobar's hit-men to easily locate and gun him down in 1986 in revenge for turning informant.
mllgrennman
mllgrennman
Fearless_Ambo
Fearless_Ambo
10 months ago
Swamz
Could you work on the MZBZ for international flights to come? Also on the airport itself?
DoubleOhSeven
That's pretty funny.