I noticed, today, a City Update, for USA, in my MSFS/Xbox, which I promptly installed. It makes special mention of several U.S. cities in the northeastern United States, including Washington D.C., Buffalo (New York), and Allentown (PA). Short of having lived as a resident in these places, I am quite familiar with all these locales, from my (multiple) RW visits. Here, I focus on Buffalo, New York. Additionally, today, I was looking for a small (and novel...🙂...) turboprop to fly, and this iniBuilds MU-2 caught my attention. Generally speaking, whether it's the iniBuilds' (standard fare) Airbus or their (awkward looking) Skyvan, I've, so far, enjoyed all their a/c.

While once living in Columbus, Ohio, over the years, I'd visited the Niagara Falls, on several occasions, each time driving the 350 miles. U.S. has 3 major east-west highways (I-70/I-80/I-90), each 2,000 to 3,000 miles long, running across the length of the country. From Ohio, I would normally travel first north to Cleveland, catch up there with I-90 (the northernmost and the coldest...🙂.. of the 3 highways, I mentioned), and then drive further up along the eastern shoreline of (Great Lake) Lake Erie, all the way to Buffalo. I recall, once, as we (including a couple of family friends, visiting us) arrived in Buffalo, the city and the Falls were just thawing out of the winter season...🙂...In fact, when we got to the Maid of The Mist (boat) tour, on the Falls, that was the first day of operation for that year, of the seasonal boat tour service (i.e., the Niagara River was just deemed, by the authorities, fully "un-frozen" for transportation and the voyage...🙂...). We were among the first (early) visitors to reach the boarding dock, and I now recall that one of my guests expressed some reservations about getting on the boat. So, I called up the captain of the boat to bolster her confidence...🙂..., who gladly came by and said to my guest, "I've been piloting this boat for more than a decade, and I can vouch for its safety, so, there is nothing to worry. Do come along and enjoy...". That did the trick...but, to be honest, as one closes in on the Falls, it does get a bit unnerving indeed with a good chance of also getting fully soaked in the water-spray hitting you from the 3-sides of the high falls (feels as if there is a sudden rain shower), all this mixed in with a gentle swaying of the boast in the rough waters below. So, this is the real thing, and not the (simulated) Avatar Dragon ride of my recently visited "Animal Kingdom" Flight of Passage...🙂... also, featuring breathtaking waterfalls (fake but wonderfully 3D looking), while all the time seated on a (ground-bolted) rocking chair...with overhead sprinklers (gently) spraying moist vapors on the riders' faces...Oh well...most exhilarating, nonetheless...just like our SIM here...🙂...

Been a long-time Chicago resident, I am no stranger to cold and snowy winters. However, Buffalo, I think, would beat Chicago, by more than a mile, in these respects...🙂...e.g., once, I was there visiting a friend on the University Campus in Buffalo, who had parked the car out on the street, when a massive snowfall came down on the city during the weekend. On Monday, when we went out looking for his car, all the cars parked on the street-sides, were buried in snow, top to bottom. There was no way to tell the cars apart...so, on which car, to apply the ice-scraper...🙂...we couldn't tell. By some trial & error, and guesswork, eventually, we located the car-of-interest, and dug a big-enough peep-hole into the thick ice-coating of the windshield, to pull our car away...with the defrosters and heaters going full blast...

The Niagara Falls is about 25 miles from (KBUF) Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which is where both my takeoff and landing take place, for this post. Lifting off from Runway 23, first, I turn westward to (and overfly) the Peace Bridge (shot #s 7-8). This bridge has received an honorable mention in the MSFS City Update (one of the two iconic bridges around Niagara, along with the (other) Rainbow Bridge). These two bridges connect Canada to America (you might recall I love bridges...🙂...). During most of my flight here, I never flew higher than ~300 ft above ground level (this MU-2 competently obliging me in this task). I track along northward following the Niagara River (see images). The river splits into west and east channels at Grand Island (see shot #s 9-10), on which island I've spent pleasant evenings and strolls during each of my (RW) visits. For this flight, I've briefly tracked the west channel (aka: the Canadian channel; the east one being the American channel of Niagara River), then I cut across the island, past the Skylon Tower (shot #s 12), to finally reach overhead of the majestic Niagara Falls (shot #s 13-14). 

The Rainbow Bridge (shot #15 background) across the Niagara River connects the two sister cities of Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls (New York) and Niagara Falls (Ontario)), on the American and Canadian sides respectively (Sault Ste. Marie, further north, is another good example of such a twin-city pair around these Great Lakes area and the U.S./Canada border). There is a unique perspective and feel from each side of the town of Niagara Falls, which I've once experienced. Finally, I've tracked my course back to Buffalo airport, and landed on its ILS Runway 05. The (iniBuilds) MU-2, despite its legacy avionics (there is a rudimentary (old-style) autopilot panel below the pedestal; see shot #2), did its job well, nicely following the GPS magenta line (with user-defined waypointing to Peace Bridge and Niagara Falls, plus the ILS Approach fix), and also abiding by the Localizer and Glideslope signals for a smooth and easy landing...🙂....See my landing pictures. I liked this plane along with its oddities...

My time spent (in RW) around Niagara Falls were always special. I recall especially the occasion when I'd visited both the American and Canadian sides of the Falls, when the Falls were lit up, on a balmy summer night, by colorful lights...making up for memories that do not diminish with time (and symbolically resembling here the twilight shots of my pictures set below). I wish I could visit it again sometime in RW...though, this time, I need to fly from Chicago, no driving...🙂...since the 350 miles of my yesteryears, has now turned into 550 miles...

Thanks for viewing these images around the city of Buffalo and Niagara Falls...of this (ZK-PSR) Air Ambulance, flown by yours truly here...on a leisure tour, not on a life-saving mission...🙂...so, please ignore the heartbeat rhythm on the fuselage...which is a nice livery though...! Hope you enjoy...! 

Happy July 4th to the folks in U.S., and a good weekend to all...!

Very nice set of shots !

cheers 😉

pmplayer (et al.):

Thanks for the comments and responses...Appreciated much...

Cheers...!!

Nice shots! 😉 

7 hours ago, Alaska738 said:

Nice shots! 😉 

Thank you for the comment, Will.

Cheers...!