Leg 9 KTPA - Tampa (US) to KMIA - Miami (US)
KTPA - Airport Info
;)
ICAO code: KTPA
Airport name: Tampa International
Location: Tampa, FL, USA
Useful information
Airport elevation: 26’
Time zone: ET (GMT -5)
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: 11002
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Runway 18L : ILS 110.30 - 184º
Runway 18R : ILS/DME 108.50 - 184º
Runway 36L : ILS 108.90 - 004º
Runway 36R : LOC/DME 111.95 - 004
Tampa Info
The thriving west coast city of Tampa is out to prove that not all the action in the warmly-welcoming southern state of Florida happens at Miami Beach or Cape Canaveral. At the heart of its revitalization is Ybor City, the historic heart of the old cigar industry.
Tampa is also living testimony to the fact that not every Floridian has an incurable predilection for Gloria Estefan and a sartorial insensibility that teams B-Grade actors, five-o'clock-shadows, and pastel jackets with rolled-up sleeves. Miami Vice, you have a lot to answer for.
While it's true that Tampa, in combination with nearby St Petersburg, is energetically promoting the sundry pleasures of holidaying off the annoyingly pleasant Gulf of Mexico, it's also attempting to throw off the big-haired, buffed-bod, rollerblading stereotype that sticks like fake tan to any city south of the 30° parallel.
Thrusting out rudely towards Cuba from the southeastern corner of the USA, where it helps keep the placid Gulf of Mexico to the west from mixing socially with the rather more temperamental Atlantic Ocean to the east, is the fat little peninsula that the majority of the state of Florida calls home. Florida also claims a comparatively small strip of North American turf jutting out from below the southern borders of Alabama and Georgia. It's known colloquially as the Panhandle due to its undeniabley panhandley shape.
Strung out along the peninsula's east coast are prominent Florida sites like the space-shuttling Cape Canaveral, the theme-park scramble of Walt Disney World and the garish pastels of Miami's Art-Deco architecture. Refreshingly, the western side of the peninsula is a far less trammeled and fashion-conscious stretch of coastline. About halfway along the west coast are the sheltered confines of Tampa Bay, on the northern shore of which is its urban namesake, closely shadowed to the west by the similarly-sized city of St Petersburg.
Tampa's highway-threaded downtown area is mainly on the eastern bank of the sizeable Hillsborough River, which empties out beyond compact Davis and Harbour Islands into the small Hillsborough Bay. Making up the rest of the main local watercourses are Garrison Channel, which is the southern boundary of the downtown area, and Ybor Channel, which skirts the inner city 0.6mi (1km ) to the east. Franklin St, which runs north-south, is a pedestrian mall for most of its length. Two blocks east and running parallel to Franklin is Marion St which closes itself off 6am-7pm to all motorized traffic except public buses. Lying in Tampa's northeast is the distinctive Ybor City district, once the hub of the country's cigar industry and now the hub of Tampa's nightlife.
Tampa International Airport is located 13mi (21km) west of downtown, while the city's Greyhound bus terminal is on Polk St - just east of Franklin St - and the local Amtrak train station is further east on Nebraska Ave.
KMIA - Airport Info
ICAO code: KMIA
Airport name: Miami International
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Useful information
Airport elevation: 8’
Time zone: ET (GMT -5)
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: 13000’
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Runway 8L : LOC/DME 109.30 - 92.º
Runway 8R : ILS/DME 110.30 - 092º
Runway 9 : ILS 110.90 - 092º
Runway 12 : ILS/DME 108.90 - 124º
Runway 26L : ILS/DME 109.10 - 272º
Runway 26R : LOC/DME 109.30 - 272º
Runway 27 : ILS 109.50 - 272º
Runway 30 : LOC/DME 111.70 - 304º
Miami Info
It used to be called 'God's Waiting Room' because of the many octogenarians eking out their last moments by the pool, but today the old folks mingle with fashion designers, bikini models and Cuban émigrés, and the city that once had the highest murder rate in the US attracts millions of tourists.
Greater Miami is a melting pot that would make America's founders swell with pride. Half of Miami's population is Hispanic, giving the city an international outlook. For the casual visitor this means a city peppered with the flavours of Latin American food, language, music, politics and spirit.
The Greater Miami Area, which includes Miami and Miami Beach as well as distinctive neighborhoods like Little Havana and Little Haiti, is a melting pot that America's founding fathers would be proud of. Half of Miami's population is Hispanic, and its immigrant communities focus on what's happening in Havana or Caracas as much as they follow events in Washington DC, giving the city an international outlook. For the casual visitor this means a city peppered with the flavors of Latin American food, language, music, politics and spirit.
Most visitors head for Miami Beach, a city built on a sandbar across Biscayne Bay from Miami. Many of the beach's locals are imports from New York, people tired of sitting through five hours of snarled traffic on their way to the Hamptons, who decided that Miami Beach made a lot more sense. They brought with them a fledgling art and culture crowd whose numbers included many younger artists.
Miami, Florida's most populated city, sits at the southeastern tip of the most southeastern state of the United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the neighbouring states of Alabama and Georgia to the north.
Most visitors aren't here for Miami itself, but rather to visit Miami Beach, an entirely separate municipality. Miami is on the mainland, while the city of Miami Beach is on a thin barrier island about 6km (4mi) to its east, across Biscayne Bay - locals call it the Billion Dollar Sandbar. On the mainland, the street numbering system is based on north-south and east-west dividers. With the exception of Coral Gables, southwest of Miami, (whose founders should be arrested for making their street systems so stupid) getting around the area is a snap, despite the intimidating look of the map.
Downloads
KTPA airport scenery - FlyTampa ( payware - flytampa.com )
AFCADs for default scenery - af2_ktpa.zip (AFCAD for default, on
Avsim.com
),
ktpa.zip (another AFCAD for default on
Avsim.com
)
KMIA airport scenery - FlyTampa ( payware – flytampa.com )
KMIA airport scenery - kmiaafca.zip (adds new runways to default, flightsim.com )
AFCADs for default scenery - ramp+kmia.zip (AFCAD for default, on
Avsim.com
),
kmia.zip (another AFCAD for default on
flightsim.com
),
afc2kmia.zip (another AFCAD for default, on
flightsim.com
),
af2_kmia.zip (another AFCAD for default,
Avsim.com
)