Marble Canyon is an incredibly unique location. While the majority of the Grand Canyon is off-limits to lower-level flight without a tour operator permit, L41 is accessible to anyone: get onboard your favorite GA plane, fly as real-as-it-gets and enjoy to land inside the Canyon! I pay attention to recreate the town with custom buildings. Don't forget to go to the restaurant across the street to pay the landing fee and enjoy an iconic meal. But overall enjoy the view during the approach!

IMPORTANT

On MSFS2020, be advised that several mods changing tree size and type will interfere with this scenery. You may have trees all around the runway instead or sparse small bushes on each side. This scenery has been tested with NO TREE MOD active or with REX AccuSeason. Please de-activate any tree mod in your community if you can't land on the runway ;) See FAQ section for further information.

Features

• NEW! Compatible with MSFS2024
• Add custom made buildings at town (gas station, the restaurant and lodge) and near the bridge 
• Cherry on the cake: The Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center has been fully rebuild with custom buildings
• Add dozen of custom objects at Marble Canyon town
• Fix the Windsock's position
• Add one helipad starting position in the main ramp
• Try to enhanced the terraforming of the whole area
• Fix the traffic pattern location for AI
• No extra library or depedencies required.

From the flight deck

Marble Canyon airport sits at 3'600 feet. Because of the whole area is a National Park, you can't join the pattern as you want. There's a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) centered on the airfield for 3 nautical miles to allow you for a... risky descend. Don't fly low if you want to keep your (virtual) licence. Furthermore, because of the canyon wall, you may encountered significant updrafts or downdrafts in the vicinity of the rock walls. Runway 3/21 is on a 1.3° gradient with the approach end of Runway 21 being the high point. The runway is 3'715 feet (1132 meters) and only 35’ large (11 meters). It has been resurfaced few years ago. The pavement is in good condition, but it's a desert area and you may encountered tumbleweeds on a bumpy surface runway. Approaches are typically made on runway 3 due to the upslope. You have been warned: the terrain before and after the runway is not suitable for over or underruns ;) Also, the elevation of the airport combined with Arizona summers hot temp leads to significant density altitude considerations. Lean and check your mixture! Finally, there's no fuel on site. But Page, KPGA is a max 10 min flight with a C172. Don't forget to pay the landing fee cross the street at the restaurant/lodge. You may enjoy a nice meal.

More info for pilots

• Free regional maps at Skyvector: click here top access Skyvector in a new window
• Airnav.com: https://airnav.com/airport/L41
• Airport Focus by Arizona Pilots: https://azpilots.org/news/50039-az-airports/50466-arizona-airport-focus-marble-canyon

How to install in MSFS?

Unzip the file into your Community folder. Keep the folder structure from the zip (\AirportServices \ContentInfo, \MaterialLibs, \scenery, layout.json and manifest.json at the root directory). Once installed go to L41 (icao code for Marble) as usual, this scenery replace the stocked MSFS one.

Requirements for MSFS2020

• World Update II (USA) and X (USA)
• (optional) World Update XI Canada

Remark: MSFS2024 downloads automatically the required scenery and library object.

Known bugs

• Shrubs along the runway are slightly floating above ground. Its a MSFS limitation.
• Elevation of the apron is slightly too high and some of cars parked have their wheel under the ground
• The pedestrian bridge is not smoothly blended with the custom made Navajo Interpretive Center

Author's final note

As for all of my MSFS mod, this small scenery is made from a pilot-eyes perspective. The scenery is inspired by aerial views from Bing and Google maps. It's a mix between the satellite imagery displayed from MSFS and more accurate data found on Internet. I did my best, based on online videos and pictures freely available. I also used some of my personal video taken during a flight I did here in 2019 (https://youtu.be/lLfQBkanSZ8). Hundreds of objects have been manually added to make it more "live" and bring a touch of an active area. If you have local pictures to help being more accurate, please let me know!

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Marble Canyon Airport (L41)

Discover Marble Canyon Airport (L41), a unique location where you can land inside the Grand Canyon National Park. This add-on features custom buildings and objects, a revamped Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center, and a challenging approach due to canyon wall updrafts. Enjoy a realistic flying experience with improved terraforming and traffic patterns in this desert setting.

Version History