Ukrainian software developer lands at Wrangell airport

Virtually that is, not literally. But maybe someday for real

Oleh Shevchenko, the boss of Northern Sky Studio, a software development company based in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and his team recently created a computer-generated Wrangell airport add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The graphics are so good you expect to see someone you know in the terminal and then spot your house from the air as you take off.

No one on the development team has ever been to Wrangell, but Shevchenko said he and his co-workers are big fans of Alaska and Hawaii. “I hope someday we can visit them. I greatly admire the beauty of Alaska.”

That could be a busy visit for the Ukrainians — they also have created add-ons for the popular flight simulator software for Ketchikan, Petersburg, Juneau, Yakutat, Kenai, Seward and Talkeetna.

The team searched social media for photos of Wrangell and also worked with real people, including Juneau-based Tlingit artist Crystal Kaakeeyáa Rose Demientieff Worl, to gather reference materials for their graphics. Their flight simulator add-on includes realistic images of the runway, airport terminal and tarmac.

Of course, in many of the images, it looks like a gray, rainy day in Wrangell. Just what you would expect from realistic computer graphics. No doubt the view is sunnier for their Hawaiian airports.

Although they have been successful in creating virtual airport for gamers, pilots and anyone who wants to try landing when the wind is blowing down the Stikine River, it has been slow going for the team of software team. Writing code and building graphics for the Wrangell airport took the crew about three months, which is longer than normal. Understandably, Russia’s war on Ukraine has disrupted their work, causing the Northern Sky Studio team to move their operation out of Kharkiv to a safer location.

Hopefully, a temporary move, and someday, after the terrible war ends, they can get back home. Then maybe they could come to Wrangell to see for themselves what they created at the keyboard. Until then, their work gives people in Wrangell another reason to hope for peace in Ukraine.

— Wrangell Sentinel

 

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