Ontario Canada: Midland to Toronto via the Muskoka District

For March 22, 2023

Background:
In our previous Ontario, Canada Waterways trip we ended our journey at Midland Airport, CYEE which is located on the east side of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. In this trip our eventual destination is the city of Toronto, which is the largest and the most populous city in Canada, and also the fourth largest in North America behind Mexico City, New York City and Los Angeles. But before we head to the city of Toronto, we’ll take a bit of a diversion and fly to the nearby vacation area known as the “Muskokas” or District of Muskoka.

This district is known for its rugged landscape and natural splendor, from the windswept pines, rocky shores and turquoise waters of Georgian Bay in the west to the thick forest, freshwater lakes and abundant wildlife where Muskoka borders on Algonquin Park in the east. Key thoroughfares include Highway 400 (TransCanada) and Highway 11 which link Toronto to the north and north-west.

There are many scenic locations in this district such as winding rivers, bays, lakes and amongst them nestled-in cities and towns.
Some scenic towns include: Parry Sound, Windermere, Rosseau, Port Carling, Bala, Bracebridge and Gravenhurst to name a few so buckle up and off we go!

The Trip:
Departing Midland Airport, CYEE, we head northward to the very scenic town of Parry Sound which is surrounded by lakes and rivers. Welcome to the Muskoka District. We stop at the Parry Sound Sea Plane Base (CPS1), which is at the town’s edge and in close proximity to the location of a large bridge. This is the railway CPR Trestle Bridge which is a 1694 ft. bridge and stands 115 feet above the Sequin River and over the town of Parry Sound. For a bit of trivia, NHL great Bobby Orr (1948) was born and raised in Parry Sound and yes hockey is big in Parry Sound!

From Parry Sound SPB we’ll head eastward along the Sequin River through the town then head southwest tracking Highway 400 (TransCanada Hwy) and to our east, prime cottage country on Lake Joseph. Along the way we’ll fly-by the CPR Railway town of Mactier, Ontario, which is a crew change off location. In my early career with CP, I often worked here. From Mactier we’ll head due east and land at Foot’s Bay Sea Plane Base (CFB8) which is at the south end of Lake Joseph.

From Foot’s Bay we continue southward to the town of Port Carling and south as we follow the path of Lake Muskoka. We’ll head NE to flyby the town of Bracebridge then turn south landing at Muskoka Airport (CYQA).  Out of the Muskoka’s we head south via Highway 11, over the towns of Gravenhurst, Washago, Orillia (Casino Rama) on Lake Couchiching then along the west shore of Lake Simcoe landing at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport (CYLS) (Barrie/Orillia). Once we take off from Simcoe we’ll fly over the city of Barrie (home of the Spirit Catcher) to Rollick Airport (CRA2) then southward into the Toronto/GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

As we enter the GTA from the north, we’ll pass Canada’s Wonderland Amusement Park then take a sharp left to fly to “Bert’s” airport that being Toronto Buttonville Municipal (CYKZ). I’m sure he’ll tell us a few stories about his times at Buttonville Municipal.

Once we depart Buttonville Airport we’ll head a tad east to the CP Toronto Rail Yard, the largest rail way yard in Canada, then head for downtown Toronto via the “401” (Highway 401) and the Don Valley Parkway. We can take a look around the city and the vicinity of the downtown core and Toronto Islands before we make our final stop at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (CYTZ) in the heart of downtown Toronto.  

FP and this itinerary attached HERE:

Aircraft:
There is a mix of land and water landings. Total distance of this excursion is 223 nm with a total of seven stops, including two water moorings. An amphibian craft that can travel between 100-130 kts is required to navigate this trip. There are quite a few suitable aircraft or helicopters out there that can do the job as long as they are amphibian equipped. I might use the beaver or an amphibian/floater helicopter for this trip but feel free to use a craft of your choosing.

Add-on Scenery:
Firstly, the Canada World Update (WU11) for Microsoft Flight Simulator was mildly received by the community, who quickly pointed out a few obvious faults with the update. Some of the most glaring ones were related to the new photogrammetry introduced to major cities like Vancouver and Toronto as well as some major anomalies to the more scenic sites and distortion of some of the city’s key buildings. In Toronto, these distortions would include the most major landmark, that being CN Tower as well as Ontario Place, and surrounding skyscrapers in the downtown city core.  

Since we are heading right into the Toronto downtown core, you might want to “fix” the scenery or if not, just leave it as stock.
Bert used to live here, and I currently do so I need to have it fixed up! For 20 years I worked downtown in Union Station, Right across from the now Fairmont Royal York Hotel and just down the street from the CN Tower! So if/when I fly here, I wish for correct depiction of the landscapes and a good quality scenery.

There are some nice freeware’s as well as some very nice pay-wares which fix this but do expect in time asobo will eventually fix the WU11 and create another update for Canada, in the meantime here are some options to remedy the scenery in Toronto.

Scenery Suggestions:
If you do nothing else would recommend that you turn OFF the WU11 Canada Update Photogrammetry piece via the content manager. This disconnects the call of the WU11 ugly photogrammetry and photogrammetry is reverted to that of pre-WU11 conditions which is much better than post WU11. (The Official content folder is: fs-base-coverage-map-canada-tin but can only stay removed by deletion via the Content Manager so the cloud keeps it disabled: This is much better for trips in the cities of Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver).

Freeware Scenery Add-ons/Options:

1.        Canada’s Wonderland: https://flightsim.to/file/36821/canada-s-wonderland (by cellblok69wlamp)

2.        Toronto Foliage/Water: https://flightsim.to/file/41265/toronto-foliage-water-clean-up-toronto-on-canada (freakyD)

3.        ** Toronto GTA: https://flightsim.to/file/538/greater-toronto-area-enhancement-pack (romandesign)

Payware Optional Add-on Scenery: (These are not mandatory by any means but they do create a much better representation of the more well-known locations especially more important to those are very familiar with the city. (Flightsim.to links for product reference/info only.)

1.        ** Toronto City Times by SamScene3D: https://flightsim.to/product/toronto-city-times (**Best scenery for the Toronto downtown Core)

2.        Billy Bishop Airport CYTZ (FSimStudios):  https://flightsim.to/product/billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport-cytz

             **   (IMPORTANT: For best results, ASOBO's default CYTZ should be deactivated for the product to display correctly)

3.        Toronto Buttonville Mun. Airport CYKZ (RomanDesign): https://flightsim.to/product/cykz-toronto-buttonville-municipal-airport

4.        Oshawa Executive Airport CYOO (RomanDesign): https://flightsimulation.romandesign.ca/product/cyoo-oshawa-executive-airport/

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Time and Weather:
For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator to @15:00 local. We should prefer to fly real weather if possible but if not, use Few Clouds or High Clouds preset.

Multiplayer Particulars:
Date and time: Wednesday March 22, 2023 – (1900 UTC **)
** NOTE that this is UTC time. In North America under Daylight Savings Time, we start an hour later (local) than normal. We shall readjust once Europe goes on Daylight Savings Time.
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: East USA server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked HERE). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

Edited March 18, 20233 yr by nbrich1

It seems, that the Regal Air Livery for the Beaver is no longer available....

Crispy136 is moving all his creations away from Flightsim.to to Flightsim.com. See the discussion at the FS Forum here. As he is in the middle of a long process, our forum participants can for one day only get a TEMPORARY private distribution through the usual process...check the link again.

Yesterday am, before the SU12 update yesterday afternoon, I decided to reactivate/reinstall the Canada WU11 photogrammetry, from the content manager hoping there might be some update to it in SU12.. and sure enough there was some type of update to the Canada-Tin photogrammetry so I guess will keep it on to try this group trip afternoon. (Note. Prior to the update, the Parry Sound area should have been much better than it was, and the big bridge didn't even show the current scenery for this well known town and area.

Does anyone have dark/black roads everywhere in Canada? (Like dark and not much texture?.. we'll see what it looks like today in this trip after the update.

I know one thing after the update, they didn't fix the no-change aircraft FREEZE. (If you don't change the aircraft, the sim still locks up when trying to load a flight but if you change the aircraft or at least change the current aircraft to another livery it loads without issued. A weird one!

Well today everything is fine with roads etc today so it must have just been the servers under load yesterday feeding SU12 out to the world!!.

 

Edited March 22, 20233 yr by nbrich1