To coincide with the July 4th celebrations in U.S., MSFS released the latest USA City Update, on July 2nd. I noticed it has (thoughtfully) included Allentown, Pennsylvania, along with other major (northeastern) cities such as Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, New York (see my previous post for Buffalo). Folks outside U.S. (but greater followers of MSFS News and Updates than me...🙂...) might be wondering, yes, we get Washington D.C. and Buffalo, but why Allentown of all places, and, btw, where exactly is Allentown...🙂...Well...First of all, Allentown had played a central and crucial role in the "American Revolution", "Declaration of Independence", and as the "Liberty Bell's Secret Hiding Spot" etc., but that's all history. Equally interestingly, Allentown stands at the core of the region that was (originally) deeded to the "Penn" family, of which the patriarch was William Penn (Born: London, England, and Died: Berkshire, England), after whom, the U.S. State of Pennsylvania is named. 

In MSFS, I've already once visited (KABE) Allentown (prior to this Update). So, today, I wished to see any incremental changes of this town, airport, and vicinity. This eastern region of U.S. (along with the Appalachian Mountain Range), that such towns are part of, as I recall, was always neglected in our SIM (until MSFS). In fact, when Orbx first published sceneries of the west coast (PNW), and then of the Rockies, I held hope that Orbx would (slowly) advance eastward to these regions, to feature the local valleys, mountains, and townships etc. in the SIM that are of personal interest to me from my close encounters in the RW. It was, of course, a futile wait lasting more than decade (after a few such waits, this waiting game, for a/c or/and scenery, becomes bit of a pointless exercise...🙂...at least for some of us...so, it's always best to enjoy what is currently in-hand, before we begin to peel off this active SIM pastime of ours...for one or more reasons...🙂...) ...

In this post, I've taken a short trip of about 140 miles from Hagerstown (KHGR) via Harrisburg (KMDT) to (KABE) Allentown (see MAP Route closeup shots in the Dual GPS units and the cockpit EFB (shot #3) ...OK...this EFB is not like that of the 777 and looks more like a Cell-Phone ...🙂...still...). Anyway, in my many (annually ritualistic) eastward road-trips of the yesteryears, from the midwest to the east coast, my destinations were either Washington D.C./Maryland, or New York/New Jersey. In the former case, I would leave Pennsylvania, crossing into Maryland, heading south towards Hagerstown, in the final stretch to Washington D.C. In the latter case, I would drive east across the whole length of Pennsylvania, and often pass through Allentown, crossing the NY state border, before being on the final stretch to New York City (or south towards New Jersey).

Allentown is in a valley, may not be a deep valley like those in the Rockies and Alps, but it's a pretty valley with a pretty river, bound by mountains to the north and the south (see images). The Appalachian Range (finally) trails to flatlands of the east, near Allentown. The Lehigh River (shot #s 12-14) is the town's life blood, and Lehigh name is predominantly stamped everywhere around Allentown. The valley is called Lehigh Valley, the airport is called "Lehigh Valley Airport...", the county is called "Lehigh", there is "Lehigh University", "Little Lehigh River" (a tributary of Lehigh River), Lehigh Parkway, Lehigh Street, and even a Lehigh Valley Honda...🙂...just to name a few...

Please find here a set of pictures as I travel from (KHGR) Hagerstown (never actually drove direct between these two cities), under the guidance of the GPS magenta line, first flying northeast, across and over some (transient) rolling hills and mountains (so-called Blue Mountains, the receding remnant traces of the (Great) Appalachians), to next overfly (KMDT) Harrisburg Airport, in the capital city, located on the bank of Susquehanna River (shot #s 7-8; I have never seen a major airport literally on the river's edge), and then east to Allentown. I've landed at KABE, just after crossing the Lehigh River, on ILS Rwy 06. This City Update seems to have added lot more buildings on the airport premises, and also a denser set of township elements (shot #s 10-11). See also the Route 22 bridge over Lehigh River, shot #14, which landmark was pointed out to me by a member here (a knowledgeable resident of the region), during my last visit/post of the Allentown airport. The image shows the bridge under (current) construction, with a (makeshift) service road for vehicular traffic.

Hope you enjoy this collection of snapshots...in the (iniBuilds) Mitsubishi MU-2...

Thanks for viewing. Happy flying...!

Edited July 6, 20241 yr by P_7878

Glad you came back to the Lehigh Valley for another look. 🙂

Fine set of shots! 😉 

Another fine set, thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Nice set of shots PM 🙂 and you've found another interesting highway bridge next to that extruded there. I'm afraid they cannot solve this problem in

the downloaded sceney. The MU-2 is a good plane, I have it installed and it works well.

John, Will, pmplayer, and Andreas:

Appreciated the comments...Many thanks and cheers...!!

Edited July 14, 20241 yr by P_7878